Why IS it that we do this? If I said that the South Pacific High creates more
rain storms than the Aleutian Low, nobody would say, well, shoot, the Aleution
Low isn't perfect either!
Do we really want to walk away from the numbers by saying, well, heck, upper
class women dominate lower class men? I don't know how many upper class women
you come across in a day, but I haven't seen one since, um, wow. A long time.
I do see women who have been beaten. I do see women living in fear that they
will be killed if they leave their abusers.
American men are not only more violent than American women (by a long shot)
but they are more violent than men of other 'industrialized' countries. I
don't mean dominating. I mean violent. Is that what we want? Is that how we
want to live? Is it hopeless? Is it OK for that to be happening because,
after all, women aren't perfect? Is it meaningless to the lives of women and
children? I remind you that these are not acts undertaken against the enemy
during a war. They are acts against our own. Anybody besides me believe we
can do better?
Madrone
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sun May 10 05:05:29 1998
Date: Sun, 10 May 1998 06:59:23 -0400
In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: will bason <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: people as groups - gender and violence
>Why IS it that we do this? If I said that the South Pacific High creates more
>rain storms than the Aleutian Low, nobody would say, well, shoot, the Aleution
>Low isn't perfect either!
I like the weather analogy and think we will get a better idea of what's
happening by looking at the whole picture.
>Do we really want to walk away from the numbers by saying, well, heck, upper
>class women dominate lower class men? I don't know how many upper class women
>you come across in a day, but I haven't seen one since, um, wow. A long time.
>I do see women who have been beaten. I do see women living in fear that they
>will be killed if they leave their abusers.
Compared to people in the "third" world , We are all upper class (
allthough i don't personaly like any of this language). Our over
consumption is violence against not only these people but the whole of
nature including ourcellves. To stop these violent patterns is going to
take co-operation.
Blame hurts, and indiscriminately blaming a gender (or continent for that
matter) tends to hurt exactly those who are sensitive to the problems.
Blame is a form of violence. The word even sounds a little like a gun
going off. Having said this, let me back up and say that blame, shame and
social ostracism can, are, and should be used against specific abusers.
>American men are not only more violent than American women (by a long shot)
>but they are more violent than men of other 'industrialized' countries. I
>don't mean dominating. I mean violent. Is that what we want? Is that how we
>want to live? Is it hopeless? Is it OK for that to be happening because,
>after all, women aren't perfect? Is it meaningless to the lives of women and
>children? I remind you that these are not acts undertaken against the enemy
>during a war. They are acts against our own. Anybody besides me believe we
>can do better?
>Madrone
Violence is not OK. Domestic violence is not OK. War is not OK either.
These are Not what We want. Yes, We can do better.
will
