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"NO!! 911!"
Is
this another one of those male bashing lists?
No. We do realize, however that there are those of both genders who consider anything less than adoration to be male bashing. We will speak of men in context; after all, women do not live on this planet alone.
Our purpose is to convey ideas that may cause you to think, using YOUR OWN experience and intelligence -- not that of your parents, associates, teachers or political and spiritual leaders. We don't ask that you agree or disagree. We only ask you to think for yourself. The increase in the gender gap vote in recent elections indicates that more and more women are doing just that. Yah!
This list, huge as it is becoming, will be kept private with no merchandise sale pitches. We are not trying to sell a book so we will not misrepresent the women's movement as "finally ended and all is just great," as does the recent spate of so-called feminists authors who are supported and financed by religious/political organizations.
Nor do we subscribe to their insistence that women who call attention to inequities are just the "feminazi" trouble-makers who hate men and want to stir up trouble between the genders.
The latest books of this genre are insisting that women are now paid equally to men and if they aren't it is because those women seek the kind of job that pays less. Huh? Duh! Please show us a woman that seeks a low paying, labor intensive job.
The Self-Defined Woman. Who is she?
We see womenkind as arranged along a continuum. At one end is a woman who completely accepts man's definition of woman. At the other end is a woman who completely accepts her own definition of herself. Two well known women that we believe come close to this end of the continuum are Janet Reno and Madeleine Allbright. You may think of others.
A continuum is not a scale from bottom to top or 1 to 10. Your place on a continuum cannot be determined for you. This you must do for yourself as well as evaluate it. How you express yourself tells others where you have placed yourself. It is, as stated, a continuum, and we may be at different places on it throughout our lives. Men have defined woman as child, daughter, wife, mother, sister etc. In other words, as HIS family members, HIS possessions, while defining himself by his work, his values, his institutions and his accomplishments.
More and more women, especially during this last century, are defining themselves. They are doctors, secretaries, engineers, home-makers and home builders etc., as well as, but not necessarily only, wife, mother, etc.
Much has been written about men and women having a different language. Certainly there is a difference in perception and we will explore that in more detail, but for now, please consider this:
You may have seen a TV show called, "Designing Women." One episode showed the women training to assertively declare and protect themselves against rape. If they were accosted, they were told to first yell, "NO!!! 911." This seemed strange to us as many, too many men do not hear or just ignore NO when a WOMAN says it. ...And "911" ??? Ask Nicole Brown Simpson how effective that was.
Why are we still raising our sons to rape and batter the daughters of other women?
1997-001
Copyright 1997 Renee T. Louise and Ruth M. Sprague, Ph.D. These articles may be republished for noncommercial use only, provided that they are copied intact, and that this copyright notice is attached. Address all queries to: TWANDA@ConnRiver.net.
G e n d e r G a p p e r s T M
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