From: edsum02@venus.lerc.nasa.gov (Cassondra Pope)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american
Subject: Women Bashing
Date: 31 Aug 92 12:37:00 GMT
Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41

>>
>>Uh,... I may be a little late to get involved in this tete a tete
>>but,...uh... are you aware that this is pretty much how a great number
>>of young men (for lack of a better term) feel about women today,
>>regardless of color?
>>
>>"Do me baby" (BBD), Ootchie Cootchie (Mc Brains), "Don't bite it"
>>(NWA)... all black artists.
>>
$This isn't indicative of the majority of black males. The majority don't
$view black women as some kind of sex toy. I don't think that the original
$author's point was that black men can't be sexist but rather that white
$men don't respect black women. To simply say that men in general are sexist
$may be true but the issue at hand is dealing with white men.
> 
>>Lest you think that such banter is confined solely to the ravings of
>>questionably talented "musicians," I would advise you to sit in on any
>>group of brothers in the twenty-something range and listen.  The
>>conversation often drifts to women and some very UNFLATTERING views
>>concerning them.  
> 
$I think that it depends on the group. Some men, depending on where they come
$from, express their views differently than other men from different socio-
                                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
$economic areas.
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
$> 

As an about-to-be-alumna(sp?) of Spelman College, it has been my experience
that men-of-Morehouse speak in the same manor about women as you men from
"different socioeconomic areas.  Most of these young men come from middle-class
to upper-middle class background but they still talk about women like dirt.
Now, I'm not dissin' the Morehouse brothas but the general trend among 
twentysomething Black men is to speak of women in the vain of hiphop artists
Black Sheep. I know some brothas who LOVE them because there are two sides to
BS: side 1--> treat the honeys (women) like queens; side 2--> talk about um
like hos. BS subscribes to the philosophy that "ho" is short for "honey" and
as soon as there album (I still say album, I cant help it) came out Black
men jumped on this "ho" philosophy bandwagon. I know that BS is mild in
comparison to Too $hort or NWA, but I use them as a example because to me
they epitomize how the average young Black man feels about women.

Now, the subject line is women bashing (Black women, in particular). While in
college I have seen more sistah-to-sistah bashing than brotha-to-sistah bashing.
I have a friend who says at least once-a-day, "I'm TIRED of the women bashing!"
Black women are disrepecting each other and IT HAS TO STOP. If we dont respect
ourselves, then we cant command respect from Black men, white men, or anybody.
I have the words "slut", "ho", and "tramp" out of the mouths of women more often
than men.  I do admit that I am not privy to the private coversations of young
Black men, but the frequency with which I hear sistahs diss each other is
PAINFULLY high. This is not a diss on Spelman either (I LOVE my school)
but sistahs have to WAKE UP! 

> 
>>While sexism and comments from white males (conjuring up images of the
>>slave owner's son who would rape as he pleased and the black woman as a
>>seductive "Jezebel" may seem more offensive, I fail to see why a Black
>>woman would differentiate between white men who see her as a sexual
>>animal and black men who see her in a similar vein.  Trust me, you're
>>fooling yourself if you think otherwise.

Cass 
 P.S. The above address expires 9 4 92, I can be reached at
gt9153a@prism.gatech.edu