From: dgross@polyslo.csc.calpoly.edu (Dave Gross)
Newsgroups: alt.feminism,soc.men,soc.women
Subject: Living in a State of Siege
Date: 18 Dec 92 18:48:24 GMT
Reply-To: dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dave Gross)
Organization: The Rat's Nest, Cal Poly SLO

According to karen.van.hoek@um.cc.umich.edu:
>This general issue -- that many or most white men don't realize how bad it is
>to live in fear of violent assault -- is extremely painful and angering to
>many women....  Most of all, I'd like some more sensitivity to the fact that
>we women are living in a state of siege.

	This is the second time I have written this article.  The first
version was deemed "far too inflammatory" for soc.feminism -- probably an
accurate criticism.  But if the article was inflammatory, that's only because
it burns me when I see this sort of thing.  You know, the argument that men
don't have any idea what it's like to live in constant fear of violence.

     { NOTE:  This version was also deemed unsuitable for soc.feminism }

	That people can say this with a straight face shows me again just how
important it is that there is a men's movement examining the male gender role
and the formation of masculinity -- BECAUSE FEMINISM IS SURE DOING A LOUSY
JOB OF IT.

	Feminists like these act as though they don't have any idea of the
extent to which violence commands a man's attention and forms his upbringing.

	"We men" are surrounded by violence from our circumcision in infancy
(no anaesthesia, thank you) to being bullied in elementary school; from trying
out for the football team in high school to registering for the draft; from
being several times more likely than our sisters to be murdered to watching
boxing on television; from visiting Arlington National Cemetery to running our
fingers along the Vietnam War Memorial.

	The leading cause of death for young black men is murder.  Don't try
to tell me they need their consciousness raised about those poor women who
can't go jogging at night.

	Over 90% of those killed on the job in the United States are men.
But at least they aren't victims of sexual harassment.

	Who are being bashed in gay bashing?  Gay MEN, by an overwhelming
majority.  Who were lynched in America's brutal racist murders?  Black MEN
by an overwhelming majority.

	You don't think men live in fear of violence?  Think again!  I don't 
want to hear that anymore!  What we are as men, our masculinity, our sex
role is formed and enforced by violence.

	If a man is afraid to walk to his car at night, he does it anyway.
If he asks for an escort he's a "faggot" and is liable to be beat up for that.
If he gets assaulted on the way to the car, he just stays quiet about it
because BOYS DON'T CRY, dammit, and what?  Didn't you fight back?  What a
wimp.

	Don't try to get my sympathy by telling me how women live in a state
of siege.  Sister, you don't know how easy you've got it.
-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
	Ratio of men to women who are arrested on murder charges:  7.4:1
	Ratio of men to women executed in the U.S. since 1976:     175:1
	Ratio of men to women currently on death row in the U.S.:   73:1
Newsgroups: alt.feminism