Assuming ethnicity on MN

[iogo]

Not a TAAT but definitely inspired by a post on the thread To assume all MNers are UK based?

Totallypearshaped posted

I find it interesting that no one assumes that a poster is black, Asian or mixed race either.

It seems little Britain is alive and well

Neither white, Christian or in the uk here.

And it occurred to me that I tend to do exactly that. I do tend to assume that every other poster (especially those I agree with) are just like me - white British, 30s, professional, mum of 2. But now I think about it, my own assumptions are making me feel very uncomfortable.

Why do I do that? Is it a bad thing or is it just that I don't actually 'see' colour or ethnicity in writing? Am I actually simply seeing myself in other posters rather than seeing other posters as myself? In real life I firmly believe that if you don't pull others up on racism then you are inherently condoning it which makes you racist yourself thus I do pull up family, friends, associates when I see racism, sexism, homophobia and other similar things/unkindness.

(Hoping I'm not offending anyone by posting this pondering)

I don't assume posters are white actually at all but then I live in an area of the UK where whites are a minority (my son was the only white boy in his class last yera) (I am white).
I do assume most posters are female (and in the UK) as that is the truth.

I am happy to mention racial issues when relevant. We should not shy away frmo discussing issues and we can all learn from each other.

Eg even though I regard their religion as often wrong and fairly sexist I do appreciate that Muslim posters post here. I like to see the occasional man too posting. I appreciate the input of women who don't work even though I am fiercing in favour of women working full time.

People jump to conclusions about me - eg as I like money and power and am ambitious I have often been accused of being male, that women could not possibly want those things! (and no I am not transgender - laughing as I type....)

Enormous, you sound insufferaby smug. Muslim women shouldn't post on MN for your 'appreciation'. Funny how you pick on them and their 'wrong' religion.

White British, outskirts of Liverpool.

For context my dd attends my old primary school. I went there 1982-1989 and we had one black dc there.

Now we have many races, nationalities and I think it's great. My dd loves that some friends can speak different languages or have lived in other countries, she is 6.

Unless a poster has mentioned their ethnic group/heritage/colouring etc i have never ever given it a second thought ( and nor should i need to )

I was a bit surprised at the OP's mental image of the default MNer being a 30-something. White and UK may be statistically likely, but I'd have thought the average age was quite a bit more (some of us have been on here quite a while )

If you took the 'average' MNer - given all the demographics that are known about MNers, I bet you couldn't find someone like that on MN.

Average height, weight, location, job, income, children, ethnicity, religion, house price, disposable income, car, dress size, bra size etc etc etc.

I haven't really given it much thought because everyone on here writes in black and white (or green if you're OP) so there is literally no indication of someone's race/skin colour/ethnicity from what they write. I'm not here to wonder what race people are, it's pretty irrelevant in the context of mumsnet.

I'd never thought about it till now but I also tend to assume all posters are white. Most people where I live are white too so that's the default assumption.

Not necessarily MC or 30ish though. What people say can suggest age and grammar can be poor or just bad typing.

i don't think much about other posters except its probably 90%+ women which i think is fair enough (institutionalised sexism ) and i don't think its racist or "privilege" not to think about other posters, and find it somewhat condescending to others i may interact with to think oh they may be X Y or Z so i should change how i interact with them

I tend to assume posters are women, but that is because most are. But many are not white. Assuming they are is racism.
I admit though that I tend to assume posters are well off, unless they say they are not. But that is because so many on here seem better off than I am.

I agree Louise. I would never want to interact differently with another poster just because of whom they might be, their job, background or whatever. The only thing sometimes is if someone male comes on a thread they can be noticeably different. Some people sentence structure and writing discloses a few things about them, but what I like about here is that you do "meet" very different people and that's great. Far too often people just mix with people like they are. The internet lets us break those boundaries down. I even get to talk to people who don't vote Tory and some who are Brexiters too so it's a big mixture.