Posted by DR on June 11, 2005 at 00:26 [67.83.76.91]
In Reply to: Re: The 25 Stupidest Things Men Say... posted by L.E. on June 10, 2005 at 15:11
L.E.,
You're missing the bigger point here. You wrote:
"Those shy women may never speak if not treated specially."
But treating them more cautiously than others is exactly the wrong thing to do because:
1. Doing so provides preferential treatment (to speak one's mind) to one type of person (the shy).
2. It mollycoddles the shy, enabling and legitimizing his/her reticence. This deflects one's responsibility to one's voice from where it belongs: on the self.
3. It draws needless attention to one type of person -- for good or ill.
Let's be absolutely clear L.E. -- its one thing to build a ramp so that wheelchair persons can access a building with equality, but its entirely different to legislate that all others must instead crawl on all fours to gain that same equality. (though some diaper folk might enjoy that)
Point -- encouraging the shy to take responsibility for their own voices is worthwhile endeavor. But we must never do so by asking others to self-censor on their behalf.