An organization should develop plans and policies that acknowledge the new reality and provide direction for handling a complaint if/when one arises.

At my non-profit place of employment we consulted with the state association of non-profits for guidance on adopting plans and policies covering the most common "-isms." Granted, the work is not as excited as debating "original fabric" or working on a restoration project, but it is just as important to the success of your organization.

Wesley

Yes, the conversation that Nick requested in order for us to put an end to sexism in railroad preservation seems to be running into headwinds. Specific ways of ending it have hardly been mentioned so far. I suggest that Nick run another survey asking women in railroad preservation what they suggest for ways of putting an end to sexism in railroad preservation. I think they could add a lot of insight as to the remedy the problem.

Ron: Excellent thoughts and a great suggestion for a follow-up survey. Echoing points made earlier, having safe protocols in place to handle and investigate complaints of sexual harassment that have binding consequences to the perpetrator are a must for any organization. But does that solve the issue at the core or is that just clean up duty? I still believe that it all boils down to equality. Treat everyone equal with equal respect and opportunities.

Obviously, the ultimate solution to sexism in railroad preservation is to eliminate railroad preservation entirely. After all, how could there be any sexism in railroad preservation if there's no railroad preservation to begin with?

Really, who wants those stinky old capitalistic trains around, anyway? They represent an unfair and archaic society we are attempting to fundamentally transform and besides that, they're just plain bad for the planet, period.

Whether or not it's a "logical fallacy," the problem is that too many of the self-appointed "social justice warriors" believe that the same approach must be taken to both, especially when the word "systemic" is invoked:

Condemnation, forced capitulation of the accused, and eradication.

We need the whole toolbox, not just the sledgehammer.

The term “systemic,” as in “systemic problem,” is defined as a problem which is a consequence of issues inherent in the overall system, rather than due to a specific, individual, isolated factor.”

The term, “systemic” is commonly applied to racism and sexism, although with a difference. With racism, the term refers to actual tangible barriers in the culture and structure of society such as business and commerce restrictions placed on minorities. So with racism, the cultural barriers are specified, and thus could be eliminated with enough effort.

However, with sexism, I find no such defined cultural barriers described to be the basis of labeling sexism as “systemic.” Indeed, none of the personal accounts of sexist encounters in the survey are based on systemic cause, as meaning caused by the culture rather than by individuals. All listed encounters were perpetrated by individuals.

Therefore, it seems that the term “systemic,” when applied to sexism, simply means deeply rooted rather than the more technical and specific definition above. A definition of deeply rooted is almost intuitive for the condition of systemic, so it makes sense that people would use the word to intend that meaning.

So, If sexism is not systemic according to the definition of being caused by the culture, it can still be systemic if it is deeply rooted by being caused by a large number of individuals repeating the offense.

So the way to prevent sexism is to prevent people from committing it. This would be much easier than trying to eliminate a non-specific, (systemic due to unspecified cultural factors) cause of sexism if it did actually exist.

That brings back a great memory of when my toddler was upset that we would not allow him a fifth cookie.

Brian

That's precious, Brian. You can't argue with what I said though, huh? LOL

I suspect Brian is opting not to engage because he knows he'd have a more stimulating conversation with his toddler.

Amen. Sometimes people need to learn when to stop instigating…

Yup. It was all I could do to not laugh when he screamed didn't want cookies ever again.

Brian

this is about as funny and constructive as walking over an infinite bed of scorching coals while being forced to listen to every thread about restoring a k4 posted here ever

Well, I'm certainly glad you guys are enjoying this. I would like to add that we could always eliminate the sexes as well but they keep making more of them.

Those are genders, not sexes… There’s a difference.

At any time you can join this conversation and provide some input of value. Your posts so far lack substance and seem to indicate that you wish to instead be a troll, which we hardly need on this forum.