From Uni: a story about sexism

I went to a somewhat provincial Uni in the late 70s. On one occasion, someone - a male - I knew as an acquaintance made a crack about a woman riding a motorbike to the effect that it was like a vibrator. Unpleasant, although he and the people he was talking to laughed. 

As it happened, just a few weeks later, he met a woman he fancied, and they started developing an interest. One day, she left on a motorbike, and I repeated his earlier remark. 

He looked uncomfortable, and said "I kind of wish you hadn't said that, now".

I replied that I was making a point - which was a point about the objectification and denigration of women, although I didn't have those words. I also could have worded my comment better, but I was young and lacked the gift of the gab - and was somewhat overwhelmed by irritation at his sexist hypocrisy and blindness. 

Why repeat this story now? Well, firstly, the error back then ties in with a lot of the still continuing objectification and denigration of women (and sexist hypocrisy and blindness), secondly, to illustrate that, in most circumstances, there is often something you can do, and thirdly, to make the point that often you can do better if you think about what to do (better words to use, etc) in advance - even if you don't get to use those words, you will have had practice at making a choice in what to do. (This is also one of the benefits of reading, watching and hearing good activists in action - you get ideas about words and arguments you can use - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is particularly good for that, but so too are the greats of the US Civil Rights campaigns, the Indigenous campaigners of Australia, Gandhi, Dr. Nelson Mandela, and others.)