Book: Radical Pacifism
January 2008
Reading Radical Pacifism in Modern America: Egalitarianism and Protest by
Marian Mollin
Page 14, Bayard Rustin is a "black Quaker and Youth Secretary at FOR"
Page 17, "Even those resisters who could not live up to this model of
masculinity seemed to admire it. As Lawrence Templin, a rather gentle white
CO, later wrote, 'Jim Peck represented the tough, worldly, radical vision and
discipline that...seemed inherently right to me.'"
The context of the book are set by the sentence in the introduction, "Ideas about
masculinity, femininity, and the power relationships of gender and race played
out with vivid complexity in the concrete activities in which radical pacifists
engaged."
In this context you will notice that people are identified as men or women and
that men can be masculine or gentle, white or black, Quaker or Catholic; but
never are identified as gay or straight. For example, Bayard Rustin was gay, but
this is not mentioned. In a book which emphasizes gender prejudice, shouldn't
the characters sexual preference be noted as well? With this all in mind, note
that she describes me in Figure 7 on page 101: "Virile masculinity comes to the
rescue as Don Martin scales the Ethan Allen submarine during its ceremonial
launching in New London, Connecticut, November 22, 1960." Sure, I am
straight, but few have called me virile. But who am I to complain. Bill Henry
was much more athletic than I. He married Beverly Kanegson, but it didn't last.
What ever happened to everybody? Brad Lyttle is still around.
Reading Radical Pacifism in Modern America: Egalitarianism and Protest by
Marian Mollin
Page 14, Bayard Rustin is a "black Quaker and Youth Secretary at FOR"
Page 17, "Even those resisters who could not live up to this model of
masculinity seemed to admire it. As Lawrence Templin, a rather gentle white
CO, later wrote, 'Jim Peck represented the tough, worldly, radical vision and
discipline that...seemed inherently right to me.'"
The context of the book are set by the sentence in the introduction, "Ideas about
masculinity, femininity, and the power relationships of gender and race played
out with vivid complexity in the concrete activities in which radical pacifists
engaged."
In this context you will notice that people are identified as men or women and
that men can be masculine or gentle, white or black, Quaker or Catholic; but
never are identified as gay or straight. For example, Bayard Rustin was gay, but
this is not mentioned. In a book which emphasizes gender prejudice, shouldn't
the characters sexual preference be noted as well? With this all in mind, note
that she describes me in Figure 7 on page 101: "Virile masculinity comes to the
rescue as Don Martin scales the Ethan Allen submarine during its ceremonial
launching in New London, Connecticut, November 22, 1960." Sure, I am
straight, but few have called me virile. But who am I to complain. Bill Henry
was much more athletic than I. He married Beverly Kanegson, but it didn't last.
What ever happened to everybody? Brad Lyttle is still around.
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |