Recently, I saw a post in a Facebook group set up for people who live in my local area. People use it to chat about local stuff and air every conceivable grievance. Someone posted an interesting question:
If your boss, who is generally a really good employer, asked you to work and extra day for free, would you do it?
And, predictably, so are the men who are terribly upset by the concept.
A friend posted on her Facebook page about an International Women’s Day event hosted by her employer. She was frustrated and irritated because the keynote (and only) speaker booked for the event is a man. On raising the issue with the organiser, her concerns were swept aside. She was told that it is important that we include men in these events.
Let me say it again: this is for an International Women’s Day event.
So often, I catch myself doing this thing. In fact, just about every woman I know does it. I’m not sure if this is an exclusively female phenomenon or not but I can’t say I know many men who do it with the frequency that the women in my life seem to. It’s like a variant of the fallacy of relative privation.
A fallacy of relative privation is basically the notion that we shouldn’t even care about certain things, because other things are far more concerning. Issue A isn’t as bad as Issue B, so you shouldn’t be concerned over Issue A.
For example:
I used to have very strict rules about clothes. You wouldn’t have known it to look at me, but I did. I was never a high-fashion, brand name only sort of person, but I still had rules. Certain standards, if you will. In short, I was kind of a dick when it came to clothes. Not only on me, but on other people.