Sister Mary Lisa wrote:antishock8 wrote:Sister Lisa,
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I think I was feelig a little exasperated with Hally, or more directly, with her mindset. I think you helped clarify what it was, exactly, that she was feeling and trying to communicate. I have two daughters, and I'm doing the single dad thing. This isn't an attempt at a pat on the back, because I don't really care about that, but my point is that raising daughters to be on equal ground in their minds with men is a challenge when adult women all around them seem to be constantly settling and constantly subordinating themselves to men and half their own gender. They have a Mormon mother in Utah doing the Mormon mother thing, which is already a s****y example, in my opinion, for what I want to accomplish. They have the Mormon culture thing that you talk about (Richard Packham just posted a touching obit to his sister who took her life, a result of years of feeling worthless within Mormondom). They have the Southern thing. The gender thing. Then they have the global Patriarchy thing. Etc...
And this is coming from a dude who, by far, does not consider himself, at all, to be a "Social Progressive" (Go McCain/Palin!). I value the concept of equality, liberty, freedom, and the architecture that our system created that allows all people, if they so choose, to flourish and prosper. So with that... Perhaps you can sense my disappoint at the sentiments expressed by Hally (now understood better).
V/R
AS8
A woman can be on equal ground with men in her own mind, as you say, yet would you still say she really IS on equal ground in reality?
No. That's my point. I don't think women are regarded as equals by males. If that were the case they could do anything a man could do, but as it is they're restricted to subordinate roles. Take for example combat roles within the military... Women just aren't allowed to fulfill them. There is an institutional bias. Women are just as capable, generally speaking, to fulfill physically and psychologically demanding roles in our society. I'm not sure why men are so threatened by that, other than being taught that through religious and cultural institutions...
That being said, I think women, as a result, generally feel subordinate to men. I see it in Stay-at-Home moms. I see it in the women I work with. I see it in churches. I see it when I ask women if they would ever vote for a woman as President. Women just don't trust themselves, they don't trust other women, and they certainly don't feel like they're as good as men in a variety of roles. That, no doubt, is BS... But that's what I see. Sorry if that pisses you off, but I don't give a crap. That's what I see, that's what I'm told, and that's the ground truth. If weren't, the world would be a very different place.