Letters to the Editor
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@AKA Smith
However, I do believe it IS okay if people offer anecdotal evidence, isn't it?
I think I said it was, didn't I? Although anecdotal evidence doesn't prove anything in any direction, it has its place for illustrative value.
Or do you feel some particular need to be rude to the most recent Anonymous.
I was no more snarky or rude toward that Anonymous than that Anonymous was toward me and my post.
No wonder some people prefer to post as Anonymous.
Because they're passive-aggressive?
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@AKA Smith
What particular feminists are you talking about? I don't recall that woman saying she was a feminist and that that had something to do with her preference.
I wrote "feminists OR women". Did you miss the "OR" in that phrase? My point was that women will never allow a man to get away with making sweeping generalizations about all women or even a large subset of women based on the actions of ONE woman or even a few women, but they do the same all the time in the other direction. Like the Anonymous who started this gynecology tangent, when she strongly implied that due to a bad experience she regarded male gynecologists as perverts. And not a single woman on this thread called her on it and criticized her for making such an unfair, sweeping, offensive generalization.
Just how OLD are you anyway?
My age is irrelevant to the discussion and none of your business. Old enough to be a parent and out of college for many years. That's all you need to know.
These things really aren't about statistics or logic. People may have many PERSONAL reasons for feeling as they do.
And sometimes those personal feelings are unfair, offensive, unfounded, ridiculous, illogical, or any number of other things. But it's clear that your deep concern for the personal reasons behind the feelings of many people, and the kid gloves you use to discuss them, only apply to the feelings of women. I've seen you take the kid gloves off and put the boxing gloves on when it comes to the PERSONAL reasons for some of the MEN on these message boards feeling the way they do. Yet again, you're transparently selective in your protectiveness, concern, and respect for the feelings and reasons of others.
I never have been much on the "Get over it" attitude. I prefer to be more gentle and understanding with people.
To whom on this thread did I ever say, or imply, "Get over it"? NO ONE, and you know it. You're just twisting my arguments yet again to suit your own purposes. There's a huge difference between telling someone who was sexually assaulted to "get over it" and finding fault with a woman for rejecting an entire group of people and implicitly defaming them due to a bad experience. Oh, and I've seen abundant evidence of your "more gentle and understanding" attitude to people on these threads, especially those who disagree with you. Gentle and understanding! LOL Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back.
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@Anna68
I fail to see what exactly you're arguing. The living conditions of women in Muslim countries has nothing to do with why Islamic extremists and terrorists hate and attack the United States. 9/11 wasn't motivated by Bin Laden's desire to march into Peoria or wherever you are and force you into a burqa and then into a mosque. It was motivated by his desire to drive our military control and political influence out of the Middle East.
Please pick up any available book on logical debate and fallacies. There are several good ones available. Then read it very closely. Thank you.
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interpretations
I find it very interesting how different people can read the same thing and have completely different interpretations of it. This is the post (I think) that started the whole male vs. female gynecologist debate.
“If there are going to do this sort of thing then there is no excuse for not having female officers there to supervise any removal of clothing by women. I am an older woman and I don't even go to a male gynecologist if I can help it. I bet these guys were abusing their power. I would have demanded a female officer.”
Leftychris says this woman was implying that male gynecologists were perverts. I didn’t get that at all. I thought she was complaining more about the fact that there weren’t women around to conduct the search. She doesn’t go to men because she’s modest, not because she thinks they’re all pervs. I didn’t go back and read every letter, so maybe she said something later, but this particular post is not insulting to male doctors.
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@ leftychris
I decided to repost part of what the original Anonymous said since we were discussing her post. She said:
"Twice, male doctors have actually acted inappropriately while examining me. If a guy goes to medical school and can't a clitoris from a vaginal canal there is either something wrong with him or wrong with his education. Once when I was waiting for a mammogram no less than four men came in and one after another attempted to give me a breast exam. I finally began yelling for the nurse. She said they were just trying to learn. Well, no one told me or asked my permission. I am not a guinea pig.
I am also the anonymous who said I preferred female OB-GYNs. I believe that is my choice and not leftchris's choice since it my damn body. It has nothing to do with the patriarchy.
I am an older woman and I was brought up to be very modest about my body. I didn't like to change in gym class and that was all females. People who think they have a right to tell other people how they should feel about personal matters are assholes."
Hmmm. I don't think she likes you.
However please note that she tells you that this attitude of hers is nothing to do with feminism. She even says that she is modest even around women.
I looked back through this thread and you were the first person to begin hollering about feminism. You have an agenda about feminism and you bring it in to the conversation in order to "defeat" it. However, this woman is saying that her issue with the males guards is somewhat related to her feelings about modesty.
Almost all the women in this thread said something similar about not liking the way the guards of the original article treated the woman. YOU were partly responsible for shifting the thread to airport security and to feminism and to somehow feminists endangering the nation due to modesty.
Get a grip. Nothing the women in this thread said about modesty was in any way hysterical or unreasonable. Why don't you just admit that, very much like brightstar and the Obnoxious Anonymous, much of your purpose here at Broadsheet is to promote masculist rights and denigrate feminism.
The problem is that, in doing this, you are often accusing women of things whether their stance is a feminist one or not.
Women are modest and identify with the woman in the article? Then conflate their feelings with feminism and ridicule their position. Reposition the original article to be all about NATIONAL SECURITY and claim that feminists are endangering the nation. Oh those crazy irrational feminists! (I can quote your post where you come pretty close to doing this.)
The Anonymous in question was victimized by a doctor? Be sure you make her position out as absurd. Diminish her concerns as irrational even though something hinky happened to her twice.
You say that I am not kind to certain people. Oh, that is an understandment. I don't intend to be kind to them. However, let one of them post that they have been personally sexually victimized and I will be right there with concern for what has happened to that man just as I would for any woman.
Let me help you out. When people mention they have been victimized sexually, the proper and mannerly response is: I am so sorry that this happened to you. That must have been a difficult thing to endure.
I have trouble summoning the same level of concern for brightstar just because he can't seem to get a date. Somehow these two things, sexual assault and not getting a date, are not even roughly parallel.
You know, despite the fact that you like to write about sexual abuse issues, I don't think you have much sympathy toward the people these things actually happen to -- witness how you went on attack of the Anonymous I quoted above.