[Foundation-l] Introducing a new mailing list
Gerard Meijssen
gerard.meijssen at gmail.com
Tue Dec 5 08:15:15 UTC 2006
Hoi,
Women have, like men, the ability to contribute. The way they contribute
is not necessarily the same. When you read the motivation for the
mailing list, you would have read that there is a group of women who
feel ill at ease and as a consequence refrain from contributing to our
projects. The fact that so many men are sceptical about this, shows
either that they have not read the motivation, do not believe the
motivation but what it does not prove at all is that they are right.
It is not ironic that there is a need (for your benefit) perceived need
for women to support each other. If anything, it is more of a reflection
of how our society is. As we grow bigger, we become more of a reflection
of the set way that is our society. It drives people away. People that
have things to contribute that can show that things brought to us as the
NPOV are not so neutral at all even for all the sources provided.
For me personally there are several subjects I will not touch any more
because of experiences I have had with what are to me hard nosed POV
pushers. Some of these subjects like religion, I even studied, but I
found that my brand of knowledge does not wash, my sources do not find
acceptance and consequently I leave these subject to what are to me POV
pushers. Now, I am white, male, European and I am happy and willing to
learn and discuss about the relative merits of any
language/dialect/orthography. The belief (or conceit) that we can find
solutions to most of these issues make me part of the "top dogs" for
this subject. As a consequence, when others have an opinion that is in
opposition to mine, they often will feel unhappy, treated unjustly and
they will find as much as I do that the arguments used by the "others"
are unreasonable. The difference is that apparently their conviction
does not carry the same weight as mine.
The point is, when you are part of the group that is described as
dominant, you are hardly in a position to judge how the other group
experiences what is the norm to you. When it comes to gender equality,
it was only this month that Islamic scholars told their people that
female circumcision is not acceptable. When you are lucky that in your
neck of the woods women are equal and treated equally, it does not
follow that this is true everywhere. It would be better to respect this
need, even if it does not fulfil /your /need and we should be grateful
when more women find their way to fill the niche that is waiting for them.
Thanks,
GerardM
Source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6176340.stm
Corum O' Fallamhain schreef:
> Since women have the ability to contribute here the same as men, I really
> don't see why this is needed. Surely the scepticism being shown to this idea
> from many men is proof positive of the fact that no-one is being opressed.
> How ironic to have women in this day and age proposing their own seperate
> mailing list from men, since so many feminists fought so hard for gender
> equality. This looks to me like a step backward.
More information about the foundation-l
mailing list