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Competitive REL » Post: Handling non-explicit sexism during a judge call.

Handling non-explicit sexism during a judge call.

Jan. 12, 2018 09:32:03 AM

Michel Degenhardt
Judge (Uncertified)

BeNeLux

Handling non-explicit sexism during a judge call.

I'm having a lot of trouble finding the correct words for this post. I want to question to what extend it makes a difference that this particular situation is an example of sexism. However, I am also well aware that such questions are regularly used to dismiss sexism altogether, and it's easy to be perceived as doing exactly that, even when it isn't the intention. That's what most of this thread has been about thus far, after all. It's all made worse by the fact that most of those dismissal attempts are generally surrounded by remarks about how it completely isn't the intent of the questioner to actually dismiss sexism…

I rest easy in the knowledge that the judge program is known as a cult of self improvement. Genuine questions are welcomed, and no attempts to learn something are dismissed. So I will ask my question, knowing that it will be taken as the genuine exploration of the topic of sexism it's intended to be.

Given that, as uncle Scott points out, not respecting the initial judge is a problem regardless of the reasons it occurs, does the fact that the example in the OP is a case of (subconscious) sexism change how you would handle it? What actions would you take if you expect sexism to be the cause of the disrespect, that you wouldn't take if you expected that the disrespect was the result of (for example) the inexperience of the initial judge?

Jan. 12, 2018 10:42:34 AM

Andrew Keeler
Judge (Level 2 (Judge Academy))

USA - Southeast

Handling non-explicit sexism during a judge call.

Originally posted by Michel Degenhardt:

Given that, as uncle Scott points out, not respecting the initial judge is a problem regardless of the reasons it occurs, does the fact that the example in the OP is a case of (subconscious) sexism change how you would handle it? What actions would you take if you expect sexism to be the cause of the disrespect, that you wouldn't take if you expected that the disrespect was the result of (for example) the inexperience of the initial judge?

I think Riki (and Hannah) has the right answer here. If we know why the player is being disrespectful (sexism), we should talk to the player about that reason and how it is inappropriate. Knowledge of the player's reason for being disrespectful should inform the content of our interactions with them, but should not change the specific actions that we take to correct them. This isn't any different from how we ought to handle any other judge call, we address (actions) what is actually happening with the players at the table, and our discussion of what happened should deal with helping them to know what the right thing to do is for next time.