Supreme Ladies, I Am Counting On You.
So the New York Times has an article today ‘splainin’ why Neil Gorsuch might find it easier than most new Supreme Court Justices to find his voice and “be heard” right way.
Two things: (1) his winkie, and (2) his crazy.
Crazy first.
“Conservatives interrupt liberals at significantly higher rates than liberals interrupt conservatives,” the study, to be published in The Virginia Law Review, found.
“Interruptions are generally considered an aspect of dominance, and the conservatives feel dominant over the liberals. With Gorsuch entering the court, that’s going to reinforce that tendency.”
Which, of course, falls into the No Shoot, Sherlock department of news. Conservatives are rude people who need to display their dominance like some baboon in the zoo.
And now his winkie.
And male justices, perhaps not surprisingly, interrupt female justices far more often than the other way around. “Even though female justices speak less often and use fewer words than male justices,” the study found, “they are nonetheless interrupted during oral argument at a significantly higher rate.”
The study considered 7,239 interruptions in arguments from 2004 to 2015. Of those, 32 percent were of women, and just 4 percent were by women.
I think Ruth Bader Ginsberg ought to whack that sucker upside the head with her gavel a couple of times and let him know that there are women on the court who ain’t putting up with his Trump’s new golden boy status for one damn minute.
The guy who did the study offered this —
“I don’t think that a lot of men notice that they’re doing this,” Professor Jacobi said.
Oh yeah, right. Yeah, there you go. They just can’t help themselves.
Well, we know where Gorsuch stands on receiving stolen property. I refer, of course, to Merrick Garland’s seat on the bench.
1As always, JJ, an interesting concept.
2From the WashPost article on this report:
“We show that, with time, women adapt by becoming more verbally aggressive, framing their questions less politely and leaving less room for interruption.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/04/11/if-gorsuch-is-like-his-colleagues-hell-constantly-interrupt-the-female-justices/
So “Shut up, dumbass, I’m talking here” may be a useful technique.
3They really don’t notice. It’s automatic.
I hired into a small group once where I was the only woman on the same level as the men. I was politely introduced around. A few weeks later a man hired in and they immediately invited him to join them for lunch.
Some years later I took a brand new hire over to introduce him to our counterparts in another department. The all-men there immediately talked only to the new guy, including asking him questions he could not possibly know the answer to (I did).
Even shopping has this problem. I once waited at a counter in a sewing department with about 3 other women. A man walked in and the clerks asked if they could help him right over our heads. This pattern is not uncommon.
In our culture women are often invisible as well as inaudible. And if we point it out then we’re b*****s. It’s a lose/lose situation that we really need to change. A woman President would have been a nice start.
4Well, it works both ways. I know men who interrupt women, or other men, regardless of status. They just rude, obnoxious sumbitches.
On the other hand, at family events I no longer even try to get a word in when my sisters are talking. They keep six conversations going simultaneously, and there’s only 4 of them. If I’m doing something that requires concentration–making turkey gravy, say–I shoo them out.
5The male of the species is raised to be verbally combative whereas the female is oriented towards what would amount to diplomacy. As for the latter, you wouldn’t know it existed if you ever heard my late Aunt Myrtle when the spirit struck her. Luckily, she was actually judicious with her occasions of combative female. She was so damn good at it that the opposition usually kept far enough away in the future that she didn’t need to unload all that often. YOu know, I thinks he would have liked Elizabeth Warren.
6Not really off-topic– the Nasty Woman Society has some delightful tee-shirts:
https://teespring.com/stores/nasty-woman-society-2
Please note this is the first page. I already have two different “Nevertheless She Persisted” shirts, one with the Rosie the Riveter figure, but I think I’ll get this third one with the photo of Malala Yousafzai.
7My brothers, one older and one younger, are especially bad at interrupting and have loud voices. I can’t out shout them and so just leave when they get started.
In other situations I’m very willing to speak up and don’t let anyone else go ahead of me, regardless of gender. If they ASK I will consider that. My basic mantra regarding bullies, including those who may not consider their behavior to be bullying, is “You Don’t Want to F**k With Me.”
Thanks for the link Rhea. I haven’t checked out Tee Spring for awhile so didn’t know those shirts were there.
8Remember all the deadly diseases Hillary was dying from last fall? RBGinsberg now has them! Really. She’ll croak within 2 months. At least that’s what RWNutcases are saying. And no, there is no explanation why Hillary is still alive. Except she’s a Zombie. Maybe.
9RednckJosh, while this is not high on my Wish List, I do wish that poor, frail, tired Hillary outlives the self-proclaimed, astonishingly-excellent-healthed Trumpster by many years.
10Sadly, the RWNJ isn’t able to see farther than the length of its own penis. About two inches, and that’s quite generous.
11Would love to know if those Male Interrupters come from large families where you have to fight verbally to be heard or even noticed. Also, birth order. Don’t forget that. And when introducing say, a new guy, to an existing group of guys, say at work, the female should walk in first while leaving the newbie where he can’t hear, and tell the guys how things are going down such as if there are any questions they actually know the guy can’t answer, don’t ask them. It would only make the newbie feel unwelcome and we just can’t let that happen, can we. Then bring in the newbie and introduce him. All my life, this is the way I have seen guests introduced, say a school superintendent when on tour in a school.
12Maybe Repubs deserve to be interrupted more often
13Am seriously not being snarky, when wishing good health to Gorsuch and Roberts. Whatever it is that ails those two, please do not let either of them succumb, until Donnie is out and we have a sane person as President.
14Please allow me to clarify the previous comment. By “sane” I meant a Democrat, not “comparatively sane” to Donnie as in Mikey Pence or Lyin’ Ryan. By proximity those crazy enough to be around Donnie are obviously disqualified.
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