abstract
| - A woman who works in a minority women environment might find herself with the status of honorary guy (or "one of the boys"), either from others or self-designated. The term is an example of androcentrism: an honour or reward for eschewing the feminine. Being an honourary guy involves:
* being accorded the respect due to a guy
* not drawing attention to one's female gender with, eg, feminine dress, mannerisms or interests
* allying oneself with men rather than women when there's a conflict of interest (eg laughing at sexist jokes rather than complaining about them, allowing or encouraging men to complain about their female partners)
* sometimes, being "more guy than the guys": drinking the most, making the lewdest jokes It is not always an advantage for a woman to be an honourary guy because:
* she may feel she is unable to express aspects of herself including opinions and tastes without jeopardising her status
* she may feel the conditional nature of her acceptance constantly
* she may feel that she is compromising feminist principles, see Patriarchal bargain
* her guy status may be suddenly taken away from her for, for example, getting into a sexual relationship with a man in the circle, or for stating feminist opinions In Delusions of Gender, Cordelia Fine discusses how working in a male-dominated domain can encourage "antifemale attitudes": "The easiest solution to the problem of being female in a setting in which women are made to feel that they are inferior and do not belong is to become as unfeminine as possible." (p52)
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