why am i posting to defend the idea of women-only space? what decade is this? didn't everybody have all these arguments during the 1990 Mills Strike against going co-ed? why do these arguments happen over and over again? bah bah bah. i'm tried and i'm going to take a nap.
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wow, glad i missed that "discussion." i don't think i could have been as eloquent as the 3 of you anyway.
also there are always new people, who need stuff explained to them.
I'm not really anonymous; this is Polly posting...
The women-only space debate will probably never die. There is plenty of disagreement just among women as to whether or not we need that kind of space.
I found an interesting analogy when I attended the demonstrations against the Iraq war...being in the company of so many people who held an unpopular opinion was so empowering. No longer was I the only person in a crowded corporate breakroom defending my position against ridicule and jingoism; I was in a crowd of 500,000 and there was no disdain being expressed. It was such a rush to escape from that power dynamic.
So when we are in women-only space, we get a break from That Power Dynamic that exists in coed space where we are assumed to exist for the benefit of men.
We may not get a break from *all* kinds of abuse of power (witness my current 90% female workplace and the abuses of power that go on there...the only guy in the office is not perpetrating any of it) but we don't have to deal with THAT one. It's greatly to be cherished.
And some women would rather have a long-term or permanent break with that. That is completely fine with me!
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