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From: andrews@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jamie Andrews)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: what makes you feel feminine/masculine?
Message-ID: <37@ubc-cs.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 7-Oct-85 14:12:48 EDT
Article-I.D.: ubc-cs.37
Posted: Mon Oct  7 14:12:48 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 7-Oct-85 23:28:53 EDT
References: <248@ssc-vax.UUCP> <1944@reed.UUCP> <32@ubc-cs.UUCP> <848@homxb.UUCP>
Reply-To: andrews@ubc-cs.UUCP (Jamie Andrews)
Organization: UBC Department of Computer Science, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Lines: 36
Summary: 

In article <848@homxb.UUCP> hrs@homxb.UUCP (H.SILBIGER) writes:
>Re Jamie Andrews' observations that men are constrained from
>doing traditionally  feminine things like wearing skirts,
>wile the reverse is not true.
>This will only change when men and women are seen as being
>truly equal.  As long as society sees the man's role as
>being more desirable, powerful, or what have you, any
>man who takes on what are seen as feminine ways and
>attributes will be denigrated.  This will even be true
>by other women, since they are subject to the same societal
>norms as men....

     I don't accept this analysis.  Does Ginger Grover think
women are inferior because of what she said?  (probably not)
     When heterosexual men object to being thought of as
like women or gays, they have a very good, non-sexist
reason: they're not.  It's very possible to wish that you
*were* a woman because you seem to want to do "women's
things", or wish that you *were* gay because so many people
seem to think you are.  (I think I'm past most of that now.)
     Men have economic and political power in our society;
but they don't have the power to change what people think of
as masculine or feminine.  When people talk about the
privileged position of men, they're thinking of the classic
male chauvinist.  They're not thinking of the men who get
burned emotionally and socially by society's expectations of
them.
--Jamie.
   ...!ihnp4!alberta!ubc-vision!ubc-cs!andrews
"`If you are a wise man it certainly is your field,' said Maria.
   `They said a wise man should be able to catch the wind in a net.'" -R.Davies
--
p.s. thanks for all the responses
p.p.s. to tom "ointment" frye: Yes, I am a Scots Canadian,
       but I don't like my tartan (clan Ross) much. I'd
       rather have flowers on my skirt :-)