Theos-Talk Archives (December 1996 Message tl00234)

At 02:57 PM 12/12/96 +0000, Mark at Art House wrote:

>"Equal but different" will get no argument from me.
>
>It just seemed like you were saying that men were predominantly logic
>oriented (manas) and women predominantly emotional (kama) in some kind
>of constant sense, and that according to the chart of planes and your
>quote that "higher up was more valuable, significant and real", this
>acted as a sort of proof for your assertion of male "superiority". If
>that's a mischaracterization, then I apologize.

In that men are more logical than women, they _are_ superior.  The
mischaracterization comes from assuming that I do not believe that, in other
ways, women are superior to men, in blatant disregard for the fact that I
have said at least 10 times (a necessity that I find disappointing in a
group that claims to be open to dissent) that I consider men and women to be
equal overall, but different.  That they are different means that, in every
way that they are different, one will be superior to the other.  I do not
care how sexist that makes me seem, since, until someone points out a
specific way that this is wrong, instead of the consistent name-calling
that, so far, has been the best response to it, I will assume there is no
argument with any substance against it.  If anyone disagrees with me and
believes that women are more logical than men, or that they are exactly as
logical as each other, then why not simply say so?  Why discourage
discussion?  I find it especially ironic that women respond in an emotional,
personal, illogical way, protesting that women are really as logical as men.


>Maybe all you were trying to get at was that there are characteristic
>differences that are noticable. I think the trigger word was
>"superiority"

That this is a trigger word is not my responsibility, since the alternative
is to not make value judgments, which would make decisions impossible.  To
see value judgments as evil is necessarily hypocritical, since all of life
is about seeking the greatest value, choosing what is perceived to be the
best alternative.  If believing that there are any differences in abilities
between men and women is sexist, so that the only way to not be regarded as
sexist is either to believe men and women are identical, or, if one believes
they are different, to not dare say so, then sexism is a virtue.  The idea
that the best approach to life is to never make value judgments is anathema
to me.  Some people, in some ways, ARE inferior to others.  It is not just
imagination.  People who claim that "there is no religion higher than truth"
have no business discouraging such a statement without pointing out what is
wrong with it.  I see evaluation and acceptance as an example of Yin and
Yang.  Men tend to compete more and make comparisons more than women do,
whereas women are more prone to accept life as it is and be more cooperative.