Thanks to Donna for her stunning post. One thing it brought up for me, and that
I see all the time with my woman colleagues, especially at my university, is
the fact that women have to spend so damned much time just creating the space,
cultivating the terrain, to be who they are and do what they do. For the most p
art, the terrain is
all laid out for (and by) guys, so they can just do their research, make their
films, spout their ill-informed and prejudicially selective pronouncements--
while women spend days in the library trying to change the very ground on which
discussion can take place.
     I know I am departing a bit from what actually has happened here, but my
 response was triggered by both my awe at Donna's post and the feeling: "why
the heck does she have to do all this work while JT can fling invective and ci-
tations off the top of his head"? And why do I see this kind of thing happening
over and over again in gender/power situations, particularly in academia--and,
of course, in unequaly relations across the various spectra of race, class, sex
ual orientation, etc.
     At any rate, not to turn a positive moment into a negative one, let me end
by again saying how much I appreciate Donna's work in this discussion. (This in
cludes her prior posts as well.)