jj@rabbit.UUCP (03/26/84)
Alas, I was planning to stay out of this debate, but I have to say that the recent resounding PLOP surrounding net.women.only has finally managed to drag me in. It's clear, just from the astonishing attitude and courtesy that has been recently shown in net.women.only by MEN, that net.women.only is necessary. Furthermore, it's clear that MALES should NOT post in this newsgroup (go ahead read it, I do, and I occasionally MAIL something to someone, the idea of not READING it is stupid, how else will either half of the human race understand the other half?) because of several reasons, the first being that some men will post exactly the offensive comments that the newsgroup was created to avoid, and the second being that some women will object to the presence of a male-written article in the newsgroup regardless of its attitude. I regard both of these reasons as unfortunate, however, that's the way the world works. I, for one, don't like other males encouraging belief in the stereotypical male behavior. Neither do I appreciate being lumped in with those who DO exhibit the stereotypical male behavior by those individuals (of both sexes) who use the existance of such stereotypical behavior to encourage the use of stereotypes. I'm going to continue reading net.women.only, and I plan to avoid posting there. If I see a subject of interest, I will mail the writer, or post an article here, in net.women, where discussion HAS BEEN AGREED to be appropriate. While I do agree that being excluded from posting in a group is potentially offensive, I also think that there is great benefit to both males and females when each is aware of the other's problems, fears, etc. Such communication cannot and will not take place in an atmosphere where the poster fears ridicule. While I would like to see the establishment of a net.men and net.men.only, I figure that I'm probably the only one who wants that. <Among other things, discussion of male behavior should BE in net.men, not net.women, and there ARE (like it or not, guys) problems, comments, etc, that affect ONLY men, in exactly the same fashion that there are things that affect only women. (I don't think I need to be graphic.)> Please, folks, move the ravings into net.flame, the discussion of the appropriateness of a newsgroup into net.news.group, <In this case, there seems to be no need for discussion, the group is well, and active.> male written articles in to net.women (not .only), and sensitive women's issues into net.women only. (I'm NOT going to define sensitive. If the poster feels sensitive about a posting, it's a sensitive issue.) We're all in this together, like it or not! -- TEDDY BEARS ARE NICER THAN PEOPLE--HUG YOURS TODAY! (If you go out in the woods today ... ) (allegra,harpo,ulysses)!rabbit!jj