[net.women] Temporary, cyclical

oaf@mit-vax.UUCP (Oded Feingold) (08/09/85)

In article <641@ttidcc.UUCP> regard@ttidcc.UUCP (Adrienne Regard) writes:
[anecdote about an XSO]
>?>?>	He reacted very strongly to his eating cycles  (blood  sugar
>?>?>	fluctuation presumably).  Whenever we went to dinner and had
>?>?>	to wait (either from  late  scheduling,  or  the  place  was
>?>?>	crowded),  he  would  turn  into a monster (or a little kid,
>?>?>	take your pick).

    I'll  supply  the testimonial that when I'm in shape and running a
lot, I have low blood sugar reserves.   I  suffer  if  dinner's  late.
Older  men  I  know who run seriously are extremely prone to that, and
may faint if dinner is really late.
	
Then she ruins it:
>?>?> 	1.   Cyclical  responses  to  hormones,  enzymes,   weather,
>?>?>	god-knows-what  affects  both  sexes  of the species, and we
>?>?>	have yet to separate the effects into individual  components
>?>?>	that justify stereotyping; and
		    ------------------------------
>?>?>	2.  Using a label to justify a prejudice  is  just  a  power
>?>?>	play.   PMS  is  a  collective term for a number of symptoms
>?>?>	that a percentage of women may suffer to some  degree.   And
>?>?>	that's about all it is.

Dammit, Adrienne, there's no point in writing reasonable  messages  if
the  only  things  picked  up  on are idiotic ones, as claimed in your
previous posting!  BTW, I  agree,  and  have  been  aggrieved  by  the
dip****  topic "PMS and competence" since it first appeared.  Could we
bury this issue at a crossroads with a steak driven through its heart?
-- 
Oded Feingold	{decvax, harvard, mit-eddie}!mitvax!oaf	    oaf%oz@mit-mc.ARPA
MIT AI Laboratory    545 Tech Square    Cambridge, Mass. 02139    617-253-8598