Newsgroups: soc.men,soc.women
Subject: Molly Yard, hyenas and lions
From: <RIPBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>
Date: Thursday, 10 Sep 1992 16:07:44 EDT
Organization: City University of New York/ University Computer Center

    In 1989, after  the Webster decision,  Molly Yard, visibly  upset, said
    "sixteen years ago, the women  of America sent a message...".   Now the
    important event that  took place sixteen  years earlier, was  the Roe v
    Wade decision, which was a decision by  nine MEN. It was NOT in fact  a
    message from the women of America  at all, many of whom are  opposed to
    abortion.

    Why would she do this, and what have hyenas to do with it?  There was a
    recent TV  show on  the public  channel about  the relationship between
    hyenas and lions, who  often compete for the  same prey and are  not on
    good terms with  each other.  Not  only do hyenas  scavenge the animals
    killed by lions  (sometimes driving the  lions away) but  the lions may
    also do the  same in reverse.   Moreover, the hyenas  are a matriarchal
    society, whereas  the lions  are more  family oriented,  with the males
    occasionally taking a dominant role, but in fact spending much of their
    time sleeping.  The lionesses do much of the hunting and you could  say
    that they are exploited.

    However, things are  more complex.  The  hyenas are more  afraid of the
    lions than  of the  lionesses whom  they occasionally  manage to  kill.
    However, if the lions find out that the lionesses are in trouble,  they
    will  come  to  their  help,  and  it  may well be some hyenas that get
    killed.

    Now there was an article about this by a woman, in the Science  section
    of the  NY Times  and it  was clear  that she  was very  pleased at the
    female  dominance  among  the  hyenas  and identified with the females.
    This is  fine, but  the real  war is  NOT between  lionesses and female
    hyenas on  one side  and lions  and male  hyenas on  the other!!  It is
    between the two species, with the lions and the lionesses helping  each
    other aginst the hyenas.

    Now  we  can  see  why  Molly  Yard  HAD to distort the reality of what
    happened in 1973.   It is intolerable  that there should  be pro-choice
    men, or pro-female  men, and also  intolerable that there  are pro-life
    women.  So the truth has to be distorted in the interests of preserving
    the hostility between men and  women that is essential to  Molly Yard's
    political future.

    Sure,  men  do  on  occasion,  bully  women and even worse, though less
    often.   But  they  also  carry  heavy  suitcases, change tires, and as
    happened at the sinking of the Titanic, give up their own lives to save
    the lives  of women  and children.   There are  fathers who  do not pay
    child support, but we  also have Bill Clinton,  a man, saying to  them,
    "watch out, if you do not want trouble with me!".  The idea  "men are
    bad, we women have to stand together against them", is a crock, though
    a popular crock.

    The American family  is in trouble,  in part because  fathers have been
    systematically dis-enfranchised and mothers  are unable to control  the
    teen-aged  sons  who  all  too  often  turn  to mischief.  I think that
    Clinton himself is a  sensible man who knows  this, but what about  the
    constituency  that  controls  him?   I  am  not suggestiong that people
    should therefore vote  for Bush, there  are many issues  involved here.
    But there IS a problem.

    Rohit Parikh