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----- Original Message -----
From: LJayson@aol.com
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2001 4:55 AM
Subject: Re: memes and sexuality
In a message dated 4/13/2001 2:14:13 PM Pacific Daylight Time, jr@shasta.com
writes:
The "gender" meme itself shows a bias, because it really means "sex" not
"gender."
In human brains there are two sexes. Gender has to do with grammar.
According to the American Heritage Dictionary:
Definition of gender:
2. Sexual identity, especially in relation to society or culture.
3. a. The condition of being female or male; sex.
b. Females or males considered as a group
<< Hi Len,
Of course you are right in mentioning what the dictonary has to say about
gender, but what JR meant is IMO the following,
The general idea that memes could have a gender bias is expressed in
which words oneself uses to express themselves.
If you will have a peek in the archives of this list, you will find an entry
called Gender Bias for Memes. Look for the posts written by Chris Lofting.
From my own writing I recall this,
Male Female
Sameness Difference
Order Change
Single context ' fuzz the bounderies '
Schizophrenia Depression
Suicide ( guns) Suicide attempts (poison)
Action Language
Instinct Raison
Consensus Opportunism
General Special
Dasein Mitsein
Darwin ? Lamarck ?
( objects) ( waves) relationships
Genetic ? Memetic ?
La nature naturelle ? La nature artificiel ?
By which you have to think the following,
How would a male/ female translate the two columns into language !?
Would he/ she will do that in his/ her own words or in his/ her gender- related
expressions methods !?
That is when a male talks about order will he mean the same thing as a
female does !? And will he do that with to his gender- related words !?
Does a male/ female thinks, feels, experieces, .... the same things when both
read a book about suicide !?
That is in the ' sex ' meaning of gender.
The second perspective, is where Chris Lofting comes in,
In the way we use words, in the way we write, in the way we express our -
selves there is some male/ female distinction.
That is, list- member X writes all the time in an agressive way, you can say
that is a male type of writing, of making arguments, of getting his message
across. I, from my side of the water here writes most of the time in a decent,
civilized, some times bad English- way. You may say that is a female- type
of expressing myself_ in the way I choose the words " I give away some of my
feminine mode "... or something like that.
That is the ' gender ' where JR is talking about.
IMO a very interesting subject, but also a dangerous one.
Not many men will comply with the fact that they write, or express them-
selves in a more feminine way than they think they do_ and putting one's
finger on the spot makes them angry and very unpleasant.
For woman we can apply the same argument I suppose_ like I asked before
on this list, concerning memetics that is...is Memetics a Male- thing !?
Not many females take actually part in the discussions, and that is just a
way in how you must see what JR means. Is memetics somehow male-
gender related !? According to Chris Lofting, as I remerber correctly it is,
but don 't ask me how....)
On the other hand, male/ female distinction/ gender related methods by
which oneself expresses her or himself is also due to historical/ social/
cultural/ political/ philosophical/ personal/ genetical/ memetical/... behavior, characteristics and meme- transmission.
Best,
Kenneth
( I am, because we are) related
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