From: wendy@sundown.mil.wi.us
Newsgroups: soc.women,alt.feminism,soc.men
Subject: Re: Self Appreciation (was: Re: Elle MacPherson causes rape?)
Date: 13 Nov 92 16:40:00 GMT
Article-I.D.: mr.1992Nov13.164000.10607
Distribution: usa
Organization: Nowhere
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]

Peter Chrzanowski (chrz@tellabs.com) wrote:
> In article <1992Nov12.171018.4931@mr.med.ge.com>, wendy@sundown.mil.wi.us writes:
> > 
> > I suggest that before you men spoute off about how women are not treated as
> > inherently inferior, you become better informed. Try the book "Women's Reality"
> > by Ann Schaef. It might enlighten you. It did me. Helped me understand
> 
> From the book, "Women's Reality" (by Anne Schaef)  :
> 
> 
> 
> 	"Once a woman is helped to see that her
> 	 perceptions are valid and that it is all
> 	 right to want to blame and feel like a
> 	 victim, she can begin moving into the     
> 	 rage stage...
> 
> THE FIRST MYTH is that the White Male System is the only thing that exists...
> 
> THE SECOND MYTH is that the White Male System is innately superior... 
> 
> THE THIRD MYTH is that the White Male System knows and understands everything...
> 
> THE FOURTH MYTH is that it is possible to be totally logical, rational,
> and objective"
> 
> If that's the sort of thing that turns you on, by all means read it.
> You'll find the phrase "White Male System" repeated about a dozen
> times on every page -- *thousands* of times in the book.
> 
> I'd classify it under "irrational hate literature" -- the word
> "irrational" being used (isn't all hate lit. irrational?) 
> because the book claims rationality is a major component of that,
> you guessed it, White Male System.  As if women didn't use reason.
> Why, some women can even do math! 
> 
> I was left wondering if perhaps the publisher,  Harper and Row,
> was not also a part of ...  The White Male System.
>  

Peter,

As the book also says, most males will not understand what she has to say
at all. I agree, you certainly proved that........

To show how male you are, you took a quote out of context to make readers
think that she supports women being victims, at least that's what it appears
you tried to do. She doesn't. Earlier in the same chapter she says:

		 "As her perceptions are validated, she will begin to trust
		  herself. She will become more willing to clarify and check 
		  out her perceptions with less fear of recrimination. She
		  will learn to discriminate between those which are valid
		  and those which are not."

What is being described at the point you quoted is the stages a women must
go through during therapy. It is a therapy based on women's perceptions of
the world. Later on in the text, comparison's between "The White Male system"
and the "Female System" are made. As she says, which system to use depends 
on the context of the situation.

Her four myths are quite true. Try being accepted as a female by men sometime.
I'm just starting my transition and I couldn't believe how bad many men
treat women. Also notice the word "totally" in the fourth myth. I suppose
you believe in everything she says is a myth. I would expect that as it
maintains your superiority.......

Wendy

wendy@sundown.mil.wi.us
Xref: sparky soc.women:19284 alt.abortion.inequity:5016 talk.abortion:47605 alt.feminism:4142 soc.men:19049