Aaron Hosford
Sep 9, 2018 · 1 min read

Sure, we are all exactly the same. No variation. No possibility of different motives, or different circumstances. Or different character.

Can you not see that you are being racist and sexist with impunity even as you decry the ability of someone to be racist and sexist with impunity? I’m not entitled to anything except the same human dignity and respect that every human being is entitled to. That’s my understanding as a SWM, and as a fellow human being.

Society has treated certain groups of people unfairly because of superficial traits or labels. The answer to the problem is not to add more groups to the list. It is to treat every human being respectfully, and as an individual accountable for all of, but also only, their own individual actions and faults. When you criticize an entire group, using a term like SWM, you are guilty of the same kind (albeit, I realize, not the same degree) of wrong that has harmed you so much as a person belonging to a minority group.

A pendulum is swinging. We can choose to shove it back the other way and perpetuate the cycle, or we can choose to stop it. As a member of an advantaged group (I am a SWM) and also a disadvantaged one (I am autistic) this is what I am advocating for, and I hope you can see the logic in my words and the harm this sort of bigotry can cause, even if it is aimed at a group in power.

Aaron Hosford

Written by