[Reader-list] On recent discussions

[Ana Valdés]

Thank you for a well articulate letter, Danny! I think you are very true
when you point out the special symbolic load of a woman speaking her mind. I
am raised as catholic and remember well Paulus "woman, be quite in the
church". We live in Taliban ages with women stoned to death or silenced to
death.
The only women allowed to speak out speak from the television screens and
sell cars or furniture or have talkshows as Ophra. We need women voices to
be heard. As Mikhail Bachtin wrote we need a more polyphonic society where
all voices have a possibility to be listened to.
Ana

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 10:44 PM, Danny Butt <db at dannybutt.net> wrote:

> A powerful group relying on silence will go to great lengths to maintain
> the status quo. A woman speaking out of line not only disrupts the norm with
> what she says, but, at a more fundamental level, threatens to not reproduce
> a patriarchal social order.  An age-old historical response is to sexualise
> her behavior in order to
>
> a) regain a feeling of control;
>
> b) distract attention from the content of the speech;
>
> c) disavow responsibility for repressing critical speech by shifting the
> judgement to moral grounds sanctioned by a higher power;
>
> d) remind the woman that if necessary, male physical power can be applied
> to her body to bring her into line;
>
> e) remind other women that the price of their speech may be paid with their
> bodies;
>
> This is what I have seen in many forums over the last couple of weeks, but
> it has been made most explicit in the discussions here. I appreciate the
> tireless efforts of Sarai in providing a truly open and democratic forum
> where we can see the unvarnished expressions of those who would not only
> remove that right to expression for others, but demonstrate their support
> for personal violence in the process. For me, the discussion has been
> sobering and instructive, especially perhaps at its most ragged and
> infuriating points.
>
> Regards,
>
> Danny
>
> --
> http://www.dannybutt.net
>
>
>
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