I'm writing in response to the article in last week's Dragon 
Chronicle (March 23, 1999), "Don't Read This." 

While claiming to "show off male bashing prowess," he 
only reinforced the gender stereotypes that led to "male 
bashing" in the first place (with the rise of the Feminist 
Movements, women have tried subconsciously and consciously 
to gain equal power and entrance into a male dominated 
world, by the very means men have been using for years- 
putting people down or "bashing").

What seems to be happening in this article is that the 
author, "Staff Coolguy," has reduced male/ female 
"differences" to biology. By viewing men as "really 
insensitive, and generally unaware of their surroundings" 
and women as having better brains, the article has set up 
a gendered way of thinking that reduces differences between 
the sexes to innate, biological terms (which make differences 
nearly impossible to overcome).

In fact, much of this should be termed gender, a cultural
manifestation. To clarify, gender is how society has taught 
us to act, based on whether we have a penis or not. Gender 
is the reason boys stereotypically play with cars while girls 
play with Barbie (Barbie herself represents society's 
gendered thinkng on how women should look). Gender is the
reason Lucy Ricardo always stayed home and got herself into 
trouble while Ricky made the money, got Lucy out of trouble 
and reprimanded her. Gender is also responsible for the
thinking that took place when writing this article.

Unfortunetly, gender has been misrepresented. Women are not
"genetically immune to the effects of playing video games" 
and by following that sentence with the statement "it's 
really not our fault" (speaking of men) blame is taken off 
of the male video game player in question. It indicates that 
men aren't responsible for their actions, it's in THEIR 
genetic makeup. In this way, I guess domestic abuse is also 
a biological construction in male genes. Maybe it goes hand- 
in-hand with testosterone, but I don't think so.

It's sad, but this is what society and the American culture 
have been teaching us. Every comment, whether men or women 
are put down, only reinforces the idea of difference. And 
"difference" has caused more problems than just those 
dealing with gender. The idea of difference is also 
responsible for ethnic and religious divisions. The 
hierarchy of domination and subordination is in place 
due to the concept of difference.  
Whether we're discussing 
males and females, fraternities and sororities, protestants 
and Catholics in Northern Ireland, or ethnic groups, we are 
not, as "Staff Coolguy" claims, "two totally different worlds 
that are forced together." We are together on this planet we 
call Earth, and it's about time we start acting together- in 
unity. We must do this for the preservation of the global 
atmosphere and equally important- the preservation of 
ourselves.