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Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor belongs to a highly selective club for women only, while earlier male judicial nominees were excoriated for membership in all-male social clubs, even rustic fishing clubs.

[deleted] · 2009-06-26T02:47:03+00:00

Here and here: "Democratic silence about Belizean Grove so far is deafening." But it's ok now because she dropped out of the club....

[deleted]

June 26, 2009

28 upvotes

/r/MensRights

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Title	Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor belongs to a highly selective club for women only, while earlier male judicial nominees were excoriated for membership in all-male social clubs, even rustic fishing clubs.
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	28
Comments	7
Date	June 26, 2009 2:47 AM UTC (17 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/8vrte/supreme_court_nominee_sonia_sotomayor_belongs_to/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/supreme-court-nominee-sonia-sotomayor-belongs-to-a.1053722 https://theredarchive.com/post/1053722

Comments

[–]lunchladydoris2 7 points8 points9 points 17 years ago (6 children) | Copy Link

[–]peridyn -2 points-1 points0 points 17 years ago (5 children) | Copy Link

[–][deleted] 8 points9 points10 points 17 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

The reason I assume she gets a free pass for being a female is because of double-standards such as this one – if what was at stake was the qualifications of her past competitors, why bring up their affiliation to all-male clubs at all? And how did they "miss" hers?

The reason I assume she gets a free pass for being a minority is because of her comments on being more qualified as a judge because of it, and the positive reaction she got for saying so – while not too long ago a (male) Harvard director was forced to resign for simply saying that maybe there's something more to the gender gap in sciences than sexism.

It's the tired old formula: everything a man does that is considered sexist, when is done by a woman becomes empowerment.

Or, rather, everything bad the oppressor does becomes good when it's the oppressed doing it. Where I live it's awfully fashionable and empowering for black people to wear shirts like this. If a white person does the equivalent, however, not only will they get crossed looks, but risk getting a beating as well and a criminal conviction for promoting hate speech on top of it.

[–]peridyn 1 point2 points3 points 17 years ago* (0 children) | Copy Link

Point taken, and in my opinion valid. I just do not believe it is a free pass. Although I think some women and minorities take the extent of how difficult it is for them to compete on various levels because of an antiquated status quo too far, there are barriers for them to succeed in many establishments. To me, a free pass is being the son/daughter of wealthy industrialists or social elite who have had financed their private education, Harvard, Princeton etc. by their parents, while they supplemented their child's chances with well placed contributions and creating political relationships. Being born to a poor family in the Bronx does not assure you a free pass. You have to work hard, every step, starting from Grade School on.

Perhaps she got her scholarship for being a minority which is not a free pass, but a discounted one, to education. This is no different than the free pass some of the others got for having rich parents, and probably made Ms. Sotomayer have to work just a little bit harder to ensure scholarships kept coming and she could continue along her path. Now, after a long journey collecting knowledge, experience and competencies, she has made it to the supreme court.

Was she chosen because she was a minority female? Maybe. Some people like to diversify powerful groupings with several voices, it is one of the foundations of democracy. Having everyone on the supreme court represent a single state of upbringing and America lifestyle will limit the points of view contained. And purposely adding diversity to a structure that is among the most powerful in US government should be applauded rather than questioned in my opinion. What would be bullshit is if the supreme court was made up entirely by minority women.

Clarence Thomas was a free pass based on his color. He was, in my opinion, chosen because he was black and conservative. He did not have the experience to back up that heavy of a nomination. His appointment was political. My only point was that Ms. Sotomayer Work hard for it. Place her biography on any of the other justices and you will find her to be just as qualified, if not more, than some of the others.

[–]lunchladydoris2 4 points5 points6 points 17 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link

[–]pemboa 5 points6 points7 points 17 years ago (1 child) | Copy Link

[–]peridyn -4 points-3 points-2 points 17 years ago (0 children) | Copy Link