The Modern World

[Kanamori]

Ah, but that is the whole point. Enforcement of gender-specific behaviour was the very suppression I was talking about.

If suppression can be simply understood as limiting freedom, then the door example, or any case where help is offered, cannot be suppression. For, the help is an offer, it is up to the one being offered to accept or not. Even if it is not seen as help the man is not forcing it, and therefore not restricting freedom. Calling it suppression would be to change the meaning, and either one of us must change our definitions if an understanding is to be reached. Which defeats the purpose of some calling it suppression, since it would then lack the extra 'oomph' of partially being associated w/ restricting freedom.

This assumes an objective reality that is separate from our understandings though, where there is some thing existing independent of ourselves. It is problematic to say that there is no objective reality, since it seems to imply that there can be no common ground and therefore no basis for communication. At least, we cannot know that we have a basis for communication.