Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!aero-c!nadel From: farmerl@handel.CS.ColoState.Edu (lisa ann farmer) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: the *isms Message-ID: <14801@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> Date: 8 May 91 18:36:20 GMT References: <14622@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> <9105050838.1718@mydog.UUCP> Sender: news@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU Reply-To: farmerl@handel.cs.colostate.edu (lisa ann farmer) Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 Lines: 65 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Status: R Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org In article <9105050838.1718@mydog.UUCP> gcf@mydog.UUCP (Gordon Fitch) writes: > >|male I am more nervous. So I admit that I am racist because the power structure >|has taught me to think that this black man is more dangerous than a white man. >Suppose, however, it is true that males commit more crimes of >violence against women than females, and that black males commit >more crimes of violence than white males, or at least that we >have been told that this is true, with numbers and graphs in our >newspapers and sociology books. If the person encountered is a The problem is people _believe_ the above statements about blacks _committing_ more crimes. But the truth is blacks are _convicted_ of violent crimes more often then whites. Okay now I am going to justify some of the power theory...(I hope I am keeping this in the realm of soc.feminism). For many years science has been our foundation (of laws, of society, etc). For many years science has been a field open only to white,educated, males. (For proof of this read _Women of Science_ edited by Kass-Simon and Farnes) NOw, our society looks to science as this all-knowing entity. We think that if it is proven scientifically , it must be part of the Truth. Funny, though, how most of this Truth says that women and minorities are inferior. Who figured out that blacks commit more crimes than whites? A black man, black woman - I doubt it. Most likely some white person with the hypothesis that black people were/are bad set about to prove that. You may or may not know that statistics are easily manipulated to show the side that best benefits the group using them. Who gives money to the scientists to do research? Govermental grants are a good source of money, I would say. Now if our government is predominantly white males, who is going to get a good portion of the money and for what reasons? To promote the power structure is a pretty good guess. My point is I don't know how much of what I was taught is "true". Therefore I can never say that I am _not_ racist because the power structure is racist. Now if I was black and being told all this stuff 1)I would beleive it to be true and become that way. 2)I would believe it to be not true and try to prove I am not that way. Why a person can't be an *ist when they aren't in power? I can say all I want about how much I hate men, what scums they are etc. but the difference is I don't have the scientific community backing me up with the Truth on this issue. Nor does my group have the "power" to give money to someone to prove this idea. I can hate men, but I can't be sexist to men. I also can't be sexist to women because I have been taught to believe the same things about myself (see 1 above) and that is the systems way of keeping women down. (Ex: Women's brains are smaller therefore women can not do math. When I can do math and other women "can't" I feel superior but that is so I can kick other women down and therefore promote the White Male System.) I am not saying that I can't be predujice against males but that I can not do anything to hurt them collectively. > >Is a defensive reaction against such a person, when one is in a >vulnerable situation, racist or sexist? Or is it simply >rational? Or both? (By "defensive reaction" I mean, of course, I think it is both. It is very rational to use your previous knowledge to protect/help yourself. But the info comes from a racist/sexist/ablist/etc structure so what are you supposed to do? (That has been my question for quite some time.) >Gordon Fitch | gcf@mydog.uucp | uunet!cmcl2.nyu.edu!panix!mydog!gcf Lisa farmerl@handel.cs.colostate.edu "If people want to make war they should make a colour war and paint each other's cities up in the night in pinks and greens." Yoko Ono (_Louder than Words_)