21-04-2015, 06:48 PM
Perhaps it was said in half-jest ; perhaps not - unfortunately, having returned to chess only fairly recently, my view is that discriminatory attitudes like that are fairly well entrenched. The real danger, though, is not so much the odd stupid (but at least explicit) comment, but rather the implicit or even subconscious assumptions and biases that can so easily be made - I have seen this in practice on several occasions: not "evil", just thoughtless. Sadly, there is no practical cure for that sort of thing. No one ever sees themselves as a racist, nor a sexist - there will always be a post rationalisation, or a joke.