Is Newport Sexist? A Local Male's Response

[editor's note: this is a response to the original Patch blog Sexism in Newport: Town Unsafe for the Twentysomethings That Fondly Call It Home]

No one deserves to be harassed for any reason.

My wife and I are fostering a five-year-old boy and his 8-year-old sister. Within the next year, we plan on adopting both of them. I want nothing more than for these two children to grow up in a world where women are treated with respect.

In your article, you make some very bold and blatantly unsubstantiated claims, among them your assertion that women in Newport value education more than their male counterparts. Is there a scientific study that you can cite to back up this declaration?

You also make an inflammatory claim that women aren't safe in this town. As you can see from the links below, not only has crime been dropping in Newport but it's consistently lower than the national average in just about every category. Your piece is tantamount to me as a "Latino" writing an article about how white people are all racist and are keeping me down.

You are correct in stating that women today exceed men in educational attainment, and that unfortunately, there is no question that men still earn more than women for performing the same job. However, creating a divisive narrative that vilifies an entire gender and town is not the most constructive method of addressing this important issue.

As a prior resident of both Manhattan and San Francisco, and now as a resident of Newport, I can assure you that the behavior of men towards women is fairly consistent among all three cities. While there are few things tackier then men howling at women as they walk by, there's also a fair amount of drunken bachelorette party goers harassing sailors.

Tastelessness is not limited to any one gender. And is there anyone who has spent a Newport summer without watching a 50-year-old woman who is well-dressed and meticulously groomed hitting on a twenty-something guy? But all this aside, we live in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Demonizing 48 percent of its inhabitants and backing it up with speculative opinions is offensive to me, both as a male as well as a citizen of this amazing seaside town. 

http://www.city-data.com/crime/crime-Newport-Rhode-Island.html


John Florez

CEO Drupal Connect