Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site stolaf.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!stolaf!gulley 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