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- Xref: sparky alt.abortion.inequity:6087 talk.abortion:52581 soc.men:21592 alt.dads-rights:3056
- Path: sparky!uunet!olivea!sgigate!sgi!wdl1!bard
- From: bard@cutter.ssd.loral.com (J H Woodyatt)
- Newsgroups: alt.abortion.inequity,talk.abortion,soc.men,alt.dads-rights
- Subject: Re: Unfounded Allegations Of Sexism
- Message-ID: <1992Dec21.192414.1542@wdl.loral.com>
- Date: 21 Dec 92 19:24:14 GMT
- References: <1992Dec19.010153.21978@zooid.guild.org>
- Sender: news@wdl.loral.com
- Reply-To: bard@cutter.ssd.loral.com
- Organization: Abiogenesis 4 Less
- Lines: 89
-
- goid@zooid.guild.org (Will Steeves) writes:
- # bard@cutter.ssd.loral.com (J H Woodyatt) writes...
- # JHW> # -- goid@zooid.guild.org (Will Steeves)
- # JHW> >> -- bard@cutter.ssd.loral.com (J H Woodyatt)
-
- [ Deletia ]
-
- # JHW> I believe the family courts have been perpetuating unfair gender
- # JHW> stereotypes in the meting out of family law, and I even believe that
- # ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- #
- # How so? Did you mean "Men should work and pay for the kids, women should
- # stay home and support the family"? I would imagine so.
-
- That and a few other noxious ideas.
-
- # JHW> mainstream feminist organizations have been shamefully lax in
- # JHW> promoting change -- my complaints are simply that much of what the
- # JHW> men's child custody rights wing of the men's movement has to say
- # JHW> grates on my nerves because of the rhetoric they use. It turns me
- # JHW> right off.
- #
- # How so? What sort of rhetoric bothers you?
-
- Yours is a clear example of what grates on my nerves. Sexist,
- anti-feminist pure backlash claptrap most of the time. Look, men are
- being unfairly denied custody of their children in divorce cases
- because of sexism in the family law courts. Women's rights
- organizations haven't been particularly quick on the draw to attack
- the problem -- big surprise eh? Anti-sexism isn't as popular among
- men as it is among women. The trouble is that the rhetoric of the
- father's rights crowd doesn't really sound anti-sexist to me. It
- sounds very sexist. How does one defend a lawsuit filed by a man to
- stop his soon-to-be ex-wife from having an abortion on the grounds
- that a woman's right to an abortion isn't as important as a father's
- right to custody of his natural offspring? How can one do it and
- still claim to be anti-sexist?
-
- -----
-
- [More deletia]
-
- -----
-
- # JHW> >>>> Something. Anything. Shit or get off the pot, son. Either decide
- # JHW> >>>> you're a Real Man and you can take a little criticism, or get used to
- # JHW> >>>> the fact that you're a snivelling little weasel whose only purpose in
- # JHW> >>>> life is to keep the Little Woman from ever having to do anything but
- # JHW> ### ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- # JHW> >>>> look after the children.
- # JHW> ### ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- # JHW> ###
- # JHW> >> [ Twelve plus lines of defensive 80-column handwaving deleted ]
- # JHW> # ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- # JHW> #
- # JHW> # It was *NOT* "hand-waving" - I had asked you to PROVE your allegation
- # JHW> # that my purpose in life is "to keep the Little Woman from ever having
- # JHW> # to do anything but look after the children".
- #
- # JHW> Yeah, which is why it was `hand-waving.' I never made such an
- # JHW> allegation. If you will be so kind as to re-read what I wrote (most
- # JHW> of which is still quoted above), you may decide that it makes no sense
- # JHW> to read the text in question as literal and not metaphorical. If,
- #
- # I have reread it, and I have found it *very* difficult to find something
- # metaphorical in "face the fact that you're a snivelling little weasel..."
- # It seems *quite* literal, and doesn't really seem to lend itself to a
- # metaphorical interpretation.
-
- Jeez-loo-eeze! Okay -- here, I'll rewrite it for you:
-
- Something. Anything. Shit or get off the pot, old bean. Either
- decide you're a renaissance man and your sensibilities can withstand
- being ruffled by feminist political discourse, or resign yourself to a
- simple existence as a snivelling little weasel whose masculinity
- depends entirely on his ability to be a primary breadwinner for his
- family -- because if you really do approve of equality for women in
- the workplace, you'll learn to accept the fact that equality means
- that they have to play by the same rules you do.
-
- Of course, this rewrite is more insulting to you than the original,
- but hey -- you asked for it.
-
-
- --
- +---------------------------+ ``Man has not a single right which is
- | J H Woodyatt | the product of anything but might.''
- | bard@cutter.ssd.loral.com | -- Mark Twain
- +---------------------------+
-