Lawrence:
I am not an English speaking person, as I guess you know. My knowledge of
your language is very limited. That's why I am curious about the meaning of
an expresion you use recurrently and (I guess) in a pejorative sense:
western male. I thought that Lawrence is a male name but I may be wrong.
Excuse me for asking, but are ayou a female? Because "western male" sounds
to me as a feminist adjective. Only curiosity.
By the way, are there significant differences between western males and
eastern males, or western females, in terms of certainty? Is the answer a
certainty itself?
I think more or less the same way as Christoph Reuss regarding nuns habit
and choice. And I am also a western male.
Another anecdotical contribution: the neighbourhood where I live in Mexico
City is the most important jewish gettho in the country and I see a lot of
hassidic (hope it's well written) kids playing football o riding bikes
dressed in their gloomy (from my point of view, of course) black suits, with
their old fashioned gangster-style black hats and the curls. Many times I've
seen these kids watching non jewish kids (as my son, 14 yo) dressed as
normal (statistical meaning) young people: soccer shirts (Manchester United,
Roma or, much better, Real Madrid), pants or jeans, sport shoes... and I
think that they would gladly change if they had the freedom to do that. Of
course I may be wrong, it's a hunch not a (western male) certainty. But this
"uniform", as long as you can not choose how to dress, seems to me
comparable to the burkas, ("portable prisons", what a good expression).
If you tell me that these kids choose to dress that way I won't say nothing,
but I doubt it. I haven't ask because it's not easy at all to speak with
these people when you are not one of them. You can also argue that the
clothes my son wear are also a uniform, and it's true, but he can at least
choose the color of his shirt and his hairdressing.
Burkas has many forms and are closer than we use to accept.Regards Salvador Sanchez ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lawrence de Bivort" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 2:52 PM Subject: RE: Sociology/Victimology 101 (was Re: Women love the burka!) > Well, Arthur, it is that assumption, precisely, that I am challenging. How > would you know you don't have to talk to any of them? How in the world can > you be so certain, except by simply (and possibly blindly) 'being certain'. > It is, I would suggest, an untested and hence unmerited certainty. > > If you are willing to pay attention to her eyes (and read so much into > them!) why not go a step further and actually, gulp, converse with the/a > real person? > > Why, why, why have western males become so certain of their certainty? It > boggles my mind how much that is fundamental importance we western males > don't know, and don't know that we don't know. > > What in the world do you do with the Muslim women in the US (and I assume > Canada) who are deciding now to cover themselves, or even wear a veil? Or > have you decided that they are all being forced to do so, or are simply > stupid and deluded? I do think you can only figure this out by asking.... > Why so resist the idea of doing so? > > By the way, it occurred to me that many of those on this list might not know > _how_ to go about having such talks. If this is the case, please let me know > and I'll give you a couple of easy-to-implement ideas. > > Best regards, > Lawry > > > > The issue is choice. I really don't have to TALK to a burda'ed > > Muslim woman > > to know that they lack choice.
