To call them autistic or people with autism

[MTL]

And women were stigmatized since the dawn of civilization.

It is still something of an insult:

" you run like a girl "

or calling a male by a female name or calling him a "bitch";
it's still an insult to be female.

TV stigmatized women for a long time;
we were either the dumb/slutty blonde, the girl next door, the ball-busting feminist, the docile housewife, a tease, a golddigger, etc.

Your point is? You want to start a dick waiving competition about who is more oppressed? Tell me about the last time you were denied an education because you were a woman? Tell me about the time that nearly entire schools made fun of because you were a woman? Tell me the last you got fired for being a woman.
What your listing as insults are insults because they are abdications of your identity, hence if I say you look like a man its insulting. Just like you say I look like a woman its insulting. Hardly makes bbeing a woman a insult. Being called a bitch is a insult, so is being called a dick, or a prick. I use those words sometimes not because I want to insult women, but because their colloquial definitions match what I'm describing. When I call you a cunt, its not because I'm envisioning a vagina, its describing a whiny person with no back bone. It really has nothing to do with gender beyond the fact that historically people used people genetalia to refer to the worst aspects of both gender stereo types. Both gender types. Unfortunately equality is a bitch when everyone is being shit on.
As for your last part? That's hardly sexism, that shity characterizing of people you actually do meet. You say the same thing across all genders and races. You have the douchy pick up artist, the dumb jock, the pick up artist, the thug, and that is just off the top of my head. Want more women in writing? Cut the I'm a victim bullshit and get girls to pursue their own goals. Be it writing or having a family or being a fucking astronaut. Women can be whatever they want just as much as a man can, and the last thing they need is a bunch of people infantilizing them and saying they are perpetual victims.
Also, I can think of a number of tv shows that do not follow those dumb characterizations at all. I.E star trek Voyager, star trek deep space nine, battle star Galactica, firefly, forever. And that is just what I can name off the top of my head. You have to remember TV shows use characterizing extensively and get they often appeal to the lowest common denominator.

No, my intention was not to start a dick-waving contest,
(especially since I raised the point of being female as being stigmatized, and last I checked, we don't have dicks).

Perhaps I should have cited some other examples, but I was tired;
and this is not the first time I've regretted making a post that was inadequate or poorly-thought-out
simply because my mental focus wasn't up to snuff at that moment.

And you're absolutely right about that last paragraph of my comment;
that wasn't really on-point.


So my apologies if my comment was misleading.

My point was simply that lots of people are stigmatized for lots of things,

(and Yes, I wanted to point out that women have been stigmatized since the dawn of civilization,
probably before any other group, was,
and long before the advent of television;

and as far as women having equality;
well, yes, we legally do,
just like black people now have,
yet undeniably both women, and black people,
still feel the widespread effects of historic stigma;

black people still hear white people locking their car doors as they walk past,
and women are still paid less than men are, for doing the same jobs.

The Supreme Court ruled that the LBGT have the right to marry in all 50 States,
yet they still encounter a lot of resistance when they try to marry and live their lives.

Simply having legal equality does not mean the stigma goes away).

But the bottom line is this: I actually absolutely agree with you:

I've never liked the "dick-waving contest" as you so vividly phrased it,
that occurs between different minority groups,
regarding who is most persecuted, oppressed, or stigmatized,
especially since there is plenty of prejudice rife between those groups, as well.

...so I'm aggrieved to realize my post actually sounded like that was my angle;
I simply wanted to point out that there are lots of people who are stigmatized for lots of reasons.


My intent was certainly NOT to trivialize the amount of stigma directed at those struggling with Autism.

Especially since I have a young  nephew who was just diagnosed with Autism, himself.


However, I must argue:

If you're referring to Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory,

First of all, I don't think they've ever specifically acknowledged his character as being Autistic/Aspergers;

and secondly,
what really makes his character work is his towering ego and sense of entitlement.

Also: that show CONSTANTLY makes fun of the latent homosexual relationship between Howard and Rajesh,
...meanwhile Sheldon's character is played by an openly gay actor who is depicted as straight.

That entire show thrives on stereotypes...Penny is the dumb blonde, Amy is the frumpy brainy misfit, Raj is the foreigner, Howard is the jewish boy who still lives with his grating mother, Leonard is the diminuitive asthmatic nerd.

But my point is that autism is arguably not really what makes Sheldon's character a target.
Had he simply been antisocial or quietly brilliant, that wouldn't have made his character work, on the show.