Department of Biology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081, USA; Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Dev Biol. 2021 May;473:97-104. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2021.02.001. Epub 2021 Feb 17.
The core of systemic racism and sexism is not merely an emphasis about human differences and thinking that another group of people is inferior to one's own. Rather, the institutional nature of racism or sexism establishes a permanent group hierarchy that is believed to reflect the laws of nature or the decrees of God. It thus becomes the norm of a culture to think and behave according to these rules. Notions of hierarchy became solidified into the Great Chain of Being during the Middle Ages, as did views concerning hereditary racial and gender superiority. During the Enlightenment, such classifications became established by philosophy and science. Starting in the 1800s, embryology and anthropology were used to provide evidence for the unilinear progression of species and races. The first evolutionary schemes were not "branching trees." In these schemes, women and non-white races were seen as embryonic or juvenile forms of the adult white male, and they were often depicted as intermediaries between the fully human and the animals. Such linear schemes of evolution remain part of popular culture and even some science, promoting the racism and sexism associated with them.
系统性种族主义和性别主义的核心不仅仅是强调人类之间的差异，认为另一群人不如自己。相反，种族主义或性别主义的制度性质建立了一个永久性的群体等级制度，这种等级制度被认为反映了自然规律或上帝的旨意。因此，按照这些规则思考和行动成为一种文化规范。在中世纪，等级观念在大链条中得以固化，遗传的种族和性别优越性的观点也是如此。在启蒙时代，哲学和科学确立了这种分类。从 19 世纪开始，胚胎学和人类学被用来为物种和种族的单线进化提供证据。最初的进化方案不是“分支树”。在这些方案中，女性和非白色人种被视为成年白人男性的胚胎或幼稚形态，她们通常被描绘为完全人类和动物之间的中介。这种线性进化方案仍然是流行文化的一部分，甚至是一些科学的一部分，助长了与之相关的种族主义和性别主义。
