Cynthia Mesh, Ph.D.
Encinitas, CA
cmesh@connectnet.com
Robert Tighe wrote:
> 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
>