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From: robert@fear.UUCP (Robert Plamondon)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Changing Roles
Message-ID: <218@fear.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 20:12:36 EDT
Article-I.D.: fear.218
Posted: Mon Jul  8 20:12:36 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 11:52:15 EDT
References: <993@ubc-vision.CDN>
Organization: Weitek Corp. Sunnyvale Ca.
Lines: 30
Summary: Another philosiphical trap to watch out for...

In article <993@ubc-vision.CDN>, mokhtar@ubc-vision.CDN (Farzin Mokhtarian) writes:
> 
> Quite interesting to see this come from a woman who stands for women's
> rights. Do you really believe that women are simply "just different"?
> Do you know that the respected psychologists and thinkers of the last
> century also argued that women were not inferior, just different. Each
> sex was best fit/suited for specific things.

> No differences between men and women (other than the physical) have been
> proven. Saying that women are "just different" is the kind of thing that
> helps to strengthen the "feminine mystique" that women (and men as a result)
> have been suffering from for a long time.

The trap in this rebuttal is the assumption that women deserve equal
rights because they're *JUST LIKE MEN*.  If it turned out that there
*WERE* some significant differences, on average, between men and
women, would you change your mind about equal rights?

The talk about various groups DESERVING equal rights misses the point
entirely; equal rights are deserved by anybody who can honestly answer
"Yes" to the question "Are you sentient?"

Even if all the stereotypical beliefs about women and minorities were
true, they deserve equal rights ANYWAY!  Equal rights aren't a prize
you get for outstanding achievement, but the right of every human
being.

-- 
		-- Robert Plamondon
		   {turtlevax, resonex, cae780}!weitek!robert