Quote:
Originally Posted by Roger Slater
No, Lo, of course no one alive today is responsible for slavery or for having denied women the right to vote. Perhaps I was too flip in the way I expressed myself for my point to register. You asked why white male heterosexuals do not have their own magazines, and I was simply pointing out that white male heterosexuals have inherited a legacy of relative privilege, while other groups have inherited a legacy of discrimination. Though no one alive created slavery in the nineteenth century, or deferred the female franchise until the twentieth century, the particular issues and challenges confronting these groups did not disappear with their respective constitutional amendments ending the most glaring and obvious legal affronts to their dignity and their freedom.
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Hear, hear!
There are so many extant
sub rosa ways of discriminating against almost anyone that it's impossible to discuss them all. But the glaring fact remains that women and minorities do not now and perhaps never will have the number and variety of opportunities open to white heterosexual males, and the affronts against equal opportunity extend not only into the distant past but through most worldwide cultures today. Male and female editors are affected by these facts in ways they're not always aware of.
To Kate, Bob, and Eva: Your posts have been valiant. Thank you. I wouldn't say that the Eratosphere poetry workshops have always been level playing fields re gender, but other old-timers and I have sometimes noted that the workshops here have improved as such over the last few years. The presence of men like Bob and Quincy has helped immeasurably. Thanks to those two men especially for their compassionate responses here. (And sorry if I've missed mentioning others, as the thread is more than a little chaotic.)