Y not??

[Gert Jan Gast]

"Ms. S.J. Rickard" <srickard at hgmp.mrc.ac.uk> wrote:
>My reference to having a Y chromosome was supposed to be slighty 
>humourous, not a criticism, perhaps my British humour is a >little too 
>dry, I shall endeavour to put smileys :) by my sarcastic >comments in future!!

Please don't. You'd ruin your humor. I understood it as you meant 
it.

>As to male participation, I still feel that this group should >revolve 
>around womans issues and that men do not necessarily have a >place as 
>active members.  

No, not necessarily, but does that mean necessarily not? I asked, 
because I want to know whether I would be found/felt intrusive or 
not. I do not wish to go against anybody's wishes or feelings.

>I realise that they have a viewpoint and have things to 
>say, but I do worry that the purpose of the group will be lost. >The whole 
>of science and the internet is predominantly male and this seems >to be 
>the only place women scientists have a forum, without the >pressure of 
>men. We can talk about what we want to talk about (be it high >heels or 
>childcare facilities) and set the agenda ourselves. I don't want >this to 
>be lost.

Me neither!

>I am not a seperatist or feel that men are the enemy, but I do  think 
>that sometimes it's nice to have discussions without men, particuarly 
>when we often discuss our treatment by patriarchial society. How free 
>would we feel if there were male participants?

As this is the internet I can't see any way you ever could 
prevent men at least reading.

>There are many places on the internet male scientists can >access, why do 
>they need to actively participate in this newsgroup???? 

I do not need to, but I want to or I'd like to be able to. I 
enjoy this newsgroup very much exactly because it is the one 
place I know that is not typically "male". 
Maybe it is an idea to start a seperate newsgroup with gender 
issues and such with both sexes participating, while reserving 
this one for women only. But I fear that it would be the same 
group of people contributing to both. 

Luck, GJ.

-- 


Gert Jan Gast
Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Department of Marine Ecology
P.O. Box 59, 1790 AB Den Burg, The Netherlands.
Phone: 31 (0)222 369573. Fax: 31 (0)222 319674.