Conference turris::womannotes-v2

1099.0. "Dispelling Sexist Beliefs" by JARETH::EDP (Always mount a scratch monkey.) Sun Apr 15 1990 17:58

    Re .62:

    >       Sexism is biological. There is nothing you can do about it.
    >       That it abounds everywhere only confirms its truth.

    Your note makes it apparent you are using "sexism" to refer to sexual
    differences rather than sexual discrimination.  Check the base note of
    topic 1076 for the definition I gave; I would prefer to continue to use
    "sexism" to refer to unfair/inappropriate sexual discrimination, while
    sexual differences are described with another term.

    Sexism is learned.  That it abounds everywhere only confirms that it is
    learned everywhere.

    Sexual differences are some learned and some biological.  Something can
    be done about learned differences.
    
    >      The sexism of male - female preferences becomes quite clear
    >      in the construction and nursing businesses.  The first is
    >      very highly male, the second highly female.  The numbers have-
    >      n't changed much over the years.

    What is is not proof of what must be.
    
    >      As a nationally ranked chess expert I've seen local and nat-
    >      ional columnists try their *mightiest* to interest women in the
    >      royal game.  At least 2 decades of activism.  

    It should not be expected that two decades of chess columns will
    overcome millenia of cultural inertia.  Before a person even reads a
    chess column, they must have interest.  By the time a person is old
    enough to be reading chess columns, they have already been exposed to
    the influences that teach them what boys and girls do and do not do --
    and those influences can very well prevent a person from reading chess
    columns.

    And if the column is not read, all the *mightiest* trying in the world
    will have no reader on which to act.

    >       Housework, knitting, etc., are not male fortes either. Men 
    >       prefer dogs, women cats.

    Oh, yeah, right, the male brain just isn't made for doing dishes like
    the female brain is.
    
    >       In a building where I work a high level sales woman once
    >       responded to my observation of her being the next VP this way:
    >
    >       "Oh, I don't think I'd ever want to be a Vice President. Work
    >        is the only thing on their mind, practically their whole life."

    That is one person.  That it is a woman saying it no more proves that
    women do not want to have only work on their mind anymore than the fact
    that a person wearing clothes saying it proves that people wearing
    clothes do not want to have only work on their mind.
    

				-- edp

    good reply
    
    BJ

    
         "I .. prefer to .. use "sexism" to refer to unfair/inappropriate
       sexual discrimination."
    
          Until a thorough examination of sex differences is first made,
       discussing what might constitute "sexism" is an adventure in folly.
    
         "Sexism is learned.  That it abounds everywhere only confirms that
       it is learned everywhere.  /   Sexual differences are some learned
       and some biological.  Something can be done about learned diff-
       erences."
    
          I'll tell you what, Eric, this is the 14th topic with sexism/
       sexist somewhere in the title.  Such topics #'s strike me as re-
       dundant, perhaps even unrigorous.  This conference may find more
       progress should it try something like this:
    
          1. Academic Research on Sex Differences
          1a.Responses to #1.
    
          2. Academic Research on Sexism
          2a Responses to #2.
    
         (3. Academic Research on Feminism, etc.)
    
          Many feminists ( Brownmiller, et al) agree there are many differ-
       ences, some profound, so I need to tread carefully here. 
    
          Where many people have disagreement is just how *relevant* those
       many differences are or may be.
    
          Also, data can change (School girl math scores have improved;
       disagreements can be found on what such changes may mean) which can
       make it harder to make blanket statements like:   Girls are better
       at English, boys at math, etc. 
    
          Again, if more rigorous topics examining these issues are pre-
       sented ( with firm rules made in 1. 2., )  this conference will
       grow stronger, and more library books opened.
    
          
                                                        Russ