On Thu, 25 Sep 1997, MARINA YERESHENKO wrote:
>
> Thanks, Pat. I wish those things I had learned there worked with Oklahoma
> fraternity and dorm guys. However, it does not. "Rules of Being a Woman
> in US" are a lot more complicated and harder to figure out. In my
> country, it would be enough to pretend to be weaker, less
> smart, and absolutely not interested in men to make them, if not respect
> you, then at least leave you alone. Here, whatever you do, it will always be
> wrong.
>
That's Rule #1. Whatever you do, it will always be wrong. Friends who
were in the armed forces tell me that if they did, they were whores; if
they didn't, they were Lesbians (and witch-hunted out of the service if
the accusation stuck.) At least in the old days you could take shelter in
the dorm with the housemother and the hostels for young women such as the
ones run by the YWCA in the 20s & 30s.
Where's MZB's Guildhouses when we need them?
I lucked out in one way. I was married in 1964 and divorced in 1988
and came out of my marriage to find out that while I still had female
status (i.e. pink-collar jobs), the entire sexual harrassment thing was
happening to everybody else. "I'd rather be 50 than catcalled"?
Patricia (Pat) Mathews
mathews@unm.edu
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