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From: shor@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Melinda Shore)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Men: you are not individuals (Bull!)
Message-ID: <599@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 29-May-85 18:50:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: sphinx.599
Posted: Wed May 29 18:50:46 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 30-May-85 20:38:10 EDT
References: <756@oddjob.UUCP>, <894@mhuxt.UUCP>
Organization: U. Chicago - Computation Center
Lines: 36

[]
> From: js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag)
>     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.  

Yes and no.  The original point was that none of us lives in a vacuum
(no, not even engineers :-)).  I won't take responsibility for the
actions of another, but I'm certainly going to recognize that what
someone else does can have an effect on my situation.  The fact
remains that for much of this country's history, several groups
(classes, you might say) of residents were not allowed to participate
socially, economically, or politically.  The effects of this are
still being felt at the individual level, even though most
individuals weren't participants.  And the question remains -- what
are *you*, as an *individual*, going to do about it?  Are you going
to say "Gosh yes, lots of people were treated badly for unacceptable
reasons and I'm going to do what I can to treat every individual the
best that I can," or are you going to say "Hey, it's not my fault.
I'm pulling down big bucks as an engineer, so the system works for
me.  I think I'll just ignore all this equal opportunity nonsense."

As a feminist, I'm not asking for privileges.  I'm asking for parity.
Too bad that we can't get even that without complaints from those who
*are* privileged.
-- 
Melinda Shore 
University of Chicago Computation Center

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