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From: jamcmullan@wateng.UUCP (Judy McMullan)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: A white man speaks his mind. (Part 2)
Message-ID: <2355@wateng.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 7-May-85 17:35:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: wateng.2355
Posted: Tue May  7 17:35:08 1985
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All right. I think you've managed to give a fairly narrow meaning but at
least I find the semantics clear now. I guess it all comes down to whether
a person is glad to be a woman or a man.

Did you know that one of the questions on a popular personality test (the
Minnesota Multi-Phasic Personality Inventory) was (it may still be for all
I know) a question asking, for men, if you were glad to be a man and for
women, if you were glad to be a woman? It was a sign of good mental health
for a man to be glad to be a man and a sign of good mental health for a woman
to want to be a man. This was serious. A mentally healthy woman
is supposed to wish she was a man!! I don't know how they developed this
test. I do know that most of them are developed by just asking people, who are
judged by other criteria to be mentally healthy or not, a bunch of questions.
They then develop a set of answers consistent with good or bad mental health.

My point is, our society has come up with such a twisted set of expectations
for women that a woman has been defined as well-adjusted despite the fact that
she disklikes herself. Women are urged to adopt behaviours that are
simultaneously scorned. I could go on and on. Read "Women and Madness", for a
start.

This is why women are not usually condemned for being proud to be women. It is
such a refreshing change for them. It is such a healthy release from the twisted
lessons of society. They are becoming truly happy with themselves.

Men, too, should be happy to be men. I feel sorry for someone who wants to be
what they are not. Even small things such as wishing to be shorter or taller
are draining on a person. Make the most of what you have, is my motto.

However, the fact remains that because women and men have different societies
within a larger society, the "pride" you talk about has different connotations
and a different background (or backdrop).

The "double standard" is a direct result of the differing expectations for
men and women and the different roles they have assumed in society. The
secondary position of women means their pride is being women is not usually
a kick in the teeth to men. They simply have lower status and only when an
individual woman is able to ignore societal expectations about her status
can she become obnoxious in her woman-pride.

Some women HAVE managed to express disdain for men and made declarations that
they are glad to be women. These "castrating bitches" are quickly condemned (and
pointed to as "typical feminists").

I'd love to see the day when both women and men are seen as a little weird for
showing excessive pride in the accomplishments of members of their own sex.
When women and men (and people of all colours) are equally respected and the
feelings of rivalry and hatred are gone.

   --from the sssstickkky keyboard of JAM
   ...!{ihnp4|clyde|decvax}!watmath!wateng!jamcmullan