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I see the stuff on your laundry list as the expression of cultural beliefs about reality and what we are. I think misogyny is a sibling of that stuff, not a source of it. Anyway, I take your point, that in the sense you mean, feminine concepts are devalued and not honored. And it's not just out of misogyny, nor for the sake of gender hierarchy. Yep.

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I guess my question to you is - what effect would you hope it would have, to name boys with feminine names? Would those become formerly-feminine names? How, exactly, do you suppose it would work to improve anything - if as many boys were named with traditional girl-names, as there are girls named with traditional boy-names? Or do you just feel that it would be positive, exciting, and don't think it's worth it to theorize about problem-solving, because like, things just flow? (no snark)

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Yeah of course.
My idea was that it's possible, that our explanations of "society's conscious choices," of why people decide as they do about baby names, don't reflect conscious awareness of all of the influences on individual choices. I'm trying to figure how it can be, that people who really feel the asymmetry derives from sexism, who are eager to defy sexist norms, still aren't really willing to walk the talk. I don't think they're necessarily just programmed or hypocritical. It's not that I think the asymmetry of cross-gender naming is never sexist, and it's not that I don't appreciate why people interpret it as sexist.

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- mirfak

This message was edited 3/9/2018, 1:58 PM