Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!daemon
From: arrom@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Men in feminism
Message-ID: <12232@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Date: 24 Jun 89 19:55:00 GMT
References: <18182@paris.ics.uci.edu>
Sender: ambar@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU
Reply-To: arrom@aplcen.apl.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee (600.429))
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Lines: 18
Approved: ambar@bloom-beacon.mit.edu


>Men have been oppressing women for a LONG time.  One view of feminism
>is that it is essentially about eliminating this oppression, whether
>by establishing the equality of women and men in the current system,
>or by creating a new system based on different values.  In order for
>any such effort to succeed, what counts as oppression has to be
>decided by the oppressed and not the oppressors, otherwise the
>oppressors will tailor the interpretation to suit their purposes ...

This is circular reasoning.  The oppressed get to decide what counts as
oppression, but then "those who have experienced oppression" is used to
define who "the oppressed" are.
--
"The fact is self evident from the text and requires no supporting argument."
  --Tim Maroney

Kenneth Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!ins_akaa; BITNET: g49i0188@jhuvm;
     INTERNET: arromdee@crabcake.cs.jhu.edu) (please, no mail to arrom@aplcen)