NH: I can find the Delany quote if I look, but I think that the gist of
what he said is that, as supportive as he is of feminism, he will never
wear a woman's body and walk in a woman's shoes, any more than a White
person could claim to be a Black activist. He, by very nature of being
male, is part of that group of people from whom women have/have had to
wrest our share of privelege. He says he cannot be inside the experience,
but he can walk alongside us.
-nalo
On Fri, 4 Apr 1997, lissa bloomer wrote:
> AMP wrote:
>
> >2) later on, in _silent interviews_, he explains whatever he thinks about
> >his being labeled "a feminist sf writer". he tells that he thinks he
> >isn't, and shall never be such, because he thinks it's impossible for a
> >man - no matter his sexual preferences - to be actually a feminist.
> >
> >does anyone thinks this is food for thought?
>
> hmmm. i think anyone who is against rape, against domestic violence, and
> all for women being treated well and unbiased in the workplace (i almost
> wrote "equal", but i'm working that word through, these days)(we're not
> equal... don't want to be)is, in my book, a feminist. what's terrible,
> though, is that so many people these days don't want to call themselves
> feminist because it would thus label them as ones who are against males in
> some way... (which, in many cases, they are... but it seems to be certain
> males in particular.) i'm thinking of my freshman (freshpeople) class -- i
> asked them "how many of you would call yourselves feminists?" and 1 or 2
> out of a class of 25 would raise their hands. but if i ask "how many of
> you are for women being treated equally in the workplace?" or "how many of
> you think that women should not have to obey men?" or other questions like
> this, and of course, all of them raise their hands. i wish i could be like
> Lillian Robinson (who used to teach here at Va Tech) who tells her classes
> that if anyone is not a feminist or if anyone doesn't like Virginia Woolf,
> they should get out of her class immediately. ha. wish i could muster up
> the same ovaries.
>
> i'm surprised that delaney said that men cannot be feminists. because he
> seems to be a sympathetic and empathetic man -- enough to know that the
> mind can understand anything, regardless of position. (reminds me of that
> senator who said to anita hill, "i'm sorry i don't know what it's like to
> be a woman, so i can't begin to understand your situation." -- i think
> that's a big ol' cop-out.)
> feminism is comprised of both sex-issues and gender-issues. and certainly
> not every woman is a feminist. (even though she should be :)
>
>
> -lissa bloomer
>
>
>
>
>
> if you're wearing pants, thank my great great great grandmother.
>
> elisabeth bloomer
> instructor, english
> virginia tech
> ebloomer@vt.edu
> 540.231.2445
>
"Would you trade your funk for what's behind the third door?"
P-Funk, "Funkentelechy"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:05:57 PDT