Christopher - all this is such a travesty of what I said that I don't know
where to begin. Maybe I express myself incredibly badly, or maybe you are
analysing a phantom subtext which is strangely at odds with the supertext.
How does differing with the views of _some_ Moslem women (yes, I know some
too) mean that I deny the "validity" of their views? How does anything I
say deny complexity and contradiction? I have been at pains to express the
opposite possibilities, despite the limitations of email ... Nor can I see
that I have ever posited a view which makes women "passive" victims of men;
nor have I ever bought the numinous victim-status of womanhood, which
interests me not at all, neither personally nor theoretically, which seems
to me quite different from expressing the fact that women and children very
often are victims of the societies in which they live, and most often the
most powerless members of it; and didn't I speak out explicitly against
biological determinism, which is anathema to me?
As for my lack of commitment - commitment to what? Leftist relativist
thought as expressed here seems keen to deny the general reality of power
relations between men and women. This does not preclude the possibility of
women having power. I am so tired of listing things I didn't say and
certainly don't mean.
And Tim - we're quits then - I felt misrepresented by you and frustrated
because you wouldn't address anything I said, and now vice versa.
Any point to this argument seems to have been long lost in the fog. I am
temporarily going to give up on communication until I learn the arts of
telepathy.
A
Alison Croggon
Home page
http://users.bigpond.com/acroggon/
Masthead
http://au.geocities.com/masthead_2/
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