Black Girl Makes History. White Man Asks Her Why She Doesn't Do Something More 'Female Friendly.'

[eridani]

http://www.upworthy.com/black-girl-makes-history-white-man-asks-her-why-she-doesnt-do-something-more-female-friendly?c=upw1

&feature=player_embedded

Many sites, including Media Matters and Mic, saw this clip as an example of sexism, pure and simple. Viewing it as only about gender misses a bigger problem: We have a human (on the left side of the screen) who is doing something extraordinary and another human (over in the middle) who doesn't take that person seriously, for any number of reasons. Maybe it's gender, right? He does imply that baseball isn't for girls, after all.

But she's also black, and he's white. Her experience as a girl can't be understood apart from her experience as a black girl. The fancy word for this is intersectionality — the way biases are so thoroughly intertwined you can't separate them out. Here is a helpful cartoon that explains it well.

Here's another idea: Maybe it's age. You'll note, she's a black girl and he's a white man. Plenty of people act like kids don't need to be treated like humans just because they're kids.

So, we have Mo'ne Davis facing someone who doesn't think she needs to be treated like a powerhouse because she's a young, black girl. Good on her for responding with such total poise.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Where's the Old White Men's group?

I wanna resign.

[Warpy]

3. They're mostly over watching the jiggly bottle blondes on Pox News

You've already resigned from that bunch of losers.

[JTFrog]

4. Nah, too easy. n/t

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. it was tempting, though.

[AverageJoe90]

10. Can't blame ya. =) nt

[enough]

2. Poise is the word, for sure. (nt)

[samsingh]

5. they are typical fox news stupid hosts - disgusting to watch

[shenmue]

6. Yeah

Every time I see those foul old dinosaurs, they make me want to punch the screen.

[AverageJoe90]

8. She's a brave girl.....bless her heart.

Not surprised FOX would be condescending. But she handled that with grace, and she deserves a lotta kudos for that, in my honest opinion.

[TNNurse]

9. Do you think that he has any idea

That she is smarter, more polite and more decent than he could ever imagine being???

[AverageJoe90]

11. Either he doesn't get it or he doesn't care.

I sincerely hope Mo'ne goes far in her life. She has potential.

[SunSeeker]

12. What a douchebag. And I wish soccer was "female friendly, " but there are tons of barriers.

We are now on our third attempt to create a professional women's soccer league that lasts more than a few years.

If you are a talented athlete and you happen to be born a female, you quickly learn there is nothing "female friendly" about any team sport in the male - dominated sports world.

[Quayblue]

13. Intersectionality is a spot on term

[eridani]

14. Yep--one of the main reasons why I posted this

You can't really separate out all the sources of condescension here.

[Wella]

15. This is unbelievably blatant.

What's with this guy?

[Manifestor_of_Light]

16. She is so poised for thirteen years old.

I love it. She's a class act.

[ismnotwasm]

17. Dumbass

I really wish I could blame this on plain stupidity instead of a glacierly slow hanging cultural standard