their power out of love for all humanity. As long as feminists claim that most of the •evil in this world is generated by men and that women are the primary victims, they cannot be considered healers. It's easy to make the s.implistic equation that men rape women and the male hierarchy rapes the world of its natural resources. Well, it's only part of the picture; women also share the responsibility and the guilt. . Behind most sexual rapists are non-nurturing, if not hateful, mothers who helped to furth~r psychic violence. Li(tle children do not grow up hating their mothers (and later all women) for no reason. Also, the American "consumer" supports the pillage of our natural resources and these consumers are often women. For example, men cruelly trapped the millions of mink, ermine and other small animals for furs in the early 1900s, but women wore practically all the fur coats and still do. • Ah, Summertime! Picnics, hikes, falling in love, unscheduled vacations. 'Tis the season to grin and bare it. In Portland we started fr off with a bang (uh ... boom) and have been celebrating in style ever since. Gas masks are very chic, you know. Truthfully, though, wl\en we ran Ancil Nance's ominous-photo of1a brooding, smoking Mt. St. Helens on the cover of our , May issue, we thought we were only in for . . . actually, we had no idea what we were in for. Mere entertainment no longer, the St. Helens saga has unfolded into a natural drama rivaling any of Shakespeare's. (When President Carter came out to survey the scene, he remarked that it made the moon look "like a golf course" in comparison. Perhaps for the first time, I found ~yself agreeing with him.) As I write, the volcanic cloud that in May smothered our farmland with ash and threatened our bodi~s with silicosis has just returned from its first around-the-world tour. At least it's not radiation. Compared to radiation, ash is benign. The lesson is not lost on us. Here in volcanovalley, meanwhile, RAIN go~s on. Oregonians will take that for the uµderstatement of the century, but the rest of you know what I mean. You might recognize one of the names in the staff box this month, after a few months' absence. Kiko Denzer, who joined us last fall as an intern from Hampshire College in Amherst, has returned to spend the sumI do believe in w~men's rights and think women should share equally in the ecological movement, but I don't accept the parallel between feminism and ecology. Ecology is concerned with nurturing, fertility and ·the union of systems within systems. As long as feminism sees only the parts of the system that satisfy its own self-centeredness and projects blame onto men:for all . the faults in this system, it is divisive. It becomes no less concerned with power and status than the "male hierarchy," and no ,,, more fair or just. Feminist hatred·of men festers wounds rather thart healing them. As long as feminism downgrades the importance and privilege - for both men and women - of marriage 11nd child rearing, it is non-fertile and non-nurturing and thus divergent from ·ecology. Women are not nurturing $imply because they are.female; they must actually nurture, and American July 1980 RAIN Page 21 women have done far too little of this in the • past decade. Sincerely, Jeff Twine Publisher Synerjy I A Directory of Energy Alternatives New York, NY P. S. To sharpen the perspective of Jeff's comments I want to add that I, too, have read your "Feminist Roots" issue and agree :with his comments, having found my ire and gorge rise at the broad statements and casual conne_ctions made s_o frequently in feminist arguments. I mosr certainly recognize some gross in~quities in our social _system,.but God help each one of us if we do not very soon find some way to breed ' true communication be~ween men and , women (and parents and childten, and generation and g·eneration) before bitterness and resentment separate us so from each other that re-union is impossible. (Ms.) Scottie Tw_ine . mer with us. Also with us for a summer internship is Laura ~tuchinsky, from Beacon CCJllege in Boston. .Laura and Kiko contribute enormously to the day-to-day operation of the magazine, which is now run-as it was in the early day?-by a tiny core staffof Carlotta, John and myself, with Jill coordinating layout. With interns, a little help from our friends, and just a top.ch of luck we seem to be getting along OK, though we may not answer all yo~r letters as promptly as we'd like to. To lessen our load a bit we're computerizing our mailing list, starting (we hope)· with this issue. You shouldn't notice much difference, except maybe a different kind of expiration code on your mailing label. If you find any other surprises, let us 'know-in the meantime we'll be busying ourselves with somewhat more creative drudgery. Our next issue, by the way, will be a combined August-September: issue, so don't automatically up and think the computer ran afoul or we're swimming in lava soup when your next RAIN doesn't appear until September. If you make it to these parts (we do have one of the hottest sights around), be sure to drop in. Sometimes we have meetings away from the Rainhouse, so you might want to give us a ring first. Wherever you are, have a.great summer! -MR Carlotta's _portrait by John Ferrell
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz