badstar

So an interesting thread has been going on on one of the email lists that I'm on...

I found this email in my inbox yesterday afternoon: (name removed)

Anyone who thinks ADF isn't scholarly must be nuts because I just recieved
my Dedicant's Manual in the mail, which I was very excited about, but it
turns out it's so scholarly I can't even understand what it's talking about!
And based on the reading list ("Theogony and Works and Days," "The Myth of
Matriarchal Prehistory") I have a feeling it isn't going to get any better.

Is there an alternate Dedicants Path for simpletons? Is ADF supposed to be
for scholars only? Can you actually expect women to read those books?

Doesn't any religion need some historically in-accurate, cupcake baking,
unicorn-channeling, DJ Conway-loving fools? Who are the intellectuals going
to breed with?

Thanks for shedding some light on this!

This post has generated a lot of email. Most of it offended and angry- some of it offended at the post itself, some of it offended that people should dare to be offended. A few suggesting that the person was trolling (that possibility is greatly minimized by the fact that this is not a public list, and one must actually pay to join the organization before one can join the list)or joking.

The second email suggests even more that she's serious:

Well, some people think women shouldn't be drafted so I don't see what's so wrong with one person (me) wondering if women should be required to read books on Indo-European history.

It just seemed a bit unchilvarous to me, like requiring women to kill bugs.

I just thought maybe there could be an alternate way of being involved for those people who find scholastic stuff distasteful & daunting (like me) but who might be able to contribute in other ways, like healing, music, magic, or decorating.

I didn't realize I would be the only one to find academic stuff daunting & I didn't realize that women's intelligence would be a sensitive issue. I thought I could take for granted that everyone knows that everyone knows that women are as smart as men.

So sorry!

I had to respond...my response is considerably more gracious than what I was thinking....

You know, I know this has been beaten to death, but I'm jumping in here.

*Name deleted* (and the rest of the list)

Had you come on this list and expressed concerns about certain aspects of the DP and sincerely asked for assistance or suggestions as to how one might overcome those difficulties, I'm sure that there would have been plenty of people at the ready with all kinds of personal experience and suggestions on how they tackled their own trepidation, myself included. More than once, I've looked at the list of requirements and boggled at how intimidating the whole thing was (though, while looking at the breakdown and seeing how simple it was and being unable to figure out what on earth my problem was. But it has been a hindrance for me here and there. One that I had to get over.)

But to come on here and go on about how unchivalrous it is to expect women to read books on history? As a woman, I find it deeply offensive. (And no, I do not self-identify as a feminist.) As one who learned to read when I was two years old, I certainly don't want to be lumped in with that. Yes, the intelligence of women is a sensitive issue. I work in technology and on no less than a weekly basis I have to deal with my knowledge being questioned solely on the basis that I have boobs. It's gotten irritating after a few years. I have to smile pretty and make nice and find subtle ways to show them at work that I'm just as if not more qualified to tell them how to fix it. My rent and groceries don't depend on it here. I'm not gonna smile pretty and make nice about it.

I've already expressed my views on how scholarly the DP really isn't. Read three books (Of which there are varying degrees of difficulty to choose from.) And yes, write what breaks down to 35 "essays"- many of which are required to be no longer than your original email. How scholarly is that? But if this is a hardship for you, you can certainly ask for the help or accommodation needed to make it possible for you to work on the program. To come on the list and whine about how hard this must be for women and how can we be expected to read all those hard books with the big words and say that it's a matter of chivalry (or lack thereof, really), you've got to be kidding me.

*Name Deleted*, if your intent was meant to be an offhanded, self-depreciating jest, it was lost. Reading your posts though, I fully believe that been entirely serious. As I've made clear above, I do not appreciate this generalization in the least bit.

That said, is the problem that you find the work to be intimidating and could use some pointers and suggestions as I mentioned above? Do you have a disability that merits possible special help or arrangements, or do you just not like the idea of reading some books and writing some paragraphs? If the problem is one of the first two issues, help is available if the need is known. If the need is not made known, how can it be known that it is needed?

Renee

I don't know what my point is in posting on my own journal. Just ranting about how annoyed I was I guess. But I'm doing a lot of that today.