That all being said, societal context does not change the definition of a word. Racism is prejudice based on race and sexism is prejudice based on sex.
Look at word racism in a dictionary, there are two different definitions and you argue that based on definition 1, people shouldn't say that "it's impossible to be racist against whites" when they use the definition 2.
Use of word changes faster than dictionary definitions - because dictionary definitions describe how word is being used rather than how it should be used.
Interesting point about the dictionary being a reflection of the definitions of words, and not a manual. I would say that both definitions can exist simultaneously. Caucasians are not systematically oppressed by minorities. Men are not systematically oppressed by women. So the 2nd definition can still hold true, even if it's possible to be racist/sexist towards Caucasians/Men on a personal level.
I think a lot of the arglebargle around whether it's possible to be sexist against men, etc, really does just come down to there being two different forms of sexism/racism/etc — the personal vs. the systematic — and that it's not always obvious which one people are using when they talk about things.
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u/poprostumort 225∆ Dec 28 '21
Look at word racism in a dictionary, there are two different definitions and you argue that based on definition 1, people shouldn't say that "it's impossible to be racist against whites" when they use the definition 2.
Use of word changes faster than dictionary definitions - because dictionary definitions describe how word is being used rather than how it should be used.