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From: jeffw@tekecs.UUCP (Jeff Winslow)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Re RAPE, etc.../ "understanding" horrible behavior and people
Message-ID: <5597@tekecs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Aug-85 13:29:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: tekecs.5597
Posted: Wed Aug 14 13:29:47 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 18-Aug-85 04:46:06 EDT
References: <739@udenva.UUCP> <540@hou2g.UUCP> <3014@hplabsb.UUCP>
Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR
Lines: 42

> >> The best work on rape that I have seen so far has been Susan
> >> Brownmiller's book, which she wrote already 10 years ago, I believe.
> >> The title is something like "men, women, and rape".
> >
> >That's "Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape". That work is principally
> >a political tract.
> 
> End of chapter 1 of "Against our will":
> "Man's dicovery that his genitalia could serve as a weapon to generate fear
> must rank as one of the most important discoveries of prehistoric times,
> along with the use of fire and the first crude stone axe.  From prehistoric
> times to the present, I believe, rape has played a critical function.  It is
> nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which *all
> men* keep *all women* in a state of fear."
> 
> This is not exactly the same as saying that all men are rapists.  I think
> that the wording of this sentence is very unfortunate because it is ambiguous.
> INtimidation by the threat of rape is not at all the same as intimidation by
> rape.  However, I do grant you that the use of the word "conscious" in that
> statement is questionable and does make it sound as though she believes in
> a male conspiracy.  I certainly would not have worded my opinion in such a
> way.

I'm glad of that. I have not read Brownmiller's book; for that reason I
have been silent about it, and tried to withhold judgement. However, *if*
this excerpt is representative, I would have to say that the misogyny
illustrated on net.women is nothing compared to the misandryny (is that the
word?) contained in this book. I could not be more non-plussed and revolted
if I were reading a "scientific" Nazi tract on the characteristics of Jews.
I have always thought that one sex theorizing about the behavior of the
other could lead to much idiocy; never have I seen my thoughts so
convincingly demonstrated.

Why do I feel this way? Two reasons, primarily: First, I have *never* thought
of my genitalia as a weapon to generate fear (although I know all about fires
and axes), and second, the conscious process Brownmiller describes is
impossible (I offer myself as counterexample, since she said "all men").

And yet, no doubt, many people have read these words and accepted them
as truth. The range of human belief is truly miraculous. 

					Jeff Winslow