Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!watarts!cdanderson
From: cdanderson@watarts.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Male/Female Roles
Message-ID: <2086@watarts.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 1-Feb-84 01:06:42 EST
Article-I.D.: watarts.2086
Posted: Wed Feb  1 01:06:42 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 7-Feb-84 07:39:26 EST
References: pyuxss.255
Lines: 17

       Regarding the ability of one gender to perform roles in a fashion 
superior to another (eg. wymyn as nurterers, men as agressive etc.), "I"
believe that no roles or faculties are inherently female or male, but
that, instead, we are aculturated to assume certain characteristics over
others, depending on what the specific society dictates is that genders role.  Thus, wymyn are not naturally conciliatory or intuitive
and men not naturally warlike, but that we both have all at birth.
>From this point on, certain features/functions are encouraged and 
others, discouraged. Such a viewpoint is substantiated, it seems, in 
tests where parents are told, in the O.B. wings, that they have given 
birth to boys (whereupon they note how strong and aggressive the child
is) vs. when the child is identified as a girl (when the passive traits 
are "seen"). Sometimes the sex 
of the child was puposefully mis-identified and the parent reacted positively
to the "alledged" vs. "true" sex.

             Hoping that one day we will all be net.people
                          C.D. Anderson