Man's world

We live in a world defined by the heterosexual masculine viewpoint. That is, the vast majority of our world is constructed with reference to the position of a heterosexual man (usually white in the West). This is institutionalized sexism on the level of unconsciousness for most, and a terrible thing for those who don't fall into that categorization because they are forced to privilege others' viewpoints, but it's also a terrible thing for those who do fall into that categorization because they aren't. (Yes, it's a very different terrible, and obviously less damaging, but I think it's worth mentioning nonetheless.)

Sotomayor's controversial statement about a woman's experience was fundamentally correct precisely because of this paradigm. Precisely because we live in a straight man's world, and anyone who isn't a straight man is forced to learn what it means to be a straight man, think from the position of a straight man, in addition to their own. Women (mostly) are very aware of their status as (sexual) objects to straight men; they are indoctrinated from brith into their own objectification, and those who oppose it are nonetheless very familiar with. Straight men, on the other hand, have no such forced perspectives. They know their own and no other. Even if they try to seek out alternatives, it is very difficult to find anything, because the world is so dominated by their positional paradigm.

Or simply, everyone would be better off in a more open world.