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From: ginger@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ginger Grover)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Complimenting Strangers
Message-ID: <2@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Jun-85 21:05:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.2
Posted: Wed Jun 12 21:05:40 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 15-Jun-85 05:36:54 EDT
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Co., Seattle, WA
Lines: 45

>I don't want to make her feel uncomfortable having this
>strange guy coming up to her.

Sorry, but you would.  Women learn the hard way that *all* men
are suspect, even the ones they know.

********
FLAME ON (general - not directed at the above referenced author)
********

There's been a lot of garbage here lately about how some men feel
insulted that some women tend to lump all men together as potential
rapists, that women are being sexist or rabidly feminist, etc.
They say it isn't fair.  Well, RAPE isn't fair.  You can recover from
a bruised ego; you DO NOT recover from the atrocity of rape.  EVER.

Can't you guys understand that women *MUST* make such generalizations?
It is literally a matter of life and death, and such considerations
as whether a guy is going to feel insulted by a woman's wariness
are not a priority, except to the degree that it might make him
inclined to attack her for the "insult".  It's a no-win situation
for everyone, but some women (rightly or wrongly) do tend to feel they
have a helluva lot more at stake.  Listening to self-centered
petulant complaints that it's not fair for women to be suspicious
of *all* men can be as upsetting as the verbal attack Ellen suffered.
Until enough men realize that they have just as much at stake as women
do in puting an end to rape, and make up their minds to DO something
about it, nothing will change.  There is little that women, by themselves,
can do about the prevalence of rape; we need men to help us.  Are you
going to refuse to help us because you feel insulted at being considered
a potential rapist "just because you're a man"?  How much more would you
feel insulted if you were made to feel like a hunted animal?  What are
YOU going to do right now, today, to end the Reign of Terror?

*********
FLAME OFF
*********
					    Ginger

				ihnp4!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ginger
				(within screaming distance of
				 the Green River . . . . . )

The above opinions are my own; I no longer
give a damn whether my employer sanctions them.