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What We're Reading: Deconstructing Sexism, Racism and Trolls

By DNAinfo Staff | March 27, 2015 12:58pm 

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CHICAGO — When it comes to discrimination and unfair treatment in the workplace, on the radio and on the Internet, it seems no one is safe — not even President Obama. The DNAinfo Chicago team pored over some heavy reads on this chilly Friday, but found some time between disheartening reads to fantasize about a tropical vacation or two. Join us, won't you?

What Does Sexism Sound Like?: Women are stereotyped as "chatty Cathys" but men actually talk waaaay more than women. And they tend to think what they have to say is waaay more important. Sexism sounds like interrupting and over-talking, according to this Huffington Post article, which Patty Wetli came across after it was reposted and updated on Alternet. According to the author, men speak 75 percent more than women in group settings like board meetings, committees and legislatures. Even fictional men in the movies get twice the speaking time as their female counterparts. Words we need to teach girls to live by: "Dude, shut up."

Speaking of sexism... reporter Stephanie Lulay is glad the Tribune ran a play-by-play of the sexist remarks 670 The Score radio jock Dan Bernstein directed at Comcast SportsNet Chicago reporter Aiyana Cristal. What started as a Twitter critique of her on-air performance quickly devolved into an evaluation of her "giant boobs." Classy.

Does Dong From "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt" Perpetuate Stereotypes? The Internet has a lot to say about Dong, an Asian-American character in Tina Fey's Netflix-only show "Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt." Mina Bloom is reading NPR's take: "The problem with Dong isn't that he's unrealistic," the author writes. "It's that we've seen the broad strokes of this character before, and in a landscape this limited, that grates, even if this show is doing something interesting with him."

'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'/Netflix

Professional Trolls: When President Barack Obama spit his gum out in India, a stable of writers working 12-hour shifts in Russia were paid to each write 135 comments of no-less-than 200 words on the incident. Sam Cholke is reading Radio Free Europe's interview with a former empolyee of Internet Research in St. Petersburg, where writers are paid to act out little dramas in online comments, from village message boards to the New York Times, where Russian President Vladimir Putin always comes out the hero in the end.

Keep a Writer Writing! If Streetsblog Chicago does not raise $50,000 by April 8, the transportation-focused news source will not get a $25,000 challenge grant from the Chicago Community Trust, which will enable the website's main reporter Steve Vance to continue cycling around city streets with a camera affixed to his handlebars.

Wicker Park reporter Alisa Hauser has been retweeting, linking to and referencing Vance's articles for at least five years (Before joining Streetsblog, Vance contributed to his own blog, Grid Chicago; pre-DNAinfo Hauser was at Chicago Pipeline).

From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. April 11, Vance will lead a bike tour of transit-oriented developments, with nine stops planned, including 830 N. Milwaukee Ave. and 1611 W. Division St. Tickets are $20 and can be bought here. Proceeds benefit Streetsblog Chicago.

A man can dream, can't he?: This morning's snowfall had Senior Editor Andrew Herrmann wondering, "Why do I live here, again?" Kirsten Raccula writes in International Living how she and her husband Mark moved from Chicago to the tropical island of Penang, Malaysia, about 18 months ago. The former owner of a women's clothing business, Raccula explains, "We needed to slow down and enjoy life now." What's Penang like? For starters, they pay $750 a month for a three-bedroom, four-bath condo overlooking the sea. "We wake up every morning to sunshine and birds chirping. Our new morning ritual is to open the shades and say, 'Yep, another day in paradise. Life is good.'"

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