Re: [*FSFFU*] On Femininity and SF

From: emrah goker (e077543@ORCA.CC.METU.EDU.TR)
Date: Wed Sep 17 1997 - 00:37:15 PDT


Gosh! I have found an empty terminal in the midst of a "red tape" war in
the university. Now, let's see...

On Tue, 16 Sep 1997, Janice E. Dawley wrote:

> I also have reservations about the "size is dominance" theory when applied
> to humans. As far as I know, there is no evidence at all for it, and some
> against it. In my Sex Roles in Comparative Perspective class in college we
> learned that -- taking yet another species as an example -- in chimpanzee
> society a male's status is closely linked to only two things: 1. age and 2.
> his mother's status. Not size. What this means in relation to humans is a
> matter of debate. When I look at the world around me I see that a person's
> parentage is the most telling influence on future economic and personal
> success. And, as people age, they generally amass more contacts and
> economic resources. (Much more the case for people who already have the
> advantage of high-status parentage.) Then there is sex -- most men,
> regardless of parentage, will benefit from advantages in the workplace that
> women don't enjoy. (Do women still make $.65 to a man's dollar, or has that
> ghastly disparity begun to close?) None of these things seem related to size.

I totally agree with everything you say. Yet what I wanted to draw
attention to was what we, as citizens of the Turkish Republic, witnessed:
In most of the provinces of Turkey, a woman older than 13 cannot have a
walk out freely, if she has some *bold* clothing. Furthermore, that a
woman can work is like obsceneity to an average Muslim man. Because, woman
is _weak_, she has Allah-given domestic responsibilities. Let's make a
Star Wars analogy: Woman do not and cannot have "the Force", so they are
bound to be ruled, to be under domination.

Now, it can be argued that _physical_ domination may be a subset, a result
of the more serious cultural/ideological/political/economic domination. Of
course. But what I, as a student of sociology, observe on the surface, is
extreme physical humiliation of women. Some weeks ago, a young woman was
killed by her family, as a result of family consensus, because she was
working as a hostess; which was a sign for the family that she would be a
whore.

I live in a country where there are orthodox Marxist male revolutionaries
famous for beating their wives at home after crying "Freedom to the People
of the World!" or "Forward For a Communist World!" in political meetings.

EMRAH



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:43 PDT