Conference turris::womannotes-v2

	This concept is one of the first that I agreed with - that
	may be because I see my life as non-segmented.  So everything
	in a reflection of who I am and what I am.

	_peggy

		(-)
		 |

			The inner self and the outer self
			should not be in conflict with each other.

    I thought it meant that there is (perhaps) no such thing as a 
    "merely personal" action, but that all personal actions have political
    consequences.  Likewise, that many personal problems (such as child
    care) require political solutions and that women need to realize that
    finding a personal solution (to child care) does not *really* solve
    the problem.
    
    Note:  "Political" here might better be defined as "social" or, at
            least, "supra-personal!"
    
    Nancy

This is from Robin Morgan's book The Demon Lover, about one of her 
experiences in the male-dominated leftist movements in the 60s. To me it
says a lot about sexist as compared with racist attitudes, how matters 
involving women were (and may still be) seen as "personal" while matters
involving racial equality were seen as "political": 


"I am one of seven women--three of us white--in the office of CORE (the 
Congress of Racial Equality); at a joint meeting with SNCC (the Student 
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). More than twenty men, black and white, 
are present, running the meeting. Three civil-rights workers--one black man 
and two white men--have disappeared in Mississippi, and the groups have met 
over this crisis....Meanwhile, the FBI, local police, and the National 
Guard have been dredging lakes and rivers in search of the bodies. During 
the search, the mutilated parts of an estimated seventeen different human 
bodies are found. All of us in the New York office are in a state of shock. 
As word filters in about the difficulty of identifying mutilated bodies 
long decomposed, we also learn that all but one of the unidentified bodies 
are female. A male CORE leader mutters, in a state of fury, "There's been a 
whole goddamned lynching we never even *knew* about. There's been some 
brother disappeared who never even got *reported.*

"My brain goes spinning. Have I heard correctly? Did he mean what I think 
he meant? If so, is it my racism showing itself in that I am appalled? 
Finally, I hazard a tentative question. Why *one* lynching? What about the 
sixteen unidentified female bodies? What about--

"Absolute silence. The men in the room, black and white, stare at me. The 
women in the room, black and white, stare at the floor. Then the answer 
comes, in a tone of impatience, as if I were politically retarded. "Those 
were obviously *sex* murders. Those weren't *political*."

"I fall silent."

	
	re: 878.3  (Dorian Kottler)   

	Good question:  -< are women [looked upon as] personal or political? >-
                                   
	re: the 14 dead women vs 1 dead man

	>  "Those were obviously *sex* murders. Those weren't *political*."

	Scary.  

	>  ..sexist as compared with racist attitudes, how matters involving 
	>  women were (and may still be) seen as "personal" while matters
	>  involving racial equality were seen as "political": 

	Why is it like that?

							nancy b.

	re: .3 (Dorian Kottler)

	> To me it says a lot about sexist as compared with racist attitudes, 

	I'm not sure what this means, but...



	From last Saturday's Boston Glob:

	"After black leaders and health officials expressed outrage that 
	the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. was about to launch a new cigarette
	brand targeted at blacks, the company announced yesterday that
	it is *cancelling* a marketing test."  {referencing "Uptown" a new
	menthol cigarette which had been scheduled for test marketing}

	I recall reading how women's groups have similarly lobbied the 
	tobacco industry concerning advertising specifically targeted
	at women.  It appears that they have had little or no effect on 
	changing the industry's advertising or products (which, if the 
	number of teenage girls I see smoking is any indication, is highly
	successful).

							nancy b.

    In re: .5  nancy b.
    
    I had a similiar reaction to the "Uptown" story, nancy. I remember when
    Virginia Slims came out, imagining the ad agency's thought processes. 
    
         Wow! Thank God for a _little_ woman's lib, since it has broken the
         link "feminine = "shouldn't smoke". We can now pitch to the
         feminINE feminIST (the only kind anyone would want to know). We'll
         caracature the likable "slightly liberated" woman, just as is done
         on the other side with the Marlboro Man.
    
    I can't off hand remember when Virginia Slims was introduced. When I
    saw the reaction to Uptime, I wondered if the Virginia Slims campaign
    would be tolerated today, if freshly introduced. I don't know the
    answer.
    			- Bruce

>It appears that they have had little or no effect on 
>	changing the industry's advertising or products (which, if the 
>	number of teenage girls I see smoking is any indication, is highly
>	successful).

 I don't think the number of teenage (girls or boys) that smoke is very closely
related to advertising. I think it has alot more to do with peer pressure and
incidental advertising (ie, you see Rob Lowe etc smoking in a feature film and
think he looks "cool.")

 The Doctah