Re: [Mid] Women fighting: historical context

Finnvarr is exactly right about the historical context. Back then,
youngsters, some of us were burning our bras to reject the roles we were
forced in by virtue of our gender. Granted I never burned mine, because in
order to wear one, it helps to have something to put in it, and I never saw
fit to go out and buy one for the purpose ;-) but I deliberately never
learned to type because at that time, if a woman knew how to type, she was
immediately put in a secretarial job.

At this time, mild debates were going on about whether or not it was proper
to beat one's wife or kids, and if so, under what circumstances. At this
time, men were going and shooting delinquent wives and their lovers, and
being acquitted. In about 1965, I was at a peace march in New York City, 12
years old, and was assaulted by an adult male. The cop pulled him off, and
gave him a sharp talking to. Kids were being paddled routinely in schools (I
got my fair share- actually preferred it to a talking to ;-)

I was very interested in sports, and was usually the second or third picked
for teams in our co-ed group in grade school. Not when I went to High
School- I had a choice of tennis, softball, basketball, or field hockey for
team sports, so I took up riding, sailing, judo, and skiing.

Things have changed quite a bit, but not entirely. How many of you women out
there played baseball or football or basketball with the boys? We still have
a few odd hangovers too, in the SCA. Last I checked, there are special rules
for women's breast protection in most Kingdoms- a bit of hangover from the
days when it was believed that bruises to the female breast would cause
breast cancer. The actuality is that both genders need protection of the
breastbone rather than the mammaries themselves- and I know lots of guys
whose breasts are larger than mine.

So, when you look at how the SCA has evolved, consider it as living history,
beyond the mere context of the Middle Ages. I protested the Viet Nam War,
listened to a speech in NYC at the UN building by Martin Luther King, raised
blazes with my Congressman about the Calley massacre in a personal interview
and met Jimi Hendrix, Pete Seegar and Janis Joplin, and I'm sure many others
in SCA were there, doing the same sort of things too.

We ARE history. We've come a long way folks, and I'm thinking we have a long
way to go.

Phlip

Nolo disputare, volo somniare et contendere, et iterum somniare.

phlip@morganco.net

Philippa Farrour
Caer Frig
Southeastern Ohio

"All things are poisons. It is simply the dose that distinguishes between a
poison and a remedy." -Paracelsus

Johnson: Oats -- a grain which in England sustains the horses, and in
Scotland, the men.
Boswell: Indeed, and where else will you find such horses, and such men?

From: "Alderton, Philippa" <phlip@morganco.net>
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+ to unsubscribe, send a message to
`~-, ,-~`~-, ,-~`~-, ,-~`~-, ,-~` majordomo@midrealm.org with
. | | | | | | | | 'unsubscribe sca-middle' as its body.
Received on Tue Dec 28 13:43:24 1999