I'm sorry to learn of infin888's experience at feeling threatened. As a
skinny gay man in Montana, I can relate to the feeling of terror and not
feeling safe. It takes a lot out of you. I have post-traumatic stress
disorder because of it. I think a lot of people do.
Maybe you could carry mace instead of a gun (although, yeah we *shouldn't*
have to in a perfect world... but it ain't so yet) and keep your mind on
kicking any potential attacker as hard as you can in the nuts. It
seriously immobilizes any man. Do you have access to self-defense courses
at any local womens' centers? YWCA? something like that? I know it might
seem like a pain, or drastic, or something, but maybe learning, with other
women, how to capture your power, and defend yourself, would give you more
confidence to deal with situations like the one you describe...
As for Bob Burns statement about sexual frustration and woman being the
"seducer" or "rejector" in a patriarchal construction/ it is exactly
that... a patriarchal construct... and it must be OBLITERATED if we are to
survive as a species on this planet. A woman is more than just a
"babe"(seducer) or a "bitch"(rejector)... a FALSE dichotomy created and
maintained by men obsessed with their mothers and their dicks.
A woman is a human being who has power which deserves respect.
Furthermore, if more men took out their sexual frustration on each other
in sexual (men doing men) rather than violent means (like sports,
fighting and war) then maybe we'd all get along better.
So, I say this to any open-minded man lurking about ecofem who is
> single, frustrated in my feeble attempts to connect
> with women, and frequently possessed by this
> mythological vision of the seductive, attractive
> woman.
to join a circle jerk and get over it.
I am, of course, speaking for myself(as an ecofeminist), and not for any
women.
jpaisain
missoula
On Sun, 29 Aug 1999, Bob Burns wrote:
>
> Dear Ecofems;
> Once again I'm moved and appalled by the woman's
> experience who shared in Digest 1453. One of the
> grounds of my spirituality is nature, and feeling
> welcomed and at home in the forest. It was a very
> profound and saddening thing to hear that almost no
> woman I know feels safe walking alone after dark, even
> in the 'middle of nowhere' Maybe especially there. I
> have no solution or suggestion about the situation.
> I'd like to share, though, a perhaps not unrelated
> dynamic from a male point of view- that of being
> single, frustrated in my feeble attempts to connect
> with women, and frequently possessed by this
> mythological vision of the seductive, attractive
> woman. I said to one friend once, in my exasperation
> "So much for the great patriarchy- men have
> everything they want- except the one thing they want
> the most!" Of course, it could be a kind of just
> deserts; if the only power the patriarchy leaves to
> woman is the power to seduce and to reject. And even
> people who have no intention to exploit this dynamic
> are still caught in it. It's just a thought I thought
> I'd throw out- maybe the solution is the solution to
> both of these problems (female fear, male frustration)
> is the same thing...
> Maybe I'm just revealing my ignorance of even the very
> basics of feminism here, but I'll throw it out
> anyway..
> In hope of a safer and more ecstatic world..
> Bob Burns, in the Georgia wilderness
>
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>
>
