rissa@chinet.UUCP (06/20/87)
Alan Curtis replies to Mark E Smith: >You go as far as to imply (I think) that only a feminist female can >determine postings that are 'not of concern to women'! >Do you mean that soc.women should be changed so soc.feminist? I agree with Alan -- I would hate to see this news.group become moderated. I would also hate to see soc.women become soc.feminism. To my mind soc.women is a place to discuss things that women, some women, all women, find interesting, curious, relevant, etc, regard- less of whether this means how to file a sexual harrassment suit, PMS, wife beating, cotton underpants, adultery, mauve mascara, women in rock and roll, women in sports, Margaret Thatcher, property rights, marriage and children, or, if it comes to it, tupperware. A month ago I received a letter from someone who chastised me for posting on a particular subject in soc.women because I was giving the wrong impression of feminism. Peter Nelson certainly let me know in no uncertain terms how far back (30 years at the very least) I had set the feminist cause by wearing eye make-up. This kind of abuse doesn't annoy me as much as that silly Jay Skeer, but it does make me wonder at times. I think we need to restructure soc.women. I suggest that we continue with personal questions and answers and comments and that once a month someone (I'll volunteer) post a description of this newsgroup along with the feminist reading list. I don't want to censor anyone's postings, but I am sick to death of the misogynist/paternalistic crap that some men *and women* feel obliged to write here. We (well, some of us feel this way) are wasting too much time and energy defending the basic tenets of feminism and women's rights. I really wanted to post some answers to Laura Watson's posting, but I found myself thinking shit, I still have to reply to that person who said Robin Morgan was cutting herself off from 50% (actually 47%) of the population by not caring very much what men think about radical feminism. Faced with this dilemma I went off and wrote to bellcore instead. Trisha (don't get me wrong -- I love flames) O Tuama