de Toqueville?

Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Wed, 04 Jun 1997 02:30:57 -0400 (EDT)

On Tue, 3 Jun 1997, Alexis wrote:
> i was waiting for someone to do this and Paul just proved an underlying
> point to my post. MY DEAR SIR, not only am I an AMERICAN, I am also a
> MAN!!!
> you have sunk further into this "prejudice" than my post could ever have,
> if it could have at all coming from an american who lives here and can see
> thru the BS, unlike you seem to be able to do.

Actually, Alexis, I knew were a man. In fact I had a conversation at my
gym about you on just that very point today. The nearly incoherent rage on
line this AM could never have come from a woman, at least not on that
topic. A woman might say oh let it go, forget it, let it lie, this is
boring, or words to that effect, but to get so worked up, to so demonize
me, to concoct that strange distortion, the reductio ad absurdem, the
refusal to "get it," the evil caricature -- not from a woman, at least
none I've ever met, not on that topic.

Also, I've never seen a woman with the sense of entitlement, to take the
tone you did, either.I mean maybe Leona Helmsley, but not on this list. I
may come the closest, but still not that by a country mile. And I like to
think that when I do get mad I'm responding to something real, or at least
closer to the facts, not my own invention.

But I know you can't wait to hear what happened, so here it is: I was
doing leg lifts, building up my muscles so I can stand long hours in the
studio (and if anyone else has leg problems, try it -- it really works,
ask me offlist for details), reading the NY Times book review, when
something suddenly jogged my mind and said to me, hey: Alexis! Isn't that
a woman's name? No way, can't be, I replied. Not that tone, not that
mishigas about women's issues and feminism and the going ballistic. So I
called over to three fellas, muscle types, working out nearby, "What's
Alexis, a man or a woman?"

A woman, they assured me. Chris said an Alexis someone on TV proved it.
I'd never heard of her, but I believed him. What a puzzlement.

Naturally they wanted to know why I asked. I ran through the incredible
unbelievable amazing saga: the question about the male pronoun for
everybody, me saying not done these days anymore, the Big Flap, the whoops
and hollers, the cries of American cultural imperialism, and finally this
morning's love letter.

They didn't quite doubt my words, but were clearly nonplussed. However,
when they absolutely assured me that NOBODY says just "he" any more, I
felt some crumb of comfort. Absolutely not, these heavy lifters declared.
In fact one of them was so young he'd never heard or seen it done, ever.
Now what a mystery: they agreed it had to be a man getting so mad. Rolling
eyes. Shrugs. On to leg stretches.

Then one of them appears at my bench: "Who was Alexis de Toqueville", he
asks. "A Frenchman who wrote about America." Wow, the guy has looks AND
brains. Wait a minute, maybe that was Alec? Uh oh. Maybe. But he
volunteers that when he reads to his daughter it bothers him that all the
characters in the old story books are boys. In fact, he tells me, he makes
up some girls. I want to know what does she think. Oh, she's only 2 1/2
years old so she doesn't know yet, he says, but *he* feels bad.

Back home I fail to find de Toqueville. The Encyclopedia Britannica goes
from Detergent to Detroit, and not even my kids' old World Book (usually
beats out the Britannica, nyah, nyah) does any better. So, Alexis, it was
most kind of you to provide the answer tonight, without my even asking.

I never doubted that were America. Besides the internal evidence of tone
and gist, that is. You said you lived in or near San Francisco when you
asked about the Drtikol prints. And Sirius is a Bay Area service if I'm
not mistaken. (Remember Adam Kimball?)

Anyway, did you ever find the catalog? Very beautiful, it costs about
$50, and as I recall is published in San Francisco.

Are you named for Alexis de Toqueville?

cheers,

Judy, the fanged feminazi vampire