Are You Wondering Why So Many Women Are So Angry All the Time?
All some men see when they look at us is someone who'll fetch them coffee
In today's installment of what the fuck is wrong with some people, let’s talk about Gene Dornink.
Republican senator Gene Dornink—yes, of course, a Republican—thought it appropriate to ask a female pilot what her week was like working as a stewardess.
Now, you could assume he didn’t know, right? No harm was done; it was a fair mistake. A woman on a plane is usually a flight attendant.
But no, this woman wasn’t on a plane. Laura Haynor was being questioned as a union representative of the Airline Pilot Association International during a sick and safe time amendment hearing.
She had just introduced herself to the panel as a pilot when Senator Dornink's brain decided that this couldn’t be her true vocation and proceeded to call her a stewardess.
I mean, truly, who can blame him? A woman on a plane in an official position has to be a flight attendant—nope, sorry, a stewardess.
None of that newfangled nonsense for a true conservative man. Educated women, absolutely not. Women with a tray of drinks, yes.
Don’t believe me? Check the video. I wish I were making this up.
No one could assume that Laura Haynor was a flight attendant. She stated very clearly who she was and why she was taking part in the proceedings.
Unless their brain has a special filter that immediately erases anything a woman says.
After all, there are studies that show men have a harder time understanding female voices.
We also know that women with higher voices—especially young women—have a hard time being taken seriously.
It’s been found that the size of a woman’s vocal cords and larynx is important as higher-pitched people are taken less seriously.
So maybe Dornink thought she was joking when she said she’s a pilot?
I can’t explain what could have caused Dornink’s brain fart.
Did he do it intentionally to belittle her, as some commenters on Threads have suggested? That's one possibility. Republicans hate unions almost as much as they hate women who have careers outside the home.
Maybe he wanted to make it clear that he considers her his servant.
But I don’t think so.
To the senator’s brain, the idea that a woman could be a pilot probably was so outlandish that he thought it more likely that the pilots' union sent a “stewardess” to testify on their behalf.
I think Laura Haynor was a victim of the blatant gender bias that we, as working women, experience every day.
We’ve all been there.
No matter how great your expertise on some topic is, some man will try and condescend to you.
Dr. McCarty’s experience here isn’t unique. This is our reality.
Some random man will immediately assume that you’re not an expert and that he can educate you on your field of expertise.
We’ve been asked to bring coffee, we’ve been asked to take notes, we’ve been condescended and mansplained to.
No wonder a lot of women who heard about this immediately felt enraged for Laura Haynor.
It’s just another day of women being disrespected in a man’s, man’s, man’s world.
The disrespect has become more subtle in many cases. Blatant gender bias, as in this case, is thankfully so uncommon even the senator had to apologize immediately.
He tells us he doesn’t know why he said that.
But we do.
He said it because he doesn’t respect women as equals.
When he sees a woman - even in her pilot uniform - his conditioning will immediately categorize. A woman in his world doesn’t steer planes. She serves snacks.
Nothing she says will change his perspective.
It’s happened to me, and I’m pretty sure it’s happened to you.
Tell me, what is the most blatant incidence of gender bias you’ve experienced in your life?
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