"...girls groups and church."

Sexism is bad. Misogyny is bad.

Our oral appellate competition, which I noted in the last post, continued on this week. We went Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and, good news, advanced to the round of eight. Go us! I have to say, my partner freaking rocks. I had to convince her to join me in this effort - towards the end of last semester, I put on my best persuasive face and convinced her to be my partner. I chose well.

Little did I know, however, what we would face on Tuesday, the second preliminary round. The 3-judge panel was pretty harsh. They asked difficult questions, and didn't let us get away with inadequate answers - and that's fine, they probably shouldn't. But they were also rather rude - kicking their feet back, and even passing notes during the presentation (and not a serious, "what do you think of this question" or "that was a good answer" type of note, either. It was a joke one judge told to the other - I'm not kidding).

Well, during our comments, the "chief justice", in the midst of complimenting my partner, said something that just made my jaw drop. After he said it, I even wrote "OMG" on my notes. It went, roughly, like this:

You were quite good. You had excellent poise; you didn't seem nervous. You probably learned that from speaking at girls' groups and church...

Huh? Did he just say what I think he said?

He went on:

You didn't roll your eyes or display some of the other mannerisms that some girls do. That was very good.

I guess this could be considered the quintessential backhanded compliment. I was floored, absolutely stunned. I was raised by my mother and my sister, so I'm usually on the lookout for, and can spot pretty easily, sexist comments. But I guess when one rolls over you with all the subtlety of an 18-wheeler, there is some level of awe which I'm really not over yet.

I asked my partner about it afterwards. She was rather nonplussed - "yeah, I get that sometimes. I'll get those kind of comments no matter how good or bad I do." Jesus. That guy makes me want to apologize on behalf of men everywhere.* But I'm not gonna.

Funny thing, too - yesterday at work my boss was railing on some lawyer for something - I think it was how bad a lawyer he was, to the extent of malpractice - and it wasn't until about 5 minutes into this conversation that I realized it was the same guy from Tuesday night. Small world.

* One of my favorite quotes from my favorite novel: "Rape makes all men feel guilty by association." The World According to Garp, John Irving. (I'm pretty sure that's it - I couldn't verify online, and don't have a hard copy anymore [I believe strongly in giving books away]).

Also, if I may, could Mr. Irving please write another book soon? The last couple have been rather disappointing. I'm not asking for another Garp, or Owen Meany, but something that'll take me away from IP and Crim Pro for a couple hours...