Pynchon, P-list, Gender Issues

[davemarc]

1.  I concur with a lot of Vaska's positions, but I can't condone posting
of private email without consent--particularly when the private email is
not threatening or extremely abusive.  

2.  For what it's worth, I tend to disagree more often with Andrew's
positions, but in this particular case I'm not sure if Vaska's reading his
posts accurately.  *In this case* he strikes me as more of a friend than a
foe of Vaska.  He takes pains to clarify his point of view as *not* being
what Vaska says it is, but Vaska doesn't seem to acknowledge that.

3.  I tend to agree that p-list women post less frequently than the men,
but with more wit and more intelligence.

4.  What I can only guess about is *why* they do.  Don't know enough of the
p-listers personally to draw the conclusions.

5.  I do observe that p-list women are almost always treated more
respectfully, or less harshly.  I don't think it's a matter of their
attitudes (their not making enemies); I really think it's a form of
chivalry.  I base that judgment on observed changes of attitude that seem
to follow when p-listers with gender-mysterious names identify themselves
as female.  The chivalry vanishes, however, in response to even mild
"feminist" stances.  I'm really surprised at how nasty some of the
"anti-feminist" posts have been.

6.  That Pynchon fellow seems to struggle with his attitude towards women. 
He strikes me as fundamentally feminist/egalitarian, but also subject to
male chauvinist attitudes prevalent today, but particularly prevalent
during his youth.  His female characters strike me as projections of that
conflict.  

7.  I'd love to read some posts on what p-listers feel are the
gender-related causes of their interest in Pynchon.  And I'd also like to
read about what non-Pynheads feel are the gender-related causes of their
lack of interest in TP.

Whatever,

davemarc