From: janet@cs.uwa.oz.au (Janet Jackson)
Subject: Announcing a pro-feminist men's issues mailing list
Organization: Dept. Computer Science, University of Western Australia.
Distribution: aus
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 02:27:18 GMT

Please note:  I'm not on this list myself, but it seems like a good idea
to me.  The following message turned up in my mailbox.  It says "please
feel free to advertise the list everywhere", so...

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Return-Path: <@pucc.Princeton.EDU:ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.BITNET>
Date:         Wed, 12 Aug 1992 13:45:42 CDT
Reply-To: Activists Mailing List <ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.BITNET%pucc.Princeton.EDU>
From: "Tairatelorp" <JYANOWITZ@hamp.hampshire.edu>
Subject:      ANNC: PRO-FEMINIST MEN'S MAILING LIST
To: Multiple recipients of list ACTIV-L <ACTIV-L@MIZZOU1.BITNET%pucc.Princeton.EDU>

ANNOUNCING A PRO-FEMINIST MEN'S ISSUES MAILING LIST.
To join, email jyanowitz@hamp.hampshire.edu.
Below is a brief conception of the list, and I apologize for the
cheesy format of it all.


Origin: This mailing list came about because of my desire to talk about these
issues on the internet and the lack of a forum to do so in.  It didn't
seem appropriate to use soc.feminism for this discussion, as that
would be repeating a common pattern of male co-optation of women's
spaces (although men post there, it's often done to dialogue (ugh, I can't
believe I used that as a verb) with women).  And of course, soc.men
(aka soc.patriarchy, soc.not.my.fault, soc.bash.women, soc.kill.fags,
soc.i'm.so.oppressed) wasn't exactly a friendly forum.

Purpose:  To provide a forum for discussions of issues pertaining to being men
and being pro-feminist.  I see this as including, but not limited to,
examinations of gender, race, class, sexuality, male privilege,
culture, religion, how these and other social identites intersect/relate,
and what to do about it.  The activism part of this is particularly important
to me because among many of the profeminist men I know and the recent
writings by pro-feminist men I've encountered there is a tendency to
emphasie the political as solely that of the peronsal.  Community organizing
and other forms of activism aren't seen as necessary.  It's just, "Well, if I
live my life well and treat all the women I meet with respect, that's enough."
I would like to see discussions on strategies for interrupting sexist behavior
in the home, at school, at work, at play, in oneself, in one's kids,
organizing, with women, neighborhood anti-rape patrols, outreach sessions
to other men, and battles against patriarchy at all levels.  Of course,
isolating sexism from other oppressions (such as homohatred and racism)
is not possible, and it will be interesting/necessary to incorporate those
battles into our activism and discussions of male privilege.  (BTW, this is
slightly skewed because I'm giving my visions for this list, but that's
just because I'm announcing it/doing some of the administrative stuff.)
This is hardly complete as it's meant to be a minor introduction, but I
believe that's enough for now.

Requirements:  None.  Well that's not strictly true, since you have to
have access to a computer with an internet or gatewayed mailing address.
However poeple from all genders are welcome.

Requests: No feminist bashing.  If you want that, go post to soc.men.
Obviously there will be ideological differences, but if we're all coming
from certain base beliefs (e.g. male privilege/patriarchy is
a pervasive and evil force on most of the planet) we should all learn a lot.

well, welcome and enjoy!

once again, to join, email me at
jyanowitz@hamp.hampshire.edu
thanks.
(for those that care, hampshire is Hampshire College in Amherst, MA).

Please feel free to advertise the list everywhere.

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Newsgroups: adfa.general,aus.general