Re: A place for the guys

Robert Tighe (tighe@APSICC.APS.EDU)
Fri, 22 May 1998 14:22:56 -0400


John Meyer wrote:

> It's not that I hate women; it's simply that I
>want a break from them at times, where the primary thing on my mind is not
>posing for a girl to get her into bed.

Part of what has to be changed about men's attitudes is this idea
that they can't be around women without their "primary" thoughts
being about sex. If you can't do this, John, it means that you
are incapable of treating a women as if she were a complete and
complex person. Maybe there SHOULD be very few places where men
like you can get together with other men and reinforce each
other's stereotypical attitudes.

>Yet there seem to be fewer and fewer places like that, where guys can hang
>out alone and not be considered either a gang of rapists or simply pigs.
>Fraternities are now under attack, and I think that some of the attacks are
>being generated by those who are suspicious of any large group of guys,
>whether white, black, or whatever. They think that somehow the men are
>doing something that endangers girls or is generating money, and they think
>that by placing girls there they can eliminate that danger.

Maybe this is because all-male institutions have been strongly
supportive of two tendencies which worked to the disadvantage
of females:

a. Reinforcement of the male attitudes which treated women
primarily as sexual objects to be dominated, and which
considered women as so different from males that there
was no reason to include them in ordinary commerce.
b. Building contacts which reinforced the "old boy's network"
and effectively removed women from the knowledge and peer
groups which controlled access to most careers.

Fraternities and other all-male institutions have been effective in
continuing male dominance of the economy and higher education. If
sororities had anywhere near the social influence that fraternities
have always had, there would be reason to disand them, too. Until
then, incorporation of women into all-male institutions (i.e., the
Citadel, Rotary, executive boardrooms) will be an important tool in
reducing the attitudes which encourage men
to discriminate against women, and hopefully will help to push
men toward thinking of women as complete and capable humans.

-- Bob

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Robert Tighe Resource Teacher tighe@apsicc.aps.edu
Instructional Technology Outside of a dog,
Albuquerque Public Schools a book is mans best friend;
220 Monroe SW inside of a dog,
Albuquerque, NM 87108-2811 its too dark to read.
USA -- Groucho Marx
505-256-4266
http://www.aps.edu/aps/SW_depart/~Tighe/rtighe.html
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