Was male identification, way off topic and I'll be quiet now

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 3847

Susan McGee wrote:

> But, for example, in Belize, where I spent a year, the men
> do virtually no work, own all the land, and the women own nothing.
> This is not unusual in the world (and I mean that the men sit in
> taverns all day and talk while the women work in the fields, the home
> and raise the children.)
>
> To say "we're better at it", etc. is to really trivialize a major
> global problem.

It's only a problem if *they* think it's a problem. I was joking with the
comment, by the way. But to take our values to other cultures and tell them
their own are wrong without a meticulous understanding of the cultural,
mythological, and ideological underpinnings of that culture is as
double-edged as what that Bible institute out of North Carolina (I think)
does, developing alphabets and writing systems for illiterate languages so
that the Bible may be translated and taught. With one hand they give them a
wonderful tool for preserving their cultural traditions, with the other they
begin to undermine those traditions. Even a year is not enough for the
visceral understanding that is needed. There are often spiritual or other
balances perceived by the culture that an outside observer will neither
appreciate nor factor in. I'm not excusing the apparent disparity of labor
burdens or land ownership. I'm saying apparent is not a good enough
justification for a blanket statement of its evil, on the face of it.

> > actually, I'm the landowner in our family
>
> that's great that you're the exception to the rule. Nice for you.
> but doesn't help most of the women on the globe.

I was trying to *lighten up,* okay?

--Amanda