At 01:56 PM 6/20/2003 -0700, Lezlie wrote:

>Thanks! :~)) I happen to *be* one of those radical feminist types, 

Somehow I don't think you fit the definition we've been talking about.

>and the stuff people say about those of us who are doens't seem to 
>resemble much about me or anyone I know.  

Maybe that's because you DON'T fit the category we're discussing.  Don't
get a knee-jerk reaction until you READ what is being said and understand
that what we're against is NOT feminism, but that minority among those who
call themselves feminists, who think that every last one of us must fit
THEIR definition and adopt their ideology.  We're talking about the
dogmatic ideologues, not the everyday more realistic and human (and humane)
champions of not just women's rights but human rights.  We're talking about
the ones who want everyone to march in lock-step with them, never mind that
most of us (you, included, I would wager) would simply like to see ALL
persons treated with respect and dignity.  We're talking about the ones who
seem to a disinterested observer not so much to be campaigning for human
rights but more interested in lashing out and trying to "get back" at
whoever or whatever for the hurts they feel they've suffered -- which
doesn't make the hurts any less real, but yelling at people and calling
them names and as much as saying "you're a bad person" isn't going to heal
those hurts, it's only going to compound them and just put out more bad
karma, as it were.

>Hey, some of the BEST all around, hands down no kidding 
>GREAT PARTIES were those thrown by radical-lesbian-feminist 
>Witches.  (OH -- HEERRRREEE COME the Leaping LESBIANS!!!) 

Who also quite likely do not fit the definition we're elaborating here.

>No sense of humor?? Geeze guys, what tree have you been 
>under for the last half century? 

Yes, I have run into "feminists" who had no sense of humor whatsoever.  I
have run into "feminists" who took themselves too seriously, so much so
that their stridency and offensiveness got in the way of whatever message
they were trying to deliver.  Did I say that ALL feminists are devoid of a
sense of humor?  No, I did not, and neither did anyone else here.  We are
talking about a minority, not tarring everyone with the same brush.  I
haven't been under a tree, and neither was my mother, a widow who raised my
sister and my brother and me and who had to put up with a lot of crap with
little or no protection under the law, certainly not anywhere near what
exists nowadays thanks to women like my mother as well as to more active
feminists.  I have entered the so-called "man's world" in the military, and
survived with my selfhood intact, thank you very much, and made an
impression which may have very well made it easier for other women to
follow me, if they so choose.  And to me, it is, at bottom, all about
enabling and empowering everyone to have as free a choice as possible in
the running of their lives, in the opportunities for service and for
expression, in their connectedness with everyone else.

You have chosen to be offended by the comments, rather than seeing what
we're really saying.

>Man, just because we want you to decide to be human beings 
>instead of jerks... Ok -- enough politica. Lezlie 

Well, my goodness, dearie, why do you hang around here with a bunch of
jerks?  If we're not human beings what are you doing with us chimps, anyway?

Veloci--hoo! hoo!--raptor





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