[soc.feminism] Why We Oppose Votes For Men

dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dave Gross) (01/03/90)

{From "The Forty-Nine Percent Majority" edited by David and Brannon, 1976}

WHY WE OPPOSE VOTES FOR MEN
 
by Alice Duer Miller

	Alice Duer Miller's amusing but effective rejoinder to those
	who would exclude women from public affairs has a contemporary
	ring, yet was written in 1915.  She clearly perceived, as did
	few of her (or our) contemporaries, that men's penchant for
	violence was at least as dangerous to society as any trait
	ascribed to women.

1)  Because man's place is in the army.

2)  Because no really manly man wants to settle any question otherwise than by
    fighting about it.

3)  Because if men should adopt peaceable methods women will no longer look up
    to them.

4)  Because men will lose their charm if they step out of their natural sphere
    and interest themselves in other matters than feats of arms, uniforms, and
    drums.

5)  Because men are too emotional to vote.  Their conduct at baseball games and
    political conventions shows this, while their innate tendency to appeal to
    force renders them particularly unfit for the task of government.

-- 
***************************dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU**************************
     WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Marijuana will be the nation's third-largest cash
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turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) (01/03/90)

[Further discussion along these lines should probably go to
talk.politics.misc -- AMBAR]

In article <1989Dec26.191501.21605@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU>, dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dave Gross) writes:
> WHY WE OPPOSE VOTES FOR MEN
>  
> by Alice Duer Miller
>
>     ... while their innate tendency to appeal to force renders 
>     them particularly unfit for the task of government.

The irony in this last is that government is about the
application of force.  If appeal to force is a "male"
(patriarchal?) value and mode, then government is, by its nature,
a "male" institution.  Those who do not like settling political
disagreements by appeal to force should join the ranks of the
anarchists and libertarians who seek to end or limit government
power. 

Russell