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From: ellene@microsoft.UUCP (Ellen Eades)
Newsgroups: soc.women,news.misc
Subject: Re: Update on Guidelines for Posting to Soc.women
Message-ID: <635@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 7-Aug-87 14:37:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: microsof.635
Posted: Fri Aug  7 14:37:00 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 9-Aug-87 07:33:01 EDT
References: <1129@gryphon.CTS.COM> <389@astroatc.UUCP>
Reply-To: ellene@forward.UUCP (Ellen Eades)
Organization: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA
Lines: 36
Xref: mnetor soc.women:6109 news.misc:841

In article <389@astroatc.UUCP> gtaylor@astroatc.UUCP (that wierdo in the 5-sided shoebox office) writes:
>
>Just a suggestion on this one....
>
>It certainly seems sound to have the previous paragraph (which I'm not
>including here) make reference for the need on the part of some male
>posters to be sensitive to the anger that some women may feel, but it
>seems to me that the above referenced section suggests by the chosen
>example to suggest or imply that excessive generalization on the basis
>of personal experience is a "male" trait. Is it possible to express 
>this entirely appropriate point in a way which is more gender-neutral?
>[...] the tendency to fallacy and sloppy rhetoric is
>not limited to the beneficiaries of the Patriarchy. Unless you'd
>care to argue that the charge of excessive generalization from 
>experience as a criticism is just another way that men seek to oppress 
>women, or that such a fault only applies to discourse by men.

I disagree.  I think the paragraph should stand as it is.  The fact is
that whether or not excessive generalization on the basis of personal
experience is a "male" trait, IN THIS NEWSGROUP excessive ignorance of
women's angers is a male trait.  What many of the women in this group
are objecting to is not excessive generalization about males but exces-
sive usurpation of soc.women BY males.  

I certainly agree that sloppy rhetoric is quite gender-neutral.  The
point Miriam, and I, and many others, are trying to make BY THESE
GUIDELINES is that this is not soc.gender-neutral, this is soc.WOMEN,
and male generalizations about women are simply going to be much
less readily accepted here.  This is not soc.bash-men either -- but
there has been MUCH less need to emphasize THAT fact than that this
is not soc.bash-women.
--
Fresh may the breezes blow, cool may the rivers flow
Blue above and green below, when I'm far away.
--
Ellen Eades 			...uw-beaver!microsoft!ellene