( Look at the faces of the Mom’s in the picture! Fabulous.)

My Personal Reactions

Why I’m Devoted to Empowerment

I’m offended and have been offended. What men have been doing has been putting many different kinds of pressures on other men which actually has the effect of suppressing their potentials as well. And then when you open partnership you find the potentials are multiplied in everything from our love life, our commitments, our children and each other in education and business. We have a remarkable opportunity.

As I said, early on I was attracted to the promise of women’s liberation as it was called in the 1960s. As soon as Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Magazine came out my wife and I subscribed. I had to ask myself why I cared. It proved to be a difficult question to answer. But some incidents proved intriguing.

A Boy Looking at Men

There was a day when I was perhaps nine years old and was standing on a baseball diamond watching two other boys at home plate arguing with each other over whether one was out or safe. It seemed interminable and finally I tucked my ball glove under my arm and walked away—never to come back. Part of the problem was that I was a card carrying intuitive type who dreamed out the window and sought novelty and intrigue. That ball game offered none of those things.

I also remembered college football games. At the University of Michigan the cheerleaders were male only. (How boring.) We lost some games and won some. I just couldn’t care that much. In some ways I was an outcast in the male culture. At last I went to a basketball game thinking I probably should get involved if only as an observer. “Wow he just got two points.” Other end of the court, “Wow he just got two points.” And so on back and forth until — wow he didn’t get two points. I finally had to ask myself why I was there. I wasn’t very competitive and didn’t have a lot of talent for sports. I didn’t have good balance and so as a child I was a stick who fell over.

Seeing Novelty and Potential

Other avenues in life always called out to me. And some of those avenues were in the world that included girls where I saw potential and diversity.

Later in life I found myself studying men in the workplace and found many men lacking in vision who were imposing their power on others. All male meetings were often stultifying as men talked sports and patted each other on the back. When a woman joined in we got much more done. Quite a revelation.

Personality Directing My Search

And again I have to say my personality led me to seek discovery and to search for potential. Increasingly I found those things in relation to women. How could I not be involved in supporting their future.

I’ll leave it there for now. Much of the male culture was simply not attractive to me but it deserves considerable evaluation as we move forward into what I believe is a new and wonderful era.

Let me hear your thoughts! roger.burt@earthlink.net

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power by Roger B. Burt

Roger B. Burt’s Amazon home page

Creating Characters and Plots by Roger B. Burt

Stepfamilies: Professionals and Stepcouples in Partnership

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health by Roger B. Burt