Thatís Mr. Cassandra To You!
Hereís my favorite whiny writer-man, Carey Roberts, sniveling that no feminist has repudiated the words of the following rad-fem male-bashers who think the planet could do with a few fewer men:
"The proportion of men must be reduced to and maintained at approximately 10% of the human race."
--Sally Miller Gearhart, in The Future--If There Is One--Is Female"If life is to survive on this planet, there must be a decontamination of the Earth. I think this will be accompanied by an evolutionary process that will result in a drastic reduction of the population of males."
--Mary Daly, former Professor at Boston College, 2001
Roberts even bores us with a little Catherine MacKinnon:
"In a patriarchal society all heterosexual intercourse is rape.î
But, he leaves out my favorite Andrea Dworkin quote:
ìIn seduction, the rapist bothers to buy a bottle of wine.î
Why aren't women leaping from their chairs to speak out against these remarks? For the same reason nobody gets too excited when a man on the subway wearing green antennae insists thereís a giant pink bunny eating all the passengers in the next car. Of course, unlike Carey, the average subway rider doesnít equate antennae man to Hitler, or connect the rider-munching imaginary bunny to predictions that women are about to take a big sponge and wipe men off the face of the earth. The guy could find a global conspiracy against men on a fleaís ass. A girl flea, of course. And you know how nefarious they are!
A 9:1 ratio of women to men is somehow a bad thing now?
Good lord, if even one country on the face of the earth had those stats, I'd move there.
LYT at August 16, 2003 2:34 AM
As long as the 10% left intact is the gay 10%, I'm doing all right. :P
As for the Carey "Chicken Little" Roberts, I totally agree with you, Amy. Feminists don't get bogged down with the comments of Gearhart, Daly McKinnon, et al, for the same reason I don't worry myself with the commentary of Fred "www.godhatesfags.com" Phelps. If I went out of my way to repudiate the ravings of every homophobic, lunatic nonentity, I wouldn't get anything accomplished in my own life. Phelps is simply too small and too inconsequential for me to bore myself with. There are plenty of equally paranoid gayfolk out there to keep Phelps happy. Phelps's entire congregation consists of his immediate family and in-laws (about 50), and while he preaches "God hates fags" ad nauseum, since he does so non-violently, and without encroaching on anyone's rights, he is within his rights as a U.S. citizen to do so.
Should feminism's lunatic fringe ever attract a large following and start building the death camps, I'll take notice and speak out. But in the meantime, I prefer not to validate the ultra-weird by responding to them.
Patrick at August 16, 2003 5:43 AM
Hey, Amy. It just occurs to me, perhaps Mr. Carey's paranoia about the global anti-male conspiracy is due to the fact that he has... ah... well, perhaps... um... how do I put this?... Maybe Mr. Carey's... um... Well, let's put it this way: Maybe Mr. Carey drives an SUV?
Patrick at August 16, 2003 6:35 AM
Heh heh...funny, Luke, and good point about Carey, Patrick. I'm less worried about the people who come out with outrageous crap like "Godhatesfags.com" than the fact that our president hates the idea that gay people who love each other might be able to marry each other just like straight people and that there are millions of people who are more subtly anti-gay.
Amy Alkon at August 16, 2003 7:59 AM
"A 9:1 ratio of women to men is somehow a bad thing now?"
Yeah, if you're not one of the survivors!
James T. at August 16, 2003 8:45 AM
James T., don't you watch Star Trek? Because if there's one thing it taught me, it's that any guy named "James T." will make out like a bandit on a female planet.
LYT at August 16, 2003 11:36 AM
I was never interested in Mary Daly's work, but people whose work I actually like did give her some serious consideration (eg, her ideas got some play in Cornel West's early writings on American philosophy). But that was a long time ago. Where is she now? I imagine her sitting in a padded cell somewhere mumbling about decontaminating the earth of men.
Lena Cuisina at August 16, 2003 11:41 AM
Exactly. Lena is so wise. The padded cell next door to Andrea Dworkin's.
(Amy Alkon) at August 16, 2003 12:05 PM
This is one of those situations where if a white person said, "The world would do well to keep the black population at 10%", they would totally be looked down upon, but it's okay for a woman to say that about men. I believe in equal rights for everyone, and I used to think that I was a feminist, because I thought that meant women pushing for equality and to eradicate the glass ceiling. Now I know that I'm just someone who wants equal rights for everyone. Whatever color, whatever sex, whatever sexual orientation. I don't like to see things like this...
Clarkified at August 17, 2003 10:18 AM
You raise a good point with the reverse discrimination. An all-black or all woman college is a "unique educational opportunity, respecting the needs of minorities." While an all-white or all-male college is "RACIST!" and "SEXIST!" So I hear, anyway.
Not that I care much, really. You can spend a lot of your life being bitter about what other people get, or you can make the most of what you've got. Just seems to me that those who are the most bitter about it are rather unimpressive in the workplace and are finding the quotas a convenient excuse for their constantly being overlooked for promotion.
Patrick at August 17, 2003 5:48 PM
It's easy to understand why all-girl schools are good. To be rather glib, it's because girls get to be the basketball players, not the cheerleaders. From there, it isn't hard to make the leap to: All-boy schools are good because they let boys concentrate on other things besides figuring out how they feel about girls (and other boys). Thanks to desire, all that gets worked out in time. It's a lot harder for me to rationalize a racially segregated school. But I'm sure someone could do it.
Lena Cuisina at August 17, 2003 11:07 PM