Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    We had a second phone line installed in our new house to enable us both
    to dial in (simultaneous log-on being a new form of intimacy).  The
    installer was a woman.  She and my partner discussed technical aspects
    of data lines, transfer boxes, distribution, etc.  My partner said he
    was planning to do all the interior wiring himself.
    
    The installer asked if he was sure he could or did he need her to do 
    it as it can be tricky.  She then told Jim a few tricks of the trade.
    
    It was great to watch and listen as two engineers took each other 
    seriously.  They were both so cool.  Yay.  
    

    Actually, I'm not sure if this goes here, or in the other one, but
    I prefer to be an optimist...
    
    This week's issue of Business Week has an article on inter-disciplinary
    development teams.  The picture of the team for NCR's development
    of new terminals includes 3 or 4 women, obviously (to me) engineers,
    right up front.
    
    A second look revealed that they were also the *only* women in the
    picture (sigh).
    
    Alison

I heard yesterday that...


  The only black tenured professor (male) of law at Harvard has taken a stand
  and requested a leave of absense *without* pay until a black female professor
  is hired.  I found this refreshing.

-Hamp

    From Appendix II to _13_Plays_of_ghosts_and_the_Supernatural_
    selected by Marvin Kaye:
    
    "...the lighting technician will also have her or his hands full with
    exploding fireplaces, sudden blackouts, and an eye-dazzling strobe."
    
    						Ann B.

    The "notice of intent to marry" in Massachusetts asks for both the
    bride's  and groom's current last names, and (seperately!) for the
    last names they will use after the wedding. Either one or both can
    change  his name, and there is no constraint on what the new names
    will be, or if they will be the same.

--David

    
    My 12 year old neice met a boy at a school dance and he called her up
    and asked her if she'd like to go to the movies with him (and some
    other kids).  She insisted (she had to insist, he didn't automatically
    agree) that she would pay her own admission to the movie and would also 
    pay for her own ice cream (and whatever else she wanted).  I was amazed
    -- partly because the issue even came up for discussion!
    
    CQ

I heard on the radio this morning that there is a new "standard" bible being
published, and among other modifications, this new bibles uses "gender 
inclusive lnguage."  The example the radio gave was that "Man does not live
by bread alone" is now "One does not live by bread alone."

D!

I love the language in the Kind James version; I wish they'd de-genderize
_that_ one.
	Mez

    Well, Mez,  do  you  have  the  time  to  work on a gender-neutral
    translation  of  the  bible?  We  spent several hours this weekend
    trying  to come up with gender-neutral forms of about two pages of
    text  from  the  King  James style. (The seven blessings said at a
    Jewish  marriage.)  We're not entirely satisfied with the results,
    as there are traces of sexism, and they don't scan as well as what
    we  started  with.  We  looked at some more modern versions of the
    blessings,  but they weren't close to an accurate translation, and
    were awful as poetry (or literature for that matter.)

--David

    RE:  .&
    
    The New Revised Standard Version is not exactly gender neutral.  
    
    It merely uses a more correct translation of the original text...
    ie:  Jesus literally said "One does not live on bread alone"
    so that is how it will read in the NRSV.  Where the word "man"
    was literally used in the original text, it will remain "man"
    in the NRSV.
    
    It is an attempt to translate the original manuscripts as precisely
    as possible... not to appease feminists.  
    
    dm 

    I'd like to think that instead of the phrase "appease feminists",
    the phrase "include all people" would leap to mind.
    
    						Ann B.

    I had to make an unplanned trip to the emergency room over the weekend
    
    The RN was male and the MD was female!  neat.
    
    Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA for the curious.
    (I'll be fine, just two stitches and a tetanus shot.)
    
        --Margaret

    re:  .12
    
    You're right, Ann.  it was an insensitive thing to say.  Sorry! 
    
    8^)
    
    dm

    re .12 -
    
    At least they didn't say "accuse" feminists. ;-)

    That's why there's hope, dm.

    In re: 35.3
    
> I heard yesterday that...

>      The only black tenured professor (male) of law at Harvard . . .
    
    
    You heard (or remembered) wrong.  Derrick Bell was Harvard's *first*
    tenured black law professor.  He is now one of three.  There are also
    five tenured women.  Bell received tenure in 1971.  I am addressing
    only these facts, not the merits of the dispute.
    
    			- Bruce

Connection made in a Morning Edition report this morning:

  Women now make 80% of the decisions whether to buy a particular.
  Cars manufacturers are now pushing safety.

Martin.

    -1
    
    And Iacocca's finally pushing airbags because they're still an option
    in many models.  i.e., bottom line adds up. (Heard on NPR several weeks
    ago; Iacocca used to be dead set against air bags, then he saw the
    financial light.  Sigh.)
    
    I like your reasons better.
    
    Judi
        

    RE .5 ( marriage and name changing )
    
    In the UK, the standard as explained to us by the registrar is that no
    name change occurs. The woman has to make the effort, writing to
    umpteen different places, to get her second name changed. Needless to
    say my wife did not change her second name. For a start she reckoned
    that if she wanted to switch surnames, mine would be the second last she
    would pick ( the last is dixshit {try saying it ! }), second, I was 
    unwilling to share mine with her :-), and more practically, since her 
    surname starts with an A, this gives her an advantage in all sorts of
    administrative queue processing procedures.
    
    -Shantanu 

This past weekend I took the Red Cross Water Safety Instructor and
Lifeguard Training Instructor Retraining courses.  (The American
Red Cross has made some major revisions in their Water Safety courses,
and all WSI's had to be retrained.  This old out-of-shape body
actually passed the timed tests (yea!))

On Friday night we got to see the new Lifesaving videos.  As I was
watching the videos I noticed that there was a good balance of 
male/felmale rescuers and victims.  They also used non-gender language
when explaining the various techniques (i.e.: "the rescuer", "the victim"
instead of he, she).

ken 

    Yesterday, one of the people in my group received an advertisement
    for an "Image and Communication Skills For Women" workshop from
    the National Businesswomen's Leadership Association.  The great
    thing is that the flyer came to a man:)  Is that equality or what?
    
    Barb 

               from the Boston Globe, May 16.  Page 3
               copied without permission

    
          All-woman press pool aboard Air Force One
          _________________________________________
    
          An all-male anything is the rarest sight in national politics
          these days, particularly when it involves the sexist-sensitive
          Washington press corps.

          Women have an integral part in elective and appointive politics
          in the Capital and in the media, but the White House press corps
          still has more men than women. So, it struck some observers
          as a watershed event of sorts last week when the press pool
          traveling aboard Air Force One turned out to be all women.

          The press pool aboard Air Force One consists of a representa-
          tive each of newspapers, magazines and wire services. Pool re-
          porters feed to their media colleagues in a backup plane whatever
          the president or his entourage say or do while airborne.

          The six-woman pool traveling last Friday from Kingsville, TX
          to Columbia, SC, also had a woman news source, Alixie Glen, the
          president's only female deputy press secretary, who was standing
          in for Marlin Fitzwater, the chief spokesman.













                                                                         1

    (Overheard)
    
    He:  So who is Patty Wells?
    
    She:  Well, she's short, and has red hair, and --
    
    He:  I know what she looks like.  But who *is* she?
    
    She:  She's co-chaired some Norwescons...
    
    He (impressed):  Oh!
    
    						Ann B.

	I just got mail saying there are openings in VMS for several projects
related to <future-product-line>.  All three of the projects needing people
had female project leaders.

							--D

    Many of the Middle East "Experts" appearing on the news are women!
    
    Now, if they'd only cover what's happening in Pakistan with Benazir
    Bhutto...
    
    Judi
    

  Benazir who???

  Seriously, how much coverage did Ali Bhutto get when he was ousted/
  murdered?  What does America know about Pakistan, or any part of the
  world that isn't *DIRECTLY* connected to our daily bread (or the
  expenditures thereof)?

                                   Atlant

    Seen on ESPN last night.  Ad for a pain reliever.  2 little vignettes,
    one a parent of a new baby, the other a weekend athlete.
    
    And the parent is the man, and the athlete is a woman.
    
    Alison  

    I saw on the morning news this morning, a commercial for a baby wipe.
    The ad showed about for different babies being tended to and the parent
    in all cases was a man. I probably would never have noticed this at all
    if I wasn't a participant in this file. See, it works. Thank you.
    
    Phil

    Last Friday evening, as I was headed to take my seat for a play,
    I saw a young couple with a new baby.  The baby was crying loudly,
    evidently needing to be changed.  Instead of the mother heading
    for the woman's restroom, she headed for the theater entrance. 
    It was the father who, quite naturally, headed for the men's room
    with the infant.  For some reason, this gave me hope for the future
    that things really are changing for the better.
    
    Just had to share that.
    
    Barb

    
    
    	Has anyone seen the commercial for the baseball pennant race?
    	
    	The husband is standing in the background tie on and all and
    	is ironing.  He asks his wife, who is sitting in the chair in
    	front of him watching the ball game, what the statistics are of
    	the game.  She very excitedly tells him and he nods and continues
    	ironing.
    
    	I thought it was great.
    
    	JJ
    

I haven'y seen the movie (and probably won't) but the review was interesting.
I have no idea who write's the Globe Calendar reviews...is it a woman or
a man?  Anyway...

*1/2 "Pretty Woman" Richard Gere, as a takeover tycoon, takes over
prostitute Julia Roberts and does a Pygmalion number on her in this
woman-bashing affair masquerading as light romantic comedy.  All it
seems to think is wrong is her clothes.  It's oblivious to it's
real motor - the woman's submissiveness.  And it's presentation of
the prostitute's work life is falsely sanitized."

[Maybe this should go in the Internalized Sexism note, but in
reading this, I found it heartening when I imagined it was written
by a man - sort of "Wow, he noticed!  Imagine!" and sort of 
sighed when I imagined in written by a woman "Here we go again."]

D!

    re .32 D!
    
    the review was written by a man, jay carr.

    My former roommate is getting married back east this weekend in
    Framingham.  We had a big party at their house a week and a half ago
    for all the west coast friends who can't make the trip.  During the
    party I was introduced, not to the maid of honor, but to...
    the Best Woman!
    
    DougO

    
    "Best woman"....
    
    I like that. Wish we thought of that back in '76.
    
    
    							Hank

    I'm not sure if this goes here or not but... We just had a presentation
    on back support belts here at NQO and the presenter brought up the
    worker's comp savings. He refered to it as workman's comp and
    immediately corrected himself and explained it as being supportive of
    equal rights and language being changed to reflect it, but that old
    habits die hard and he apologized for it. This pleased all of us,
    especially the senior employee present. Who, BTW, is a woman and is
    our Warehouse Operations Manager, a job traditionally thought of as
    being a man's position. For my money she is the best one we've ever
    had. No I don't work for her or any of her direct reports.
    
    Phil

    A girlfriend of mine got married in March and had a "Man of Honor"...
    

    The victim/target strikes back... My 17 year old daughter lives
    independently in Tacoma.  Last year at school, one of her male
    teacher's sexually assaulted her.  Two other students witnessed
    the assault.  Although, her chances of obtaining justice were not
    especially good, she chose to file charges.  At the trial, the attorney
    for the defense grilled her for seven hours on the stand, then recalled
    her the next day for more cross-examination.  She stuck to her story
    (as did her witnesses).  The accused changed his story three times.
    When the jury finally deliberated, it took them three days to come
    to a decision.  At the end of that time, they returned a verdict
    of guilty.  Earlier this week, she returned to court to see him
    sentenced.  In spite of the fact that she was traumatized by the
    experience, she stood her ground so that other young women wouldn't
    have to go through the same kind of thing.  I'm proud of her!
 

    At our  wedding  my  best  person was a woman. She was the obvious
    choice.  Of  course, she did invite Cynthia to the bachelor party,
    but  I  guess  I  should  have expected that. (We went out for ice
    cream.)

--David

          Last night, I watched the Duke v Marquette basketball game.  So
          that I wouldn't get too excited looking at Christian Laettner's
          perspiration-drenched chest ;-],  I picked up my Computer Shopper
          magazine that just arrived in the mail and read it during the
          commercials.

          While skimming through the index, I noticed a special section
          boxed out with one of the articles entitled,

          "Boys! Girls!  Build Your Own Mac!"

          Something clicked.

          In the issue approx 1 year ago, on their cover they had "Boys!
          Build your own laserwriter!" along with an article about the
          "One-man office".  I sent them a nastygram about their sexist
          language, which they published followed by a lame rebuttal from
          the editor about that being the language they all grew up with,
          etc...

          Their rebuttal didn't sound like I had changed their minds much,
          but the title of their article might indicate otherwise ;-).

          I wonder if they mumbled something like [deep voice]
          "Yea, that broad will write us another letter if we don't put
          'girls' in the title too"  when they were creating titles ;-)??

          My second thought was to write them a letter congratulating them
          for being inclusive of the other half of humanity (no, I wouldn't
          be that sarcastic, honest ;-), but suggesting that for next
          winter's "build your own...[whatever]", they put "Girls!" first
          ;-).
                                             nancy b.

    
    good show, nancy!
    i've got some letter writing to do my own self ;^)
    

    Hooray for Nancy B.  In this case it looks like the pen was mightier
    that the (pick your favorite personal lethal force)/
    
    Meg

	The QuakerOats (?) commercials.

	They have a series where a Grandfatherly type talks about great the 
stuff is.  The most recent one has the grandfather and his daughter (or 
daughter-in-law) and her kids, eating breakfast.  The Mommy is going on about 
how "Mothers know the importance of a good breakfast blah, blah, blah...."
Meanwhile, the grandpa has a running commentary in the background.  "Humph!
You don't have to be a mother to know that... I've been saying that for years...
What about Grandfathers"? and so on.  

	I thought it was a nice counterpoint to all the @#$%#@ "Doctor Mom" 
Cough Syrup commercials that apparently believe that the ability to iron a 
shirt, dress a child or clean house is a genetic trait link to the X chromosone.
Grumble! Grumble! 

Tracey

    There is a radio ad for Medical East HMO I like.
    
    An adult daughter saying to her mother "Why are we getting a check-up? 
    We never get checkups?"  Mom answers her that their new HMO make's
    check-up's cheap, and they get to see a real doctor, etc, etc.  But
    the daughter keeps pushing the point, and Mom admits that the *real*
    reason she wants her daughter to get a checkup is so that she can meet
    "a nice young doctor".  Daughter is mortified and exasperated, and
    insists that she won't go through with it.
    
    Then the sound of a door openning and a deeper woman's voice saying
    "Hello, I'm Dr. Goodness, what can I do for you?"
    
    :-)
    
    (Even funnier was the daughter's response...a suddenly very
    enthusiastic "Hi!!!!")
    
    D!

    
    D!
    
    I've heard that one...it's great.
    
    I think the rest of it goes, the daughter saying "HI, ummmmmm, can you
    check my Mom?"  Big smile!
    
    

Picked up a remaindered book of essays by Henry Petrowski, who is
perhaps best know for "To Engineer is Human."  In addition to being
a fine writer, he is a professor of, I believe, mechanical engineering
at Duke.

He writes that his classes are (as I recall) about 1/3 women (in around
1981) and the grades and abilities of the women cannot be distinguished
statistically from the men in his classes.

He also makes an intersting observation about women's abilities as
engineers; pointing out that the girl who learns how to bake cookies
"just like mom" or construct servicable clothing out of fabric and thread
has learned to solve a number of difficult problems in chemical
and mechanical engineering that, in many respects, are far beyond
what boys learn at that age.

Martin.

This came, in a round-about way, from an Internet mailing list on
Orienteering (sport of running in the woods).

------
 
International (Athletics) Federation May Replace Sex Tests
02:48 PM Yesterday
 
    By Tony Austin
    STOCKHOLM, Nov 25, Reuter - The International Amateur Athletic 
Federation 
(IAAF) may replace smear tests for female competitors with a general health 
check for both men and women, senior athletics official Arne Ljungqvist said.
    He said at the weekend a decision to abandon the present chromosome  smear 
tests could be taken at an IAAF council meeting before the 1991 world 
athletics championships in Tokyo.
    "The smear test is not satisfactory from either a scientific or ethical 
point of view," Ljungqvist, chairman of the IAAF's medical committee, said in 
a telephone interview from Jonkoping, southern Sweden.
    The Buccal smear test for women was introduced in the 1960s. It involves  a 
sample taken from the athlete's mouth and analysed for chromosome content.
    "The test was very effective when it was first introduced but there have 
been cases where it gave false results," Ljungqvist said. Women suffering 
glandular disorders might appear to have male chromosomes, for example.
    Ljungqvist said the test had already effectively been dropped because of
its  unreliability and pressure from women who complained it was demeaning and 
discriminatory.
    "It has become increasingly hard to find laboratories to undertake the 
smear test...so there are also practical reasons for making a change," he said.
    Ljungqvist chaired a recent meeting in Monaco organised by the
International 
Athletics Foundation which recommended replacing the smear test with a 
medical examination for both men and women, including inspection of the 
genitals.
    "The proposal that came out was to give individual countries the 
authority 
to guarantee the sex of their athletes entering world class competitions," he 
said.
    "Everybody, not just women, should undergo a health test to establish 
whether they are medically fit to take part in a top-level competition. Sex 
determination would naturally be part of this test."
    Ljungqvist, who is also a member of the medical commission of the 
International Olympic Committee (IOC), said he would pass on the expert 
panel's recomendations to the IOC early next year. "I hope the IOC as well as 
the IAAF will adopt the recommendations by the group of experts," he said.
    Organisers at major meetings would still be able to make spot checks, he 
added.
    REUTER

        re .48,
        
>>    Organisers at major meetings would still be able to make spot checks, he 
>>added.
        
        What exactly does that mean?
        
        Dan

re: .49:

I'm just speculating, but I believe that athetes who choose to join
their national federation (you have to do this if you want to compete
in the Olympics or in major marathons such as Boston and New York)
accept the possibility that they will be drug-tested during the
competition (and, at the elite level, at more-or-less any time
of the year).

I suppose this ruling, if adopted, means that an athlete must also
accept the possibility of receiving a "general health examination"
during an event as well.  Given the general physical condition of some
fools who run marathons (myself included), this might not be a bad
idea.  Believe me, no race director wants someone dying on the course
(as happened in New York 1984 to someone running just behind me, and
this year at the Marine Corps marathon to a 19 year old Boston woman
who, it was later determined, had a latent heart problem).

Somewhat off the subject, ...

If you watched the women's marathon in 1984, you may recall a Swiss
runner who was staggering to the finish (hit with severe dehydration).
One of the race medics touched her during the race to see if she
was capable of continuing, and there was much discussion as to whether
she should have been disqualified because the touch constituted "aid"
(the rules are clear that a runner may not receive assistance during
the race).  Apparently, the rules have now been modified to allow medical
officials to do what they need to do without worrying that they will cause
an athlete to be disqualified.

At the elite (and sub-elite) level, athletes are often capable of
pushing themselves almost to death.  For many years, the Boston
course record was held by Alberto Salazar who was carried off
the course and given emergency intervenous treatment for severe
dehydration.  At New York this year, which was run in 75 degree
weather, one runner finished and collapsed with a body (rectal)
temperature of 108 F, which is often fatal.  The medical staff
dumped him in a bathtub full of icewater to bring his temperature down.

Martin.

re: 34.219:               -< sexist computer hardware >-

It may be pointed out that Dec's DecTalk text-to-speech synthesizer
and DecVoice speech recognition products are gender-free.  When we
licensed the DecTalk technology in 1981, Digital funded the development
of (as far as I recall) the first commercial female-voice general speech
synthesizer product.

There are many differences between female and male voices (beyond the
obvious pitch differences in pitch range).  Up to his death two years
ago, Dennis Klatt, DecTalk's inventor, was working on improving the
"naturalness" of all of its voices.

Martin (ex DecTalk developer)

    
    DecTalk may be gender-free Martin, but all the voices I've heard it
    produce sound like an American actor/actress attempting to copy the
    voice in question...
    
    Better than anything I've heard on a PC though :-)
    
    /. Ian .\

The male voices were all modelled on Dennis Klatt, DecTalk's inventor.
The female voices were based on a Boston-area rock-and-roll dj (I don't
remember her name) who Dennis knew.

I can think of a few reasons why an American may think it sounds like
a "drunken Swede" but no Swedish speaker would agree.  The bottom-line
is that we don't (didn't) undestand how to make synthesized voices
sound natural.  There is also a risk in making the voice sound *too*
natural, as the listener may believe it really is human and thereby
assign more "meaning" to its utterances than is wise.  Several customers
asked for modifications to make it sound more robot-like for just that
reason!

Martin.

    Sarah Hogg is appointed head of the Policy Unit at no. 10, ( this is a
    specialist think-tank that advises the incoming UK PM{Major Major Major
    Major }).
    
    With a 1st class degree in PPE from Oxford, Sarah Hogg has been a
    economics journalist, deputy editor and economics editor on the
    Economist, the Sunday Times and the Torygraph. Max Hastings, CEO of the
    Telegraph said :
    
    "I'll be sorry to see her go. Not only is she extremely bright, she
    also expresses her views clearly, she is easy to get on with and is
    tough-minded and gets her own way..."
    
    Phew ! Now who do I bribe to get that on my CV :-)
    
    -Shantanu

    
    Interestingly as a "second permanent secretary" her salary will be
    slightly higher than Mr. Major's own...
    
    /. Ian .\

    "We had enormous problems with rewrites at the beginning.  My part
    had been written for a man and when they started writing it for me,
    my problem was that they continued to write it as they'd *always*
    written women's parts until then; she waited for the man to make
    the decision; she had no mind of her own and was incapable of any
    logical thought process.  I was going mad at the time.  In fact I
    was going mad just *learning* it.  Then my husband at the time,
    Maurice Kauffman, said `Why don't you *pretend* that you're a man
    and *play* it that way?'  So I did, then gradually we changed the
    scripts as we went along and the writers soon got used to writing
    for me, once they'd seen on screen just what *sort* of character I
    was producing."
    
    					-- Honor Blackman,
    					describing her role as
    					Cathy Gale in "The Avengers"

    Saw a bit on the TODAY show on Monday exposing sexism in children's
    cartoons and the way they re-enforce sexual stereotypes. Especially
    about women's roles in society and how they"need to protected by the
    'hero' and always saved or fainting at the sight of danger". 
    
    Olive Oyl was given as an example of acceptable behavior, because, even
    though Popeye must rescue her, she always fights to defend herself and
    is willing to take a personal stand for her own feelings. ie. Kicking
    Brutus and hitting him to ward off his unwanted advances. The example
    was from an old Max Fleischer cartoon.
    
    Phil

    >Olive Oyl was given as an example of acceptable behavior, because,
    >eventhough Popeye must rescue her, she always fights to defend
    >herself and is willing to take a personal stand for her own feelings.
    
    Lovely.  Let us encourage our children to emulate "Popeye" characters.
    
    (Actually I think it is absurd to say Olive Oyl was a good female
    role-model is cartoons.  She was a total *ditz*!  Not a brain in her
    head, always standing around going "Oh dear..." and getting carried off
    [always struck me as implied rape] by Brutus.  She's also fickle,
    giving her heart to whatever man wins the fight.)
    
    D!

    Until recently, Quaker Oats was using Popeye in their promotion
    campaigns.  In the ads, Popeye would eat Quaker Oats and then proceed
    to beat up on his enemies and rescue Olive Oyl.  He was proclaimed as
    "Popeye the Quaker Man".  As you might imagine, bona fide Quakers were
    very upset of these images associating "Popeye the Quaker Man" with
    violence and sexism, and many of them complained to Quaker Oats (which
    was not, by the way, founded by a Quaker).  The result is that Quaker
    Oats did agree to change their advertising campaign.

    -- Mike

    Re .61
    
    If they replace the "Quaker Man" with Crocodile Dundee I'll certainly
    be enraged!
    
    Don
    *8-)

    Don't blame me. It was this organization. THe group to prevent sexism
    in Children's Media or some such. That's not it's real name. I don't
    remember. It wasn't ACT. They picked Olive Oyl. This woman started to
    pay attention to children's programming when her son said women weren't
    allowed to be bosses because he never saw any on cartoons. 
    
    Phil

    Last night, Peter Jennings did a report on Seattle's stricter rape laws
    and the support systems.  Some of the points I remember:
    
    	- When rape victims are questioned by the police, a female (can't
    	  remember the office job title) is present 
    
    	- Counseling is available for victims
    
    	- Investigations are well coordinated with appropriate departments
    
    	- A victim's fund is available (the source was not named) to help
    	  with the costs of counselling and other expenses
    
    	- Education programs are being set up in the high schools to
          discuss rape, date rape and related topics
    
    	- Rapists are receiving counselling; the goal is to change behavior
    	  and try to prevent future crimes
    
    The report was a very short one, but it looks like Seattle is heading
    in the right direction by working with the victims and offenders, as
    well as educating people.
    
    
    Judi
     

    
    Additionally, the Seattle Police Department is actively and openly 
    recruiting gays and lesbians to become police officers, and setting
    up training for existing police officers to heighten their awareness
    and sensitivity to gay issues and hate crimes against gays.
    
    Carla
    

    
    
    I'm surprised no one else has even commented on this.
    
    Since the beginning of the confrontation in Iraq on Wednesday evening,
    I've noticed that the majority of the experts on the Middle
    East/Israel/Iraq/etc have been women.  Granted, a lot of the reporters
    and political figures have been mail, but the "experts" in the field
    (especially on the "human aspect") have been female.
    
    kath

    Had I commented, I would've agreed. I was just thinking last night
    at the abundance of suits-and-ties involved in being the broadcasters
    and the experts. I've seen only one woman consistently consulted.
    
    --DE
    

    
    I'm with Dawn.  I've been watching NBC.  Katie Something (I almost
    typed Curtis but I'm getting my angst and pleasurables confused) is
    the only female correspondent who's had airtime in all that I have
    watched, either morning or evening.  I usually am sufficiently ired
    around 7pm and switch to something less militaristic -- perhaps the 
    women of the airwaves emerge at night?
    
    Carla
    

NPR [National Public Radio] has a good, relatively even mix of male
and female commentators.  Cokie Roberts in Washington, Linda Gravstein
in Jerusalem, Ann something recently back from Saudi Arabia as an expert
in something, come to mind as some of the primary voices.

	MKV

> NPR [National Public Radio] has a good, relatively even mix of male
> and female commentators.  Cokie Roberts in Washington, Linda Gravstein
> in Jerusalem, Ann something recently back from Saudi Arabia as an expert
> in something, come to mind as some of the primary voices.

I like them too. I realized the other day that NPR is about the only
place to hear women's voices during this non-stop war coverage.

(For local news, I like the women news reporters and anchors on Channel 5
in Boston.)

Kathy

    I like Murphy Brown and Corky Sherwood too.
    
    Eugene

    Carla, her name is Katie Couric. She is currently my favorite National
    newscaster. She is professional, hardhitting, knows what questions to
    ask, and, IMHO, does a skazillion times better then Deborah Norville
    and Bryant Gumble on the Today Show, when she subs. Deborah Roberts,
    from Florida, also did a great job, when she sub'd at the newsdesk
    during the holidays
    
    Phil

    
    It's nice that women are reporting on, commenting on, and becoming
    experts on, world events.
    
    When do they start shaping those events?
    
    D.

    
    re: Phil (.72)
    
    Thanks.
    
    C.
    

    Today on the radio, the announcer referred to a "spokesperson" who
    was a man.  (I had gotten really tired of the division between
    "spokesmen" and "spokespersons".)
    
    						Ann B.

    
    And of course where the BBC go there is Kate Adie - since Tianamen
    Square BBC Chief Correspondent, she turns up in every war, conflict,
    shooting scrape around the world. A lot of Brits only realised things
    were getting serious in the Gulf when she turned up in Baghdad...
    
    She now reports from Saudi Arabia in a camouflage jacket and floppy
    hat, looking for all the world like one of the troops, apart from her
    ear rings.
     
    /. Ian .\

    
    	They're wonderful!  I've seen the one where the voice-over says, 
    	(something like) 'women have been portrayd (stereotyped?) in many 
    	different ways...'.  The camera then flashes through a series
    	of classic female stereotypes -- the sex kitten, the prim
    	schoolmarm, the ample housewife with a rolling pin, etc...
    	Then the voice-over says (something like) 'but there are very few
    	women who fill them.  This is a fact known by all women, most men,
    	and one lingerie company.'
    
    	I've heard there are others with similar themes.  Can anyone
    	describe them?
    
    	The next time I go lingerie shopping, I'm definitely going to 
    	buy Maidenform! ;-)
    
    						nancy b.
    

    Nancy,
    
    I've seen that commercial and it stood out in my mind, but when I saw
    it was for Maidenform, I couldn't believe it.
    
    The older Maidenform commercials used to have women running around in
    their lingerie in the middle of busy streets or some other totally
    inappropriate place.  I can't remember a specific, but I know that my
    blood pressure used to rise every time one came on.
    
    Lisa

    I remember, Lisa. "The Maidenform Woman: you never know where she'll
    turn up!"  And there she'd be, at a board meeting with all the suits,
    in her lacey underthings.  
    
    Sounds like they hired a new ad agency after they got pilloried for
    the previous series...thanks for letting us know about the switch,
    Nancy.  For those of us who think the personal is the political,
    patronage of Maidenform would seem an appropriate response.  (Were 
    I in their market, I could say that with "I" language ;-).
    
    DougO

    RE:  .79
    
>        Nancy.  For those of us who think the personal is the political,
>    patronage of Maidenform would seem an appropriate response.  (Were 
>    I in their market, I could say that with "I" language ;-).

    DougO,
    
    You could always get a present for someone...   :^)
    
    You'll have to supply your own someone, though.
    
         Margaret

    
    I've just heard that in Tech Square (AI lab at MIT), females can now
    enter a door marked "WOMEN" instead of a door marked "LADIES" when
    using the restroom.....
    
    -Jody

I see: all ladies are women, but not all women are ladies.

Unfortunately the new label implies adulthood.

Perhaps it would have been better if it were to read "females" ?

:-}

/. Ian .\

    I was handed a packet of information, and the cover illustration
    was:
    
    The brave and stalwart rider gallops briskly towards the rider,
    outracing a band of mustachioed desperados on horseback, waving
    guns.  Her true love is draped, unconscious (but looking surprisingly
    comfortable), across her horse's withers.
    
    						Ann B.

    
    I heard on the radio this morning that a Hennes advert has been
    withdrawn due to a "large volume of protests from both men and
    women".
    
    The advertisement was for underwear, and showed a scantily-clad
    woman with the caption - "Last time we showed this advertisement
    we got 78 complaints from women. And none from men."
    
    The gist of the protests was that this caption supported the
    view that women's opinions are unimportant, and the ad has
    been withdrawn on this basis.
    
    Hennes are a Swedish clothing company.
    
    'gail

    Backlit posters in bus kiosks all over downtown Toronto
    
    The photo: a young woman
    
    The copy:	This woman's work
    		is as valuable as
    		a man's
    
    		That's why Pay
    		Equity is the law
    
    		Get the facts
    		Call the hotline
    		4XX-XXXX
                        

    35.83 reminds me that I've just finished Patricia Highsmith's singular
    romance, "The Price of Salt".  As one of the world's premier Highsmith
    scholars (: >,) I'll probably try to place a long review elsewhere, but
    for now I'll just say that it was nice to have a very old-fashioned
    (the book was written in 1952) romantic novel with the brooding moody
    wealthy dashing mysterious love object being a woman.
    
    Ray

	Continental Airlines has apologized to, and reinstated with
	back pay, a woman who had been fired after refusing to comply 
	with a new rule that required that the woman wear make-up.
	The rule was also reminded.

	Continental made the move after receiving many calls
	from the public...

				Tom_K

the woman also was scheduled to appear on Oprah next week

>;->

it's good to be right, but it's better (sometimes) to be EFFECTIVE!!!!

Sara

    re: .87 "reminded" --> "rescinded"?

    While visiting Joseph did not lift the seat when he used the toilet. 
    But I observed him very carefully wiping the seat with toilet paper.
    
    

    I heard a Jay Leno bit on WBCN this afternoon, and he was talking about
    stupid pop-psychology books, and what sort of moron (his word, not
    mine) buys and reads these things...
    
    He says "There's a book called 'What women really mean when they say
    no to sex.'  Well <dramatic pause> they mean NO!!  Which part don't
    these guys understand?"  :-) :-)
    
    D!

    I heard that bit too, D. I thought yay and thought why do there have to
    be men out there who are just to stupid to figure this out. He made a
    good point.
    
    PJ

    I really like Jay Leno because he is one of the few comedians whose
    comedy does not depend on slurs or reenforcing stereotypes.
    	Linda

    I noticed my first "People Working" (instead of "Men Working") 
    sign on a highway in New Jersey a couple of weeks ago.  I've 
    *heard* of them before but can't remember actually ever noticing 
    one before.  This one was huge, right on the highway where construction
    was going on and couldn't be missed.
    
    Lorna
    

    
    Watching a live broadcast from the space shuttle and seeing that 3 out
    of a crew of 7 are women.
    
    clb

In many places, of whihc my area of New Hampshire is one, I've seen
signs reading FLAGGER AHEAD instead of FLAGMAN AHEAD.  Very nice.

-d

>Moved from 20.xxx, by author......

Congratulations to the Boston Museum of Science for having baby changing 
facilities in several the Men's rooms. They also have a mothering room 
separate from the restrooms for mothers to nurse in private without having 
to do it in the bathroom.


    Vic H

    This is being posted anonymously for a member of our community.
    
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    On Evening at Pops, Bobby McFerrin led a group of singers he calls a
    "voicestra" in a rendition of the 23d Psalm.  Before they began, he
    explained that he had changed the masculine forms in the verse to be
    feminine because God can't be defined by people's preconceptions.
    
    McFerrin isn't the only man who has done this.  The Rev. Andrew Greeley
    is a novelist who has written a couple of dozen best-sellers.  Greeley
    uses male and female indiscriminately in reference to God.
    
    People like these, very much in the public eye, are great.
    

    For a few days, the SPORTS report at 7:15 AM on WBZ radio was sponsored
    by Kindercare.

    And I seem to remember back when you couldn't find quality daycare....

    REK

    Saturday, I went to the East Coast Science Fiction Art Show Hangings
    assembly worksession.  (SF cons on the right side of the continent
    have agreed to standardize on `tinkertoy' (pipe) frames.  We got
    together in Somerville and worked in and around the NESFA clubhouse.)
    
    I had brought my pipe wrench -- as requested.  My first job was to
    cut thirty-three wires *this* long, in three colors, while C-- rounded
    up teams for pipe re-sizing.  Then, instead of doing dainty work
    inside, I joined my pipe wrench and K-- and *his* pipe wrench in joining
    two ten-foot lengths of pipe, tightly enough so that even in midwinter
    their joints would not loosen.  (Axiom: If Ann is not standing flat on
    the ground while leaning on her pipe wrench, then the joint is tight
    enough.)
    
    The Arisians also fielded a mixed team.
    
    						Ann B.

    re: .101
    
>    The Arisians also fielded a mixed team.
    
    Yeah, the Arisians are a pretty "mixed" team, aren't they? ;)
    
    -Jody
    

    re:.101
    
       Green...Envy...Jealous...Jealous...Jealous!  Wanna go...wanna go!
    
                              :-(
    
    
               L.J. (who collects limited edition/original sf/fan art)

    Re .101 and 103
    
    I'm jealous too!!
    
    snarl... grrr...
    
    Alice T.

    I was flipping through the DoomsDay 2000 (TM) manual last night,
    and found on page 47, under the heading, "Okay, so how do I
    actually play this game???":
    
    "Let's assume that you have already fired up the game, selected a set
    of character attributes, and either accepted the default name of
    ``Captain Hazard'', or changed it to something a little jazzier."...
    			[            ]
    			[   Figure   ]
    			[            ]
    "Notice that in the center of that little explored area is a cartoon
    of a human female... that's you... armed and hopefully dangerous."
    
    						Ann B.

    
    one of my co-workers queried the sample installation log of a new
    software product which titled the new nodes "susie" and "lidia".  He
    suggested "alpha" and "bravo".
    
    -Jody
    

    
    UK's Radio 1 has a true "love story" on at about 11.00am each morning.
    They used to be hopelessly sugary, but these days they're quite
    interesting - the tough stuff couples go through....
    
    Anyway, today the story was a gay love story.
    It also mentioned drug abuse, rent boys, AIDS, the famous Picadilly
    "meat-rack" (place for child sex prostitution), and a few other
    nasties that we don't often hear mentioned on the public services
    during daylight. 
    
    I was impressed. Unless we talk about these things, and they are
    mentioned in the popular media in an intelligent and non-condemning
    manner, no action will be taken.
     
    
    

    Re. -.107 (YUPPY::DAVIESA)
    
    ...rent boys...?
    
    British to American translation, please?
    
    Thanks.
    Karen

    
    Rent boys = young male prostitutes.
    
    Often under legal age for homosexual sex, and often homeless kids -
    runaways - who've drifed into big cities and find this the fastest way 
    of making money.
                

    Thanks, Gail.

    'gail,
    
    You have radios in the office? I'm jealous!
    
    Alice T.

    
    No Alice (unfortunately) - I'm in sales and I occasionally get a chance
    to listen in the car on the way to/from a customer meeting.
    
    'gail

    G'Day,
    
    	We don't have radios in the office, we have full scale stereo
    systems!  Couldn't live without it!
    
    David.
    

    if I didn't have my tapes to listen to, I'd go batty!
    
    -Jody

    
    Office Stereo = 2 cassette players + FM + CD player + 150 CDs 
    
    . . . . .but I'm still batty.
    
    
    -r

    I wish, here in the UK, companies would allow people to listen to 
    music tapes/radio throughout the day. Wouldn't affect my productivity 
    one bit.
    
    
    Jerome.

    Opposing view - music in the workplace drives me crazy. It's already
    noisy enough. Can't hear the music well enough to enjoy, coworkers
    have different tastes, adds to chaos. (I once walked out on a very
    busy weekend, when the boom box was blaring. Told the boss couldn't
    deal with overtime _and_ noise.)

    Music would seriously liven me up a bit. I'm bored stiff. In Boston
    last summer, I listened to the WFNX radio station which was varied
    enough for each member of staff (there were only three of us who heard
    it though).
    
    Alice T.
    (who _needs_ some sound! - especially if it's good old 1970s Queen)

	To further the rathole some.

	I don't disturb anyone.  Music helps screen out the distractions that
come from over the cube walls.  This is especially helpful here in MKO where
the walls are shorter than ZKO.

	I have an RRD42 hooked up to WAYLAY and the sample *windows 
application to run it as an audio CD player.  Headphone jack and volume
control right on the front of the unit.  It's subject to being pulled off
to go on someone's InfoServer if needed, but most of our engineering units have
plenty of varied peripherals already, so I'm not worried about it getting
snatched.

	I have a 15 CD case that I cart back and forth to work every day.  The
selection varies, but most of it is contemporary folk.

						--Doug

    
    	I'd go nuts without my radio in my office.  Sometimes it just
    	gets too darned quiet!
    
    	JJ
    

    I love working with the radio on.  It doesn't make me feel so isolated
    from the outside world and the music keeps my day more on a upbeat
    scale.  
    
    

    On the radio this morning there was an ad for UPS, talking about how to
    "get ahead" in business...first they suggest you use UPS for your
    deliveries, and then they say "And on your way home, stop by your
    boss's office to tell her that it is her guidance that made you what
    you are today."
    
    Obviously, they are trying to appeal to the female segment of the
    audience (their last ad campaign was directed at female secretaries)
    but still, I liked it.
    
    D!

    Odd, I've never seen a female UPS driver. Postal carriers, Federal
    Express, even tractor-trailer drivers, but never UPS.

 I have. When I was in high school, even.

 It seems like only yesterday...

    We have 2 different UPS drivers come here to NQO. Although UPS comes in
    daily with considerable amount of freight, it's not always the same
    driver. The women are here at least once a week and often more so.
    
    PJ

    
    
      I have a very dear friend who drove for UPS for a few years,
    before going into their mgt program....it was the best workout
    program she could ever have imagined; she loved it!  All mgt
    personnel must have driven at one time, which ensures a better
    understanding of their customers and what the corporation is all
    about.  Mgt also has to be ready at a moment's notice to hit the
    pavement and assist the 'rank and file' during peak times.  To this
    day, she still has her 'browns' hanging in the closet, work boots
    at the ready.
    
    Lin

The only reason that the Senate decided to postpone the vote on Supreme Court
nominee Thomas is because more than 500,000 people, mostly women, called their
Senators demanding a postponement and further investigation and clarification. 

Maybe the lawmakers are beginning to get a glimmer of insight on who they are
really working for.

Bruce

    I have recently seen two Fisher Price ads.  One is for a play laundry
    center, with washing machine, dryer, ironing board and iron.  The
    second is for a kitchen with range, oven, table, sink, and lots of
    dishes.  
    
    In both ads a little girl and a little boy are playing.  They are
    playing equally.  The little boy is ironing, while the little girl is
    filling the washer.  The little boy is setting the table, while the
    little girl turns on the "range", the little boy dries and the little
    girl washes.
    
    I loved it!
    
    E Grace

    I dreamed last night that Thomas's confirmation was just a dream. I had
    a good laugh over it with the other people in the dream.
    
    Ray