Pecan tree pissing contest
From the NY Times, an article about a country club in Phoenix that still doesn’t allow women in its formal dining room:
Next came anonymous e-mail messages, sent to some female members of the club, deriding Mr. Brown and the Van Sitterts, and suggesting, among other things, “you and your type needs to go,” and a Web site was set up with some members’ names and phone numbers under the title “Femi Nazis here in Phoenix,” according to a complaint filed by Mr. Brown in the matter.
At one point, Ms. Diethelm, who lives with her husband near the 18th tee, was surprised by a rash of men whom she recognized from the club hopping off their carts to “urinate on my pecan tree,” she said.
Russell Brown, a member, said in remarks at the Arizona Women Lawyers Association luncheon this past winter that he thought the men’s grill “disadvantaged women professionals.” Mr. Brown said in an interview that he was subsequently called before the club’s governing board to “explain my actions.”
[ . . .]
“Most men are indifferent to the policy or are against it,” Mr. Brown said. “But you become a leader of the club by being visible and you become visible by being seen in the men’s grill and the way the men’s grill is set up suits those men.”
The irrationality of the men’s actions tell me that it’s not sexism that’s motivating them (sexism is wrong but you could still come across someone who could make a reasoned argument in its favor) but simple fear of loss. You read the article and see the way the dining room is described, as a place for a steak and to close a business deal with a handshake, and you don’t see a place that needs to exclude women.
You see a higher order tree fort. And just like kids who have outgrown it, they’re still having a tough time giving it up.
The solution in this case isn’t—as some members of the country club did—a lawsuit, though it has merit. The solution, if indeed this is a problem with dealing with men’s irrationality and fear of loss, is to introduce women slowly. (Though morally my suggestion is a cop out.)
The proof of the irrationality is that the club dining room is a place defined by business deals, yet the room excludes Arizona’s most powerful business leaders, who happen to be women.
It’s sad to see men acting like frightened kids. These guys in Arizona might have more sophisticated justifications for their beliefs, but their beliefs are still sourced in the kind of things we teach our kids to grow out of.
