geo (03/17/83)
On February 25th I submitted an article to net.women that included
the suggestion that we create a newsgroup for the discussion of
sex-roles. Later that day I submitted a more formal suggestion to
net.news.group. In the article to net.news.group I suggested we discuss our
changing conceptions of feminity and masculinity;
A total of thirty-eight people responded.
Four of the responses didn't clearly state a preference one way
or another. Nineteen people were in favour of the creation of
the group, fifteen people were opposed. I mailed an
acknowledgement to everyone who mailed in a response.
If you didn't get one, I probably didn't get your vote.
Nineteen people in favour did not seem to justify the creation
of this group.
Of those who quarreled with the creation of this group:
Eleven people felt that there were better places to discuss
sex roles.
Seven of those people felt that a discussion of sex-roles
belonged in net.social.
Three people felt that the discussion belonged in net.women.
One person felt the discussion belonged in net.misc.
Of those who did not suggest an alternate place for this
discussion the responses ranged from
"My vote is: nay, negatory, and PLEASE DON'T!"
to
"I do not support such a group. Just my personnal opinion"
Responses from people who were in favour of the new newsgroup
ranged from:
======================================================
I would be interested in seeing something like this, although I suspect that
it's one of these things (like net.women) that will end up getting cluttered
up with things I'm not that interested in. But it's a good idea.
======================================================
I don't know about the rest of the group, but I am interested in the evolution
of interaction on a sexual basis. Everything from the roles of the different
sexes in the mammals to whether doors should be opened should be on the agenda.
======================================================
You've got my vote for net.sex-roles.
I think net.women could handle a discussion of sex-roles, but it seems
that net.women has dwindled into net.abortion (which I would think is an
insult -- if that's the only thing people feel is relevant to women)
(I'd be interested to see what net.women would turn into if the people
flaming on about abortion could move somewhere else).
It seems that sex-role discussions get scattered all over the place.
I've seen interesting discussions on single-parenting, parents working/
staying at home (things that border on sex-role discussions), sexual
harrassment, and sex-role stereotyping in net.women, net.social, and
net.singles.
Net.sex-roles could be very interesting (if it doesn't dwindle to
net.sex-discrimination).