On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 04:53:45 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, "Leo
Lichtman" quickly quoth:


"Jeff Wisnia" wrote: Maybe before you wrote that you should have stopped
ranting long enough to think about what Jim might really have been saying?
(clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Jeff, the objectionable part of Jim's post is: "And they make sure that
their wives and daughters have jumper cables and know how to use them
safely." If you can't see that, let me try to explain. There is an implied
meaning in that statement that women, as a group, are less qualified to do
simple mechanical tasks. Even if you can justify the statement
statistically, that is not the point. It carries the meaning that men are
superior to women in this regard, and need to look after them.

No, only people looking for sexism would have thought that. Neutral
parties would have realized that the implied meaning is that women
are generally less trained in that "art" and have less motivation to
learn. When it comes to auto maintenance and repair, many men and
still fewer women want to do the work. Ditto machining and welding.
Face it, it's dirty work and the vast majority of the population wants
nothing to do with it. There's nothing sexist about that at all.


Had he said,
"And they make sure that the other members of their family have jumper
cables and know how to use them safely," there would be no objection.

And he would have been judged quite Politically Correct.
Feh! sigh


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