-----Original Message-----
From: owner-virus@lucifer.com [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com] On Behalf Of
Zloduska
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 1999 5:49 AM To: virus@lucifer.com Subject: RE: virus: Re:[genius] Sexism
>>Bill wrote:
>>I had to read this 2 times to believe it. I had thought this type of
bigotry
>>to be finally behind us - I guess not.
>Sadly, no, including Mr. The-Perpetrator-Is-Actually-The-Biggest-Victim.
>Yeah, rape's no big deal, but it sure hurts to know you're a criminal.
>Anyway...
>>Science has taught us that Women DO not have inferior cognitive ability,
and
>>if you had spent any time at all with an empowered woman, you would see
that
>>they make excellent best friends and intellectual partners not to mention
>>lovers. In fact, my underestimating of women has led to a good bit of
>>stupidity on my part. Femininity as you call it is most likely the reason
>>for the greatest inventions and discoveries we have - like the use of
fire,
>>cooking, clothing, negotiation, language - the list goes on.
>I'm unclear on this- what exactly IS femininity? To the misogynist it is
>bad, of course, but I don't feel entirely comfortable with your definition
>either.
I'm unclear on what it is too. I don't really know how to say it other than it is the difference manifest between men and women that is genetic. We are not the same - though the differences are only that - differences. Our differences include several functions of the brain that cause differing reactions to situations. From the Neurotransmitters that give women the emotional bonding to their children that we men lack, to the way language is process in both hemispheres of the brain. There are differences galore. It is the combination of both sexes that make humanity cool. Believe me, I don't want an all male or female world.
>Does a quality that you can differentiate between the sexes, with two
>separate groups possessing it because of their gender, actually exist? Is
>it qualitative? And to say that it is balanced, or unbalanced, or that one
>sex has more amount of femininity/masculinity would mean that it's also
>quantitative?
I am not sure what the first question is. I do think the differences balance nicely. I don't see femininity as a mental state unless it is specifically caused by the brain chemistry - though I don't begrudge anyone their own sense of femininity or masculinity, or their own perceived reasons for having it.
>The meaning of femininity has pretty much fallen apart for me. I don't
>believe in it.
>I have seen the light, and it's emanating from a large black hole.
>~kjs
I really have a single point to make about this. Equality is a decision, not a fact. I am male and the chemicals in my brain drive me to:
Think about sex all the time
Get in "testosterone battles" with other males
Dominate others in my territory
I like the feeling violence and aggression gives me. I love to be filled
with focus, anger and purpose - it is an incredible rush.
I like to plot world domination and wholesale death and destruction
I know all these feelings and love them all. But I also love the gift of reason, and the free will. I choose not to let my violent tendencies control me, and I choose not to let my unending desire for sex objectify the women I care about.
In Women, I have found all the good things that bring me joy. Intelligence I have underestimated and been bitten by. Beauty that reaches into me somewhere that I don't really understand. I never felt complete, content and challenged until I found the love of a good woman. Now I have been fortunate to have married a woman who keeps me honest and on my toes. I am better by far with her than without.
I recognize that men have held women in their yokes for a long time - I know that this is based upon physical might alone. If ever there was a case for "Absolute power corrupts absolutely" the tale of Men dominating Women would be high on the examples list.
Bill Roh