And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if a male philosophy professor is told to use his sabbatical to really think about gender equality in the profession for a semester. At first, when he is released and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn around and walk and look carefully at the practices of gender equality, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the reality behind the shadows made by his biases. Then imagine someone telling him that the shadows he saw before were an illusion, and, now that his eye is turned towards the actual women in his profession walking along the high road, he has a clearer view. What will be his reply? And imagine that his instructor is pointing to these women as they pass and requiring him to really see them for what and who they truly are: equals. Will he not be perplexed? Will he not fancy that the distorted sexist shadows that he formerly saw are more real than the talented professional women philosophers that are now shown to him?
Far more real.
And if he is compelled to look straight at the bright light of gender equality, will he not feel pain and turn away to view the shadows he can see, which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things that are now being shown to him?
True.