What a sexist remark that would be! What does my gender have to do
with the subject at hand? And yet, people will ask this rhetorical
question as if it could be a serious one. Finding inspiration, no doubt,
in a philosophy manufactured for them, that serves to keep public opinion
conveniently malleable, for those in power who would divide and conquer
the mass of the less influential beneath them.
One thing is for certain. If we embrace a philosophy that tells us
to dismiss what an entire class of our peers has to say without further
examination, calling for stonewalling rather than suspicion, we will
divide ourselves into small, defenseless camps, and be far easier prey,
for the predators among us. There are some who would
argue that a man should not argue a point here unless he was following
a woman's lead, because they didn't need "male guidance". Nonsense. You're
a person, and I'm a person, and I should take an interest in your well
being, for just that reason. That recognition, is what civilization
is.
I wouldn't want you, a stranger, to put uncritical trust in me and I
don't ask you to accept my conclusions without examining the arguments
that support them - and they have been mentioned here. Given that, is my
gender even slightly relevant? And how would one argue, that the
assertion that it was, was not an ad hominem? If each of us does not
watch out for the others, being open to making common cause, though, or
listen to the warnings that others will offer, then we will be isolating
ourselves from the social support that has made life a safer and more
pleasant endeavor than it might otherwise be. If someone would do that,
then what does it say about her? That she hates men more than she loves
herself? I pray that I will never be so consumed by bigotry.