On Fri, 22 Oct 1999, Amanda Knox wrote:
> Agreed. In fact, many men _do_ understand sexism in a way that women do
> not. Some guys get to hear their friends talk about that 'great piece of
> a$$' the other night, or how some b**ch woman got that promotion over
> him, 'cuz she was probably bangin' the boss. Unfortunately, many men
> listen to this on a day-to-day basis, and are degraded by the 'guys' if
> they say something counteractive to that opinion. Their ability to be
> 'one of the guys' may be challenged, and sometimes even their sexual
> orientation is questioned. All because they don't agree with the sexist
> comments being thrown about the room.
You know, this never occurred to me. Thank you for raising the point. The
problem is that it must be VERY difficult to listen to that as a guy and
not be affected. To become accustomed to tuning it out, for example, so
that one doesn't even notice when it happens to a woman right in front of
them.
I really think this is a key reason (one that's always eluded me in the
past) why so many men JUST DO NOT SEEM TO NOTICE.
> Us women are not completely innocent, either. The pendulum has swung
> the other way and it's considered 'okay' by many women to put down men.
I find this extremely sad. :(
> Anyway, I get kind of tired of hearing how only women get sexist
> comments. Men get a lot of it, too, and often they don't get as much
> support when they try and stick up for themselves.
My late husband was being pursued by a female staff member at the place
where he was going to grad school. It was pretty bad, but he was afraid
(in part because she was a sexual harassment *investigator*) that people
would take her word over his. He was afraid that he would be thrown out of
grad school.
The night of his death, she told him that she had brought up to her boss
that HE was harassing HER. He was absolutely in a panic and was
complaining of high blood pressure. Less than six hours after she told him
this, he died of a hemorrhagic stroke (typically brought on by exceedingly
high blood pressure). His blood pressure was 260/160 when the ambulence
arrived.
*I* believed him and *I* would have helped, but in seeing the obstacles
that I went through trying to resolve the issue, I really got a feel for
what men go through.
--
_Deirdre * http://www.linuxcabal.net * http://www.deirdre.net
"Mars has been a tough target" -- Peter G. Neumann, Risks Digest Moderator
"That's because the Martians keep shooting things down." -- Harlan Rosenthal
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, retorting in Risks Digest 20.60
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
