beth@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (beth d. christy) (04/30/85)
[David Canzi, expressing dismay at women's "sexism" (David, I'm sorry if I'm misinterpreting above, but I'm trying to sum this up *briefly* for net.motss, which didn't get the original posting):] >It is considered commendable for a woman to be proud of the accomplishments >of other women, when a large component of this pride is based on their shared >membership in the female sex. It is considered disgusting for a man to be >proud of the accomplishments of other men, if that pride is based on their >shared membership in the male sex. (It's commendable if that pride is based >on shared membership in the human species.) An interesting corollary to this is how often members of *other* groups try to make one feel guilty/ashamed/worthless/*wrong* based simply on one's "shared membership in" some group or other. Women get it all the time ("women drivers", "dizzy blondes" and countless other more damaging ways without such catchy names). Gays get it CONSTANTLY. Blacks get it CONSTANTLY. Hispanics (in the US) get it CONSTANTLY. White men, for years and years, almost *never* got it (but that's changing now). (I often ponder how many times I've heard straight people want to bar gays from "teaching their children". I'm guessing at the numbers, but I'd say 98%+ of rapes are committed by men, and since about 90% of men are white, probably 90% of the rapists are white too. Similarly, 90% of men are straight, so .... Yet how often do you hear someone say "I wouldn't want a straight white man teaching MY kids!"?) Perhaps allowing other groups to feel pride instead of shame based on "their shared membership" in a group is a way to compensate for this madness of blacklisting people based on (anything, really, but especially) things beyond their control (e.g., gender, race, nationality, sexual preference). In the perfect world, compensation shouldn't be necessary. (But in the perfect world this wouldn't have happened in the first place.) But maybe sometime (soon) down the line both the blacklistERs and the blacklistEEs can forget all this b...s... and just show a little respect for each other. -- --JB (not Elizabeth, not Beth Ann, not Mary Beth...Just Beth)