twiss@stolaf.UUCP (Thomas S. Twiss) (02/05/84)
I think we've strayed far from the original question that I posed a few weeks ago. Perhaps it's because of my limited verbal skill that I only confused the issue, but let me try and clarify... We need to get away from this emphasis on music. I stressed music so heavily because I am a Phil/Music major and the topic arose within that discipline. But we should try and expand our discussion to *all* aspects of sex roles and how they manifest themselves in many diverse occupations/ disciplines/etc. Also, what is the point in citing certain outstanding women to prove they exist? I know and you know that they're out there. But the sexist merely writes them off as statistical anomalies. We need to probe deeper than some limited examples, and discuss the nature of the roles themselves. I certainly hope that the statistics will change and we will get closer to an equity between men and women (societally) but I don't think that should be part of the discussion. We all know that there are millions of capable women out there. So just what in the hell am I talking about then? Well, from the musical example, I think one needs agressiveness to be good at something. Whether it's a loud, commanding piece, or a slow, soft one, it must be approached with confidence and forcefullness. Now the issue *IS NOT* if women can do this (obviously they can). The question is: because these traits are generally male classified, must successful women be judged by that standard, or can we judge successful women by saying "This person was good at (insert occupation/talent) because she did what was required to do the job well, and the "maleness" of doing such a job doesn't even enter; she is a woman judged by universal standards." Does this make sense? Have I rambled randomly again or does this have some semblance of coherency. Mail or post your opinion. But let's narrow our topic a bit. I think that a successful women should not be judged in terms of male characteristics, but rather she should be accepted (or rejected, for that matter) on her own merits and leave the comparison to men's characteristics out of it. THE ASBESTOS IS ON MY KEYBOARD, FLAME ON! Tom Twiss ...!ihnp4!stolaf!twiss