[MD] NYT: The Feminine Critique

[Akshay Peshwe]

> What man on this earth has the right to speak for women, when women have
lost
> the ability to speak for themselves?

How distant is that from being a stereotypical statement? In a country such
as yours (which I presume is the US or in the EU), there is absolutely no
concern about women not being able to express themselves. "Democracy is our
foundation" says the West, and so goes the West teaching the world how to
live. Where's the democracy now? Look at the countries in the mideast
where women don't even have freedom in clothing, let alone speech or
rebellious action. And obviously, no person is ever made up completely of
Yin or Yang. What matters is the proportion.

Women can't speak for themselves? Either that means an inherent flaw or an
imposition. The former, you'll disagree with. The latter, there simply is
little room for that argument, especially in a Western country, where
freedom of speech is embedded deeply in the constitution and legal practice.
In countries like India, although there's constitutional democracy, because
of all the corruption, if even a member of the parliament speaks against an
opponent, he's sure to receive threats. But this is 21st century India,
Britannia's legacy. If you look at the earlier India there was a perfect
constitution (Manu Smriti).

"Europe is nothing but a jagged promonitory of Asia" -- Will Durant

Akshay




On 05/11/2007, MarshaV <marshalz at charter.net> wrote:
>
> At 03:40 AM 11/5/2007, you wrote:
> >I didn't find time to read the whole article. But I can say, about the
> >gender role debate, is that women do have certain roles to play in
> society
> >that men shouldn't and just can't.
> >
> >In articles like these, I find that attempts are made to overcategorise
> >gender roles -- there is a wide range of roles, but stereotypes such as
> "men
> >are more intelligent than women" do arise occasionally.
> >
> >To be sure, the gender roles are founded in biological patterns of static
> >quality. Reproduction is one obvious example. But, if you observe the
> >continuum of mammalia, you notice that almost always the female is
> engaged
> >in bringing up the child, maintaining the home, etc. while the male goes
> out
> >to hunt. They are both necessary and complementary roles (ref. Yin and
> Yang
> >complementarity), without which the world cannot be sustained.
> >
> >In modern times, there are all these feminist groups who, simply don't
> >understand the Law and want to make blind rebellion, and want freedom
> from
> >their traditional roles and want to do what the male is supposed to do.
> One
> >example is working mothers. My personal opinion is that they have to make
> a
> >choice: either they work or either they raise the children -- you can't
> do
> >both together, because obviously the raising children part is
> compromised.
> >Society cannot be held together by that kind of compromise. The most
> >immediate and appropriate example is the lack of culture found in most of
> >modern American teenagers. American parents, and grandparents, will not
> >agree with me when I say that, but I'm sure that with the cultural
> framework
> >that America has, it is doomed to break down sooner than later, unlike
> >Eastern traditions. European culture, in comparison, is far more
> civilised
> >and upholding of righteousness.
> >
> >Akshay
> >
>
> Akshay,
>
> Wow!  Just another flavor of stereotyping!.  There are men filled
> with compassion, and there are women filled with courage.  It sounds
> to me like the Eastern traditions are as sick as those in the
> West.  That Yin-Yang symbol is spinning in each individual.  (And you
> left out gathering.  Without that gathering, there would certainly
> have been starvation.)  It's just that Yin has been distorted in
> favor of "rational" talky-talk.  What man on this earth has the right
> to speak for women, when women have lost the ability to speak for
> themselves?
>
> It would seem to me that both men and women have betrayed Kali Ma.
>
> Marsha
>
>
>
>
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