Re: Pain Isn't Pretty (was: hot babes, etc.)

Hal Finney (hal@rain.org)
Wed, 12 Aug 1998 12:13:26 -0700

Well, I'll speak up then and say that I wouldn't describe my attitude towards women as "treasuring" them. I've been married almost 20 years and love my wife very much, but she is a highly exceptional woman.

Most of the people I have found interesting and intellectually stimulating have been men rather than women. That's just my personal taste, yours may differ.

I do feel that having a variety of viewpoints in a discussion is beneficial. Since there are so few women involved in the areas I am interested in, those few who do share those interests are unusually valued simply because of their different perspective. But this is not a strong consideration, and I judge people more by how interesting and challenging their views are rather than by their sex.

It's also true that a majority of the people who share my interests seem to be like me in other ways than sex. They tend to be white, and from a similar European/American cultural background. It's a pretty homogeneous group. Diversity is welcomed but ranks lower than provocative ideas to me.

(I hope no one takes this to mean that I think women or people from other
cultures don't create good ideas. My use of "provocative", "interesting" and "challenging" represents an expression of my personal interests, and others will have different tastes.)

Hal