Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tl00059)

Bart Lidofsky <bartl@sprynet.com> wrote:

>kymsmith@micron.net wrote:

>> Sexism is: 'the economic exploitation and social domination of members of
>> one sex by the other, specifically of women by men' - Webster's Dictionary.

It is natural for men to dominate women, since they are stronger, both
physically and volitionally.  Most women want this, preferring men to be the
leaders.  "Exploitation" has negative connotations of injustice, which is
distinct from domination.


>> In this world we live in now, it is considered "inferior" to think
>> emotionally, whereby those who think logically are considered "superior."
>> If someone put two people in front of us, and asked us to choose who we
>> would want to lead, or be in authority - whom do you think we would choose
>> if we took as law the statement you claim to agree with?

I do not understand what it means to think emotionally.  I do not regard
your question as very difficult, since I would choose a leader who acted as
a result of thinking logically over one who acted emotionally without
hesitation.  That is one reason why men are leaders, since they do this
better than women do.  I would not want to count on an emotional leader to
win a war for me.


>	Actually, what is needed is a good balance of logic and emotion.

They both have their purposes.  Emotion is a good source of information.
Logic is a tool for determining truth.  Being "emotional," though, in the
sense of acting irrationally, as opposed to thinking logically, is a
typically feminine weakness.


>> To say that "men
>> are more logical than women and that women are more emotional then men" is,
>> and I use this term again, simplistic.  And it horribly shortchanges
>> individuals and society.

This implies that you regard generalizations as having no exceptions, when
it is just the opposite.  There are all kinds of logical women and emotional
men, but that does not make the general statement false.  I neither see how
it is simplistic nor how it shortchanges anyone.  To say that, in general,
men and women are exactly as logical and as emotional as each other, as you
are implying, does not avoid making generalizations, which seems to be your
goal.


>> It is this kind of thinking that leads to social
>> domination - how many of us have heard a women being dismissed with the
>> expression, "She's definitely on the rag!" or "must be PMS!" when she
>> strongly voices an opinion.

In many cases, it is true.  PMS and irrationality are correlated.