[net.women] Offensensistivity II

dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) (02/11/86)

In article <1394@mhuxt.UUCP> js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag) writes:
>> "Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more
>> certain they are their own." -- Aristotle
>
>      And a little quote about how generally unfaithful women are!

You seem to be trying to confirm this theory I have about feminists.
Any line or quote that *can* be interpreted in a manner that is
insulting to women *will* be interpreted in a manner that is insulting
to women, even if it takes a lot of stretching, even if it takes a
logical fallacy (as it did in the case of Fr.  Woolley's joke), even if
the author intended no insult and no normal reader would see the insult
unless he/she was looking for one.

In this way, feminists resemble another group of people who listen to
popular music very carefully looking for lyrics that advocate Satanism
or drug abuse.  It works like a Rorschach test... what they find
reveals more about them than about the music.

The quote from Aristotle may be taken as referring to unfaithfulness
in general, but no, it "obviously" had to be intended as a deliberate
insult aimed at women.  Though, sometimes, it will be my intention
to insult and offend feminists, it will not be my intention to insult
women.
-- 
David Canzi

"Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more
certain they are their own." -- Aristotle

andrews@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jamie Andrews) (02/13/86)

In article <2088@watdcsu.UUCP> dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) writes:
>You seem to be trying to confirm this theory I have about feminists.
>Any line or quote that *can* be interpreted in a manner that is
>insulting to women *will* be interpreted in a manner that is insulting
>to women...

     For once I agree somewhat with the venerable Mr. C, but please! not *all*
feminists.  The issue of whether one uses an "all-inclusive rhetoric" for
expressing one's ideas is independent of whether one is a feminist.  However,
I agree the all-inclusive trend is fairly pervasive in feminism.  I once saw
a feminist analysis of chess that concluded it was sexist, even though the
queen is strong and the king weak, because the queen is sent out to do the
dirty work and get killed, and the king is the most important piece!

>"Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more
>certain they are their own." -- Aristotle

     This is one reason why matrilineal societies (e.g. Hopi and other
North American Indian societies) have such comparatively easy attitudes
toward sex & marital fidelity -- it doesn't matter much *who* the father is,
because the kid is going to stay in his/her mother's clan.  The uncle-
sister's-son relationship thus replaces the father-son relationship as the
most important male-male bond, because that pair is the closest in relationship
between two males in the same clan, and they know that without all sorts of
requirements about marital fidelity.

--Jamie.
...!ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision!ubc-cs!andrews
"And then the lighting of the lamps"

stu16@whuxl.UUCP (Pippin) (02/13/86)

> 
> "Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more
> certain they are their own." -- Aristotle


     A somewhat humorous note: (on the above quote)

       When my first child was born (a girl who looked just
like my husband), the OB remarked, "We definitely know who
the father is, it's the mother that's in question". We
thought it hilarious. (Needless to say she was, and still is,
"Daddy's Girl").
-- 
                      Pippin Stuart
                      whuxl!stu16

wjr@frog.UUCP (STella Calvert) (02/15/86)

In article <2088@watdcsu.UUCP> dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) writes:
>You seem to be trying to confirm this theory I have about feminists.
>Any line or quote that *can* be interpreted in a manner that is
>insulting to women *will* be interpreted in a manner that is insulting
>to women, even if it takes a lot of stretching, even if it takes a
>logical fallacy (as it did in the case of Fr.  Woolley's joke), even if
>the author intended no insult and no normal reader would see the insult
>unless he/she was looking for one.

I'd like to gently object to your use of "feminist".  Sure I know what
you mean, and if, in private mail, you want to compare lists, I'd bet
we're both flamed at the same gals who spend half their day collecting
grudges and the other half flaming about them.

(And probably at the same antijokers in net.jokes, etc.)

But some of us refuse to let "politically correct" "feminists" dictate
our attitudes and behavior as firmly as we refuse to let men or any
other group define our selfhood.

I have never authorized Batwoman or any other "feminist" to put words
in my mouth, and neither will I permit you to do so.  I hope you don't
feel flamed, because if I had a buck for every time I've forcibly
restrained myself from flaming Batwoman, I could fly out to her site
and verify my suspicion that she's really some idiot's idea of a
practical joke on all of us.  I mean, did Bird Dog leave the net or
have a digital sex change?

_Some_ feminists >resemble another group of people who listen to
>popular music very carefully looking for lyrics that advocate Satanism
>or drug abuse.  It works like a Rorschach test... what they find
>reveals more about them than about the music.

But not all of us.  But then, I don't go out of my way to listen to
Satanist lyrics (Satanists define themselves by their opposition to
xian propaganda, as the sort of "feminist" you just flamed define
themselves in hostility to men) and I've never objected to "Puff the
Magic Dragon", either.

>The quote from Aristotle may be taken as referring to unfaithfulness
>in general, but no, it "obviously" had to be intended as a deliberate
>insult aimed at women.  Though, sometimes, it will be my intention
>to insult and offend feminists, it will not be my intention to insult
>women.

Couldn't you just insult the women who act like idiots, and let those
of us who may or may not describe ourselves as feminists USE the word if
we find it useful.

In any case, I would assume that having an orgasm (at which point
further male participation in reproduction becomes optional) is less
vivid than lying on an uncomfortable table grunting out a baby.  I
know I'd remember more clearly getting seven pounds of baby out than
squirting a few million sperms.

				STella Calvert

		Every man and every woman is a star.

Guest on:	...!decvax!frog!wjr
Life:		Baltimore!AnnArbor!Smyrna!<LotsOfHitchhikingAndShortVisits>
			!SantaCruz!Berkeley!AnnArbor!Taxachusetts
Future:			...	(!L5!TheBelt!InterstellarSpace)

jeffw@midas.UUCP (Jeff Winslow) (02/18/86)

In article <2088@watdcsu.UUCP> dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) writes:
>
>You seem to be trying to confirm this theory I have about feminists.

Of course, we all know that all feminists think exactly alike!

Let's be a little more precise, OK? Remember the "men" - "some men"
brouhaha?

					Jeff Winslow
					"Why do you hate me?" - Socrates

dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) (03/09/86)

In article <661@frog.UUCP> wjr@frog.UUCP (STella Calvert) writes:
>In article <2088@watdcsu.UUCP> dmcanzi@watdcsu.UUCP (David Canzi) writes:
>>You seem to be trying to confirm this theory I have about feminists.
>>Any line or quote that *can* be interpreted in a manner that is
>>insulting to women *will* be interpreted in a manner that is insulting
>>to women, even if it takes a lot of stretching, even if it takes a
>>logical fallacy (as it did in the case of Fr.  Woolley's joke), even if
>>the author intended no insult and no normal reader would see the insult
>>unless he/she was looking for one.
>
>I'd like to gently object to your use of "feminist".  Sure I know what
>you mean, and if, in private mail, you want to compare lists, I'd bet
>we're both flamed at the same gals who spend half their day collecting
>grudges and the other half flaming about them.
>
>But some of us refuse to let "politically correct" "feminists" dictate
>our attitudes and behavior as firmly as we refuse to let men or any
>other group define our selfhood.

Unfortunately, it's the "politically correct feminists" who express
themselves the most by appearing in mass media, giving lectures, and
protesting, etc. and so I (and probably many others) came to think of
them as *the* feminists.  Sorry about lumping you in with them.  I
suspect, on the basis of some of your postings, that you don't share
their fondness for solving problems with legislative solutions that
involve dramatically increasing government power.

>>The quote from Aristotle may be taken as referring to unfaithfulness
>>in general, but no, it "obviously" had to be intended as a deliberate
>>insult aimed at women.  Though, sometimes, it will be my intention
>>to insult and offend feminists, it will not be my intention to insult
>>women.
>
>Couldn't you just insult the women who act like idiots, and let those
>of us who may or may not describe ourselves as feminists USE the word if
>we find it useful.

Better still, I won't be insulting people.  (Though I will occasionally
offend.)  That last sentence was a test to see if anybody would read
into it an implication that feminists aren't women.  Nobody took the
bait.
-- 
David Canzi

The ultimate in "user-friendly" interior design is the padded cell.