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Date: Sun, 6 Nov 2005 17:14:35 -0500 (EST)
To: Michelle Sternthal <mjste &AElig umich.edu>
cc: Daniel Reeves <dreeves &AElig umich.edu>, improvetheworld &AElig umich.edu
From: Yevgeniy Vorobeychik <yvorobey &AElig umich.edu>
Subject: Re: are you a feminist?
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> Let's think of gender conceptions, and which institutions encourage these 
> roles.  From pre-birth, our children are given a gender.  Religion, 
> schools, everywhere with a public bathroom, highlight this distinction as 
> one of the most important in society.  To equalize the playing field, we 
> must address these institutions as well and the messages they send....

As Vicky has pointed out, males like myself should be cautious in our 
comments on the issue of feminism, as we can hardly have experienced what 
it is like to be a woman. Thus, I'll keep my comments short and pointed.

1. As above statement suggests, conception of religion in modern society 
is that it promotes misogyny. It just so happens that a person I very much 
admire happens to be a self-proclaimed radical feminist. She also happens 
to be very objectively-proclaimed wife of my Rabbi in Chicago.

2. (This is in response to Vicky's comments). It seems to me that even us 
ignorant males can sometimes have insights about these issues precisely 
because we have not experienced the negative. Negative experiences tend to 
leave strong emotional residue, and, assuming we can agree on a desire for 
a better world (as symbolized by the name of this list), perhaps an 
outsider's perspective can shed much light on the issues. I will, however, 
concede my general ignorance of the subject.

3. (This is in response to Lisa's comment). I really don't see why it has 
to be black and white: either you are a feminist or you are a misogynist. 
It is not objective reality that women are oppressed, even if there is 
compelling evidence to that effect. Furthermore, we may well disagree on 
the means, and feminism, among other things, is a political movement. This 
is why my choice was "depends". I rarely make black and white 
distinctions. They just don't make sense to me...

Eugene