From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!hao!woods
Newsgroups: net.women
Title: Re: real women"s lib
Article-I.D.: hao.415
Posted: Tue Jan 25 17:10:48 1983
Received: Fri Jan 28 06:53:46 1983
References: hao.413

   Christine Guzy (and others too!) needs to realize that like it or
not, the positions of power in our society are currently filled by men.
Since women only make up half the population, and not all of those want
to be "liberated" from homemaking, it should be clear that in order to
get any real progress on women's "liberation", it will be necessary
to *actively* enlist the support and help of men who favor the social
changes you seek. Many feminists I know (this is not a reference to
Christine) seem to have the attitude that "Women's problems should be
solved by women. Men are the cause of the problem and therefore cannot
be part of the solution". This is bull. It may be true that men have
oppressed women, I don't want to argue about that. The point is
that it doesn't matter. That is all in the past and that is where we
should leave it. The feminists will need the political clout of
favorably-disposed males in order to more easily accomplish the
major social changes they desire. The recent defeat of the ERA, in spite
of the fact that polls show a majority of Americans favor it,
clearly demonstrates this. If we want to get the ERA passed, we
need to work together, males and females on the same side. Forget about
trying to "unite women", that is probably impossible, and phrases like
that tend to draw hostile reactions from the very people whose support
we need. There are too many Phyllis Schlafly's out there for the women
to do it all on their own. We have to get out of this female vs. male
mentality. It is very destructive. Let's work together and always remember
that "women's lib" is really a misnomer. What we really want is an end
to sex-role stereotyping. I'm for the freedom to be *human* regardless
of whether you happen to be male or female.

       	                Hooray for androgyny,
                        GREG
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