Re: Androphobia sucks

Glen,

This diverges from the topic of the list, but I will reply. Generally,
I am not willing to persist in answering such emails.

> Eva responds to Jens' "pompousness":
> >>Wirklich, Eva? Then go tell your countrymen. The rule is

known to

> >>everybody but never endorsed expressis verbis.
> >
> >This is what I call muscle logic. Males are always tempted.
>
> Hehe, as much as I'm enjoying your forthrightness with Jens,

Which is very ego-stimulated on your part... I am forthright with
everyone, not just with Jens, although you may like the latter
particularly for reasons I can see through.

We strive to abolish

> sexism once and for all, yet we indulge incessantly in

androphobia

> without thinking about it because it is deemed accepted to

bash males,

> never females.

Being realistic about some natural tendencies of the sexes has
nothing to do with androphobia. I think I have grown out of the
latter. Your statement on criticising males only is factologically
false.

Our culture abounds with it and we don't secondthink

> the result this has on boys growing up now.

Which is "our culture", Glen? Some of the oldest cultures in the
world are aware of the natural differences between the sexes
without which the world would not exist. Nothing new under the
sun.

>
> What is androphobia? It's the belief that males are somehow

inferior

> or not as intellectual as females.

Oh gees, where did you take this from? You imagination?
Some frustrated feminists may tell you the opposite. Wake up.

It is the result of an emotional over-

> compensation for the years of male domination in our society.

An interesting thought, but awfully limited to the experience of
western society. And even with regard to western history, it is
very simplistically formulated and not my view.

It is

> felt that male-bashing is deserved because of this long past of

male

> socio-political power.

This could be the thought of a feminist. Yet feminists are quite a
minority among females. Believe me, the world is full of normal
human beings of the female sex who will find what you say very
stupid.

The only problem is that I should not be punished

> for the prejudiced attitudes of my grandfather.

I think you are simply punishing yourself.

>
> We generally accept that there is an overall tendency for males

to be

> stronger than females (although not an absolute by any means

and

> there is considerable overlap in the abilities of both sexes).

I find this also very simplistic. Ancient philosophy has always
connected the ego stronger with males than with females. Even
without this philosophy, it is a natural thing. Women do have to
become mothers after all and sacrifice their egos for the survival
of their offspring, for example. The instinct to preserve the
offspring is stronger than the self-preservation instinct. This
should already tell you something. And there is nothing wrong
with the greater tendency towards competition among males. It
does, however, turn into their weak spot sometimes. Just as
other things turn into a weak spot for females. I generally see no
drama in all this, just humor sometimes. I find the sexes to be
complementary to each other and, at the same time, I recognize
the fact that some males are often more female than females.
There are no fixed rules in nature.

This fact

> combined with the stereotype that brawn equals stupidity,

means

> that we've now subconsciously equated masculinity with

stupidity.

You have just equated it with stupidity. I haven't.

>
> As I say, this has detrimental effects on the new generations
> growing up amidst all this.

Glen, is this your website, or am I wrong?

http://glen-gordon.tripod.com/LANGUAGE/

You are 24? Which is the new generation you are talking about?

Imagine being implicitly equated with

> stupidity by all the negative media around you during those

formative

> years.

That may be the case in the US and Canada, not so in my
country.

What effects does this produce? Would it not further

> discourage boys from intellectuality (because god forbid that

people

> think they're gay!), only propogating further the stereotypes and
> the senseless male-female division? Of course it would.

So you assume intellectuals are all gays? Fun stuff.

>
> And dare I say, that androphobia is tiring and offensive.

Sure, if it is androphobia indeed. Self-phobia is even worse. No
one is responsible for the nightmares our own imagination
produces for us.

Androphobia

> has many other implications and delves into a wide array of

topics

> that people wouldn't immediately think of. One is

homosexuality

> where, since we have a misguided social equation of

men=stupidity

> but gay=feminity, gay men must be intellectual.

I would be sorry about your society, if it were so.

And this is another

> strange outcrop of our present society.

I think you are in desperate need to get to know some other
societies. By the way, do you know that many German men do
and enjoy doing the housework? I don't think anyone thinks they
are gay.

>
> But, I'm sure that Eva never meant it this way nor did she think

of

> the implications.

I never meant this. Much of what you call implications is awfully
subjective and based on a lacking knowledge on life in other
societies. I also think you just failed to read my humor. Just try
better next time and you may see the light :-)

>Now, was that "muscle logic"? I don't know.

No it wasn't. At least, I would not call it this way.

Only

> Eva has the right to decide because she is female and knows

more

> than us silly oafs >:)

Glen, you are ascribing means of expression to me that I never
ever make use of.

Oh wait, but since I'm gay, I'm not really a man,

> so I must be intellectual, and I guess it wasn't "muscle logic"

because

> us gays don't have muscle. Hehehe.

I think it would be useful for you to develop some less simplistic
attitudes, starting from the attitude towards yourself.

>
> God, society is funny, eh?

I think society is as it is out of a natural necessity. If things
turned unnatural or exaggerated at times, it was for a short time
and subject to change. And it will be so in the future.

Eva