Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!usc!aero-c!nadel From: gannon@MDI.COM (Alden Gannon) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: Re: Sexism vs. Men's Oppression Message-ID: <1991May14.181250.20025@MDI.COM> Date: 14 May 91 18:12:50 GMT References: <1991May13.194337.3494@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> <49629@ricerca.UUCP> Sender: news@MDI.COM Organization: Motorola, Mobile Data Division - Seattle, WA Lines: 32 Approved: nadel@aerospace.aero.org Originator: nadel@aerospace.aero.org In article <49629@ricerca.UUCP> jan@oas.olivetti.com writes: >I see a big difference between *isms, stereotyping according to *, vs. >oppression. For instance, I have met at least one African-American who >was at least mildly racist against whites, in that she believed the This is MILD racism??? Sounds worse than the Afrikaaners to me... >"blue-eyed-devil" theory that white people are inherently more *ist >_for_ _genetic_ _reasons_ than other people. But oppression requires >a power structure, and, with the possible exception of a VERY small >town, or a household closed to the world, I do not believe that >white people can (yet) be oppressed by black people. Oppression requires *power.* Whether it comes from a "structure," from a religious conviction that sways people, or from the ability to evoke fear in others doesn't matter. Any time a person has power over another person, oppression can result. If I may paraphrase Susan Brownmiller, she makes the argument that men, as a group, oppress women, as a group, with the fear of rape. Where does she get this idea? Undoubtedly, she refers to crime statistics that indicate that a disproportionate number of rape convicts are men. This fact evokes fear in women, so that even if they are never raped, they are still oppressed by their fear. I can use this same argument to claim that blacks oppress everyone, because a disproportionate number of violent crime convicts are black. I choose not to use this argument, because I refuse to be oppressed by fear (and I don't believe conviction rates are a good metric), but those who use it in reference to oppression of women must accept that it may be used in reference to oppression of any group. -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alden B. Gannon, a.k.a. Zarathustra. INTERNET: gannon%mdi.com@uunet.uu.net "Gotta find a woman be good to me, USENET: ..uunet!mdi.com!gannon Won't hide my liquor, try to serve me tea." --Grateful Dead.