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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

Full History - 2021 - 03 - 13 - ID#m4mni0
8
What is sexism like in the blind community? (Is there any?) (self.Blind)
submitted by Hidnut
Women are often catcalled, partly for how they dress, partly for just being female. People also argue that if women don't want the attention, it is on them to dress modestly. These arguments are mute when people can't see each other, or see well, so I was wondering how sexism is in the blind community, internally.

I don't know any blind people, so I wanted ask you all. Thanks for any responses, I'm just a curious dude. If this is not the place for such a question, let me know.
zersiax 12 points 2y ago
Ok I am going to step on my soapbox here for just a second. What I am seeing is frankly deplorable.

Yes. It is important to educate people and point it out when they are, knowingly or unknowingly, being ignorant, ablist or offensive.

No, it is not ok to jump down people's throats about it when they are posing a, to them, perfectly reasonable question.

Just like it's important for others to understand that we are just as human as everybody else, it is also important to understand that not everybody grows up around blind people, has ever met a blind person before and has no idea about the often unwritten rules in this community that even I, as a fully blind person, even misunderstand from time to time. FFS, this sub is a great platform for people to ask questions and not everybody is out to get you. What I am seeing being lobbed at the OP here is not necessary and does way more harm than good. I get we're all tired, I get we all don't like having to explain things over and over, but if you're this butt hurt about it, please do me a huge favor and link to an FAQ or something, don't get your pound of flesh in from a person who is asking a perfectly reasonable question.

​

u/Hidnut I would argue that sexism is definitely a thing in the blind community, even among those who are fully blind and can't see how women are dressed at all. Unfortunately just like everybody else, blind people are often a product of their environment. If sighted peers do it, blind people might learn from it, and given sexism is all around us it is pretty difficult to not at least pick up on it.

How it manifests can be different, though. A while back, I heard a story of a person who would intentionally run into people with his hands raised in front of him to cop a feel, bragging that since he was blind, he could get away with it. I also see blind people harassing women and , for example, sending them private messages on social media without being given prior permission. Replace the dick pic with a voice message and bob's your uncle.

The reason people got a little upset is because your question MIGHT be read as assuming that people with a disability are somehow non-human and not subject to the same human vices, therefore not human / not to be considered as such. This is a pretty ridiculous notion but, unfortunately, rather prevalent, and it can ...as you can see ...make people just a tad trigger-happy :)
AchooCashew 8 points 2y ago
There’s more to sexism than ogling appearances.
Hidnut [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I totally agree, and I'm not trying to limit sexism to only that. But I am interested, in a sociological sense, how people behave when ogling appearances isn't possible.
KillerLag 7 points 2y ago
90% of my clients have some vision. And there are a variety of aids to help people see better at a distance (monocular, some portable CCTVs, the cameras on smartphones). I've caught a few of my younger low-vision clients (at camp) ogling ladies.
ThisBlindChickReads 5 points 2y ago
Although we can't see, we live in a world with others who can ... So we don't get a pass on that either. It isn't like we live separated from sighted society and not all of us are completely blind. As a woman that happens to be losing my sight, I hope for the same things as when I did have sight, that we can just all be treated with decency and respect no matter what we may look like.
Hidnut [OP] 4 points 2y ago
As I said to another, I apologize for how my post made you feel ostracized. I was curious about something from within the blind community.
ThisBlindChickReads 4 points 2y ago
I think that is the point we are trying to make to you ... We are not ostracized. Many people who are the would be oglers don't even realize that we are blind most of the time until we care to tell them. We aren't set aside, and we don't only exist within the "blind community." In fact, some of us may not even know another blind person personally. I am not offended by your question, I am only trying to let you in on our reality. Those who choose to be sexist are going to judge and treat others differently based on their own misguided thought processes regardless of the community in which we may be a part. As long as any prejudice exists, it will effect all communities, all people.
Hidnut [OP] 2 points 2y ago
I appreciate your insights, and I can see some assumptions that I made now in my original post. But I was not inquiring how blind people can be victims of sexism by sighted people. I was inquiring how some blind people could being sexist. Because many Feminist arguments I am exposed to require sight.
ThisBlindChickReads 3 points 2y ago
Yeah, that makes sense. It would be nice to be exempt ... And it does seem like we would have a better chance of being exempt. I guess another way of looking at it may be that we are already dealing with a potential prejudice because we are already trying to handle people treating us carelessly because of our lack of sight that dealing with that may allow us to have a slight oversight to other types of prejudice like sexism which may also curb overt sexism by blind people. But sadly, there are assholes all around so I am not sure that I have ever noticed either way.

Hey, thank you. You definitely gave me something to think about. And you definitely gave a point that our lack of sight would keep us from ogling ... I know I joke with my friends that one of the reasons they keep me around is that I never care about what they look like because I can't really tell anyway...
Ant5477 2 points 2y ago
What a coincidence, I am putting together something like that on my talk show
Nighthawk321 3 points 2y ago
There's a huge sexism problem in the blind community, but of course, that depends who you ask. Many blind people weren't raised with proper social etiquette or boundaries, and you end up with many stories of blind women being asulted by other blind men. This particularly reached it's pinnacle at the last NFB conference I believe, where several women came forward to talk about the sexual misconduct that is so common in the community.
Ant5477 1 points 2y ago
Would you be interested in coming online talk show and discuss this particular topic?
[deleted] 3 points 2y ago
[deleted]
BlindRyan1 2 points 2y ago
Assholes are independent of their disabilities or skin colors or sexes. Assholes simply are. They just manifest differently.
Winnmark 1 points 2y ago
For some reason, this made me remember about the blind, black KKK member. It was a comedy skit, but I don't remember where.
Hidnut [OP] 2 points 2y ago
Key and peele. Very funny people
LadyAlleta 1 points 2y ago
Ah yes. Sexism. There's a monthly ritual where we all take our white canes and sunglasses and enchant them with dark magic so elves will guard us from sexism.

Your question makes us sound like we aren't a part of the human population. And that sexism is purely based on vision.
Hidnut [OP] 2 points 2y ago
I apologize for that, it is not my intention to ostracize anyone. I know that you live your lives among everyone else. That is why I said "internally" because I was inquiring about sexism from within the blind community. I should have worded my post better, and I apologize for any offense.
Nighthawk321 2 points 2y ago
It didn't read that way at all. Some people are just easily offended.
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