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From: gulley@stolaf.UUCP (William T. Gulley)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Feminism and a double standard(!)
Message-ID: <1523@stolaf.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 28-Feb-84 12:08:44 EST
Article-I.D.: stolaf.1523
Posted: Tue Feb 28 12:08:44 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Mar-84 02:55:55 EST
Organization: St. Olaf College, Northfield MN
Lines: 64









(Don't let the header fool you . .* )

CM>It is this kind of attitude that is one of the biggest barriers to acceptance
CM>of women in business.  

A>I heartily disagree that the additude is the problem. It is not the
A>responsiblity of feminism to educate those who do not wish to be
A>educated.  I can't think of any feminist (female) I know who does
A>not prefer to interact with peers as equals, in a professional
A>manner.  This being the preferred method, it is tried first.  If the
A>man to whom they are relating does not accept this, then the woman
A>must try other methods, because often we must tailor our approach to
A>the person we are approaching, in order to GET OUR OWN JOB DONE. (read
A>we as all people who deal with other people).  

Then why does feminism try so hard to do so?  If the object of feminism
is to take advantage of the hormonal responses of these "die hard" 
non-feminists, then I see see no real distinguishable characteristic be-
tween their motives and the motives of the "die hard" non-feminists that
attempt to subject them to their attitudes.  Yeah, I know the schpiel about
"Ya gotta do what ya gotta do", and that has a lot of merit in my own 
beliefs also.  Which leads to the point. .

A>Barbara's behaviour as she describes it is not hypocritical.  At the
A>worst, its a borderline cop-out.  It's really just an admission to
A>one's self that the world isn't the way one would like it, but one
A>is living in it, so one has to make do.  But I can think of no person who
A>has never copped-out in this manner in order to save their own
A>sanity and get their job done.  

Regardless of what her beliefs actually are, her actions say to others
that it is undoubtedly a cop-out.  How are her motivations any different
from the motivations of that "die hard" non-feminist male superior when
he played the same necessary games in getting to his present position?
Why look at him with any disdain at all, when his basic motives in life
are practically the same as yours, only with different names and (sometimes)
different causes?  

I guess an answer comes in response to the question that all of us
have to seriously face up to at least once in our lives, namely,
How much of my individuality do I want to let motivate my actions in
life? (Regardless of how much of an individual you merely FEEL like)  Anything
less than a complete acceptance of that individuality is a compromise
on yourself (not anyone else), and if you can happily live with that, that's
fine.  We all pay for our choices, one way or the other.

The only loss comes when we kid ourselves that we're something we're not. .


 ____

    Man, that felt great. . 

    William Gulley - St. Olaf College - Northfield, MN 55057
    . .!inhp4!stolaf!gulley