Wolfe: Misogynist Or Realist?

b sharp · 20 Oct 2006, 02:33 · from 2006-October.txt.gz

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From: bsharporflat at hotmail.com (b sharp)
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 22:33:09 -0400
Subject: (urth) Wolfe: Misogynist Or Realist?
Message-ID: <BAY103-F30A4182337041EBAE50DFCD70D0 at phx.gbl>

Jack Redelfs takes me to task responding to my post: any point in the 
lifespan, males are in greater danger and are injured and killed more often 
than females.
With-

>Men are risk-takers; they are more prone to injure themselves and other 
>men. Irrelevant.

Men remain in greater danger throughout their lives than women, that is my 
point, regardless of the source of that danger.  Perhaps you are suggesting 
it is irrelevant since men deserve their danger because they (as a species?) 
put danger on themselves?  I won't accuse you of misandry? misoandry? since 
I think society as a whole tends to agree with the sentiment that men 
deserve what they get. (there are biological arguments for why that system 
was originally set up by females, but..nevermind, nevermind, lol).

Jack responds to my:   the safety and protection of women continues to be of 
higher priority than protection of men in our society.  Chivalry colors our 
social outlook so universally it is hard to see it.
With-
>I heartily disagree.  What do you mean by "our society?" The US? North 
>America and western >Europe? Your own social sphere? Because I just don't 
>see it.

Well, I did say it is hard to see.  Actually I deleted a lot of qualifiers 
from that post on WHICH society I meant and regarding exceptions like female 
infanticide in rural India and China and female genital mutilation in 
animist Africa, fearing that was drifting too far from Wolfe (it probably 
is).  I'll go out on a limb to guess that no tribal peoples of Africa or 
Asia subscribe to this list and extend the definition of "our society" to 
mean the general cultural milieu of anyone reading this.

To help Jack or others to see what I'm saying, I'll borrow from Bob Miller 
and ask if you are adamantly in favor of putting women on the front line of 
the battlefield.  I'll also ask if you were on the Titanic if you would 
demand an equal chance as any woman to be first in the lifeboat.  If the 
answer is no to either question I'd ask why.  And timidly suggest the answer 
is....chivalry?  For what other reason (again won't get into biology) can we 
as a society consider men to be more expendable than women?

okay, back to Wolfe.

-bsharp

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