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From: jimi@SCINEWS.UUCP (Jim Ingram/Todd Jones)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: ``they'' vs *US*
Message-ID: <110@SCINEWS.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Jun-85 15:16:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: SCINEWS.110
Posted: Tue Jun  4 15:16:48 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Jun-85 01:43:54 EDT
References: <204@timeinc.UUCP> <758@oddjob.UUCP>
Organization: SCI Systems, Research Triangle Park, NC
Lines: 25

> 
> 
> Living on the south side of Chicago, and keeping late graduate-student hours,
> all I do is dress like a guy, keep my hair short, and nobody has bothered me
> in three years.  Yes I *do* walk alone after dark *frequently*.  I'm really
> tired of this provocative clothing, high-heel sneaker and rape discussion, when 
> it's pretty clear what the solution is:  look like a guy and nobody will bother 
> you.  This does not entail any loss of "femininity"--it's only a disguise, an
> appearance.  It's like my friend Jim who lives in an apartment on Manhattan's
> lower east side...before he gets on the subway, he puts on a shabby coat and
> a pair of ratty gloves with the fingers torn off, and pretends he's nodding
> out and twitching on various drugs for the whole ride.  *NOBODY* has ever 
> bothered him.  He considers this simple street-smarts, not some painful
> sacrifice of his old-moneyed inner being.
> 
> As for me, I'm convinced enough of my femininity that I *don't* have to *prove*
> it with clothing *OR* shrill rhetoric about *bad* men are.

As many other flames in net.women have pointed out, society
expects certain behaviors from women, including their appearance.
To expect women to dress in such a constrained manner to avoid
sexual assault is as unreasonable as to expect them to parade
around in high heels and low-cut dresses. Women should not
be expected to behave in any particular fashion. This, as I understand
it, is the fundamental position of feminism and a position I support.