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From: js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Men: you are not individuals (Bull!)
Message-ID: <894@mhuxt.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-May-85 14:56:52 EDT
Article-I.D.: mhuxt.894
Posted: Wed May 29 14:56:52 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 30-May-85 06:04:25 EDT
References: <756@oddjob.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 35

> But recently I've come to the realization that I am NOT an 
> individual; although my friends and family treat me as such, society does not.
> Whether I like it or not (or know it or not), society treats me as a (white)
> man. This has lots of effects. I'm given the wine list at restaurants; I'm
> given preference for certain jobs; I'm expected to be interested in sports, 
> etc. etc. Whether for good or for bad, I am not an individual - I live, work
> and interact with other people - I do *NOT* live on an island. Consequently,
> just as I have to accept (to a certain degree, at least) the way society
> treats me just because I am a man, I have to take responsibility for being
> a member of that group of individuals called men. So now I no longer object
> to the phrase "Men do...". One *can* describe a large group of people by a
> number of characteristics, some good and bad. 
       Certainly, one *can*.  Once can say: 'Women are no good at engineering',
or 'Blacks are shiftless and lazy.' or 'Jews have big noses.'  Of course, if
one *does* say these things, then one is guilty of incorrect generalizations,
racism, and sexism.  Why do you think it should be different when the group
being generalized is 'men'?

> So, I say to you men: you are *not* individuals. Society treats you as men,
> which, in most cases, has benefited you. Be willing to accept (in part) the
> blame for what other members of the group "men" do. 
     Society also treats me as an engineer, which, in most cases, has
benefited me.  But I'm not willing to accept (in any part) the blame for 
what other members of the group "engineer" have done.

    I will never accept the blame for someone else's actions, 
	nor allow anyone to accept the blame for mine. 
    People are individuals, and they must be treated as such.  Treating them
as groups of faceless automata fullfilling societally defined roles is cruel,
unfair, and exactly the kind of behavior which the feminist movement has been
trying to change.  
-- 
Jeff Sonntag
ihnp4!mhuxt!js2j
    "You can be in my dream if I can be in yours." - Dylan