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From: rshapiro@BBN.COM (Richard Shapiro)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Gender?  Do we need it?
Message-ID: <48903@bbn.COM>
Date: 29 Nov 89 22:27:09 GMT
References: <255E038F.11686@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca> <1989Nov25.080406.19293@agate.berkeley.edu> <7256@cs.utexas.edu>
Sender: tittle@ics.uci.edu (Cindy Tittle)
Reply-To: Richard Shapiro <rshapiro@BBN.COM>
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In article <7256@cs.utexas.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.EDU (Russell Turpin) writes:
>Let me turn these questions around.  Very few of us are bisexual.
>Most people have greater erotic desire for one sex than the other.
>While some of this preference may have to do with gender roles, some
>of it clearly does not.  Does the fact that other people's sex
>influences one's attraction conflict with abandoning gender-roles?


Two responses. First, the notion of "abandoning" gender altogether
seems quite impossible (as Russell may well agree). Furthermore, I
can't think of any reason whatsoever why we should work for such a
goal. The problem is not gender per se; the problem is the particular
arrangement of gender which discriminates in significant ways against,
say, women. A secondary problem might be the naturalization of gender,
the idea that it's a fixed, biological construct rather than a fluid,
social one. However, none of this suggests to me that "difference"
itself needs to disappear; only the ways in which we live with it and
understand it.

Second response: Despite Andrea Dworkin, I don't see any logic to the
notion that heterosexuality is intrinsically anti-feminist. Which is
to say, "the fact that other people's sex influences one's attraction"
does not seem to me to be an impediment to or in conflict with the
goals of feminism. If you're a man and you find yourself attracted
only to "feminine" women (in the traditional Western sense) or vice
versa, *that* might indicate a problem vis-a-vis feminism. But I have
no difficulty imagining a social context in which straight
relationships are truly as equal and reciprocal as the most
egalitarian gay relationships are today. Of course, I don't suggest
for a moment that most of us live that way now, however much we may
pat ourselves on the back for being enlightened about such things. A
close, honest look at our own sexual relationships would be fairly
depressing for most of us "enlightened" folks.


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