Dear President Summers,
On behalf of the men of the World, I would like to congratulate you
on your original statement that:
"innate differences between men and women could play a role in
why fewer women succeed in science and math careers"
and condemn you for your later retraction. It is not that I agree with
your original statement -- because I have not read enough about the
issue to have a view -- but I congratulate you for confronting totalitarian
Feminism by making it.
In the 17 January Associated Press report, you were quoted as "discussing
hypotheses based on the scholarly work assembled for the conference".
Isn't that what universities are for ? No -- of course not ! Modern
western universities are for Feminists and other Leftists to say what
THEY want to say and for them to assault, bully, and intimidate those
who say anything different ! I have been assaulted by Feminist students
in Law School -- these same Feminists who brainlessly and fascistoidly
repeat lying stereotypes about men being violent towards women (See:
fiebertb.html ). If Bin Laden wanted a secular
argument in favour of Al Qaeda, that would have to be one of the best
ones !
In response to your addressing certain theoretical issues, one woman
walked out, and others later said they were "offended". None
of them addressed the issues that you had raised.
In other words, here we had a male discussing some theoretical issues
at an intellectual level, and the females in the audience refused, or
were unable, to address the issues at an intellectual level -- responding
at the level of emotion, and -- in effect -- censoring his views by
political pressure. That behaviour, if anything, supports the hypothesis
that women actually do have problems with intellectual competence.
The woman who walked out, biologist Nancy Hopkins, is quoted as having
said:
"It is so upsetting that all these brilliant young women (at Harvard)
are being led by a man who views them this way."
That is an intellectually incompetent statement. It is clear that
you were not saying that the women on your staff were incompetent (though
Nancy Hopkins shows that that might have been partially correct) --
you were just saying that there was evidence that, on average, women
might be less gifted than men in cerain ways. If Nancy Hopkins doesn't
understand that simple difference, she should resign on the grounds
of intellectual incompetence. If she does understand that difference,
she should resign for hypocritically trying to reduce an intellectual
discussion to the level of politics.
I am not of East Asian ancestry, yet I am perfectly able to discuss
the hypothesis that East Asians have the highest average IQs without
walking out or putting on a show of immature petulance. Why can't Western
women behave maturely and rationally ?
I request that you find me a grant to research female stupidity in
academia, as I have begun to collect examples. Here is a classic from
your brother Ivy League university, Yale (femathom.html):
Ann Scales, in 1985, gave a lecture in the Dean's Lecture Series at
Yale Law School (later published in "Feminist Jurisprudence",
edited by Patricia Smith). In it she said (roughly):
- that the female approach to life abhors dichotomies and oppositions;
and
- that her Feminist theory of Jurisprudence, which was based on statement
(1), is opposed to male views of Jurisprudence, and
that this dichotomy should be resolved by replacing
the male approach with the female approach !
This self-contradiction, in my experience, is typical of the intellectual
calibre of Feminists -- if not of women generally. So many women in
academia are Feminists, by my definition of Feminism, (see:
contents.html ) that it is hard to know
if this is a feature just of Feminism, or of women generally.
Sincerely,
Peter Zohrab
Acting President
New Zealand Equality Education Foundation
