Nothing is more entertaining than observing an older Hispanic male academic at a feminist conference.
On Saturday, I visited a panel at our conference where a female academic was analyzing machismo (sexism) in a Latin American novel.
“Let me explain you what machismo is about!” a fiftyish male academic from Venezuela interrupted her.
We all know how much feminists dig listening to men explain things to them, especially things such as machismo, so everybody fell into a stunned silence.
“Have you ever wondered why the words “machismo” and “mother” start with the same letter?” the male academic continued unperturbed. “Mothers are the root of sexism.”
Given that most of the women in the audience were mothers and that all of us were philologists, the comment did not go over too well.
Clarissa's Blog 
HA!
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HA HA HA HA HA!
I wish I were there and had the courage to fall on the floor laughing after a comment like that! Wow…. just wow.
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Haha. Did everybody burst out laughing? I know I would have at this coment.
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Ha! How surreal.
That’s got to be the least imaginative fake etymology I’ve ever heard.
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He was completely serious, too. We are all philologists, mind you.
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I’m imagining a roomful of raised eyebrows and pointed silence.
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That’s exactly what it was like. 🙂
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Hilarious!
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Patriarchal orthodoxy: women are at the root of sexism.
Racist orthodoxy: those with a different color skin don’t like themselves as much as they like us.
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He needed to have the newly coined slang word “mansplaining” explained to him.
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