4 - Wednesday, July 10, 1985 - North Shore News Women are free heard a comment the other day to the effect that the Women’s Movement had bogged down in the trenches. Wait a second, thought I. Is that true? Oe we by Bob I happen to be in a fairly good position to view the changes occurring in women’s heads, being the father of a’ young adult daughter, hav- ing a wife in her mid-30s, a mother who is over 70, and another daughter one year old. It is fascinating, watching this sisterhood working out. They are so different in per- sonalities that it is hard to believe they are part of the same species, let alone that they are part of the same biological caste. Their only common trait is that they are remarkably independent, even the one year old. But they have all been radically. affected by feminism. And of course that means I have been radi- cally affected too. And my father-in-law and step-father and brother and brother-in- law and sons. When I was a kid, just after the war, the family pattern was that after a big dinner, the men would go into the living room and fall asleep on sofas and stuffed chairs while the women did the dishes. When the uncles did speak, the women might roll their eyes heavenward, but they almost never argued. They didn’t quite say **Yessa, massa’ to their men, but there was clearly citizenship, which meant be- ing a man, and serfdom, which meant being a woman. 1 remember being shocked the first time I saw a woman driving a car. Ladies don’t drive! Men drive! And | can strictly personal Hunter rernember my mother getting frowned-at for lighting up a cigarette in a restaurant. She probably would today, too, but for an entirely different set of reasons. Back then, ladies really weren’t suppos- ed to smoke in public. The invisible walls be- tween women and men were thick and high. Today that is considerably less so the case. One measure of the change, in my mind, is the fact that ! have several female friends with whom I can go have a drink and talk to them ‘‘just like one of the guys’’. That is, we don't have to bother with a lot of phoney formality. I can generally tell any joke I want. We split the bill or take turns paying. And it can all be done without a pile of sexual in- nuendo. Mind you, when the mo- ment comes for doors to be opened, the real test arrives. I spent at least a decade try- ing to unlearn the habit of opening doors for women. All it ever did for me was get me in trouble. Half the time, the woman herself couldn’t make up her mind whether she was being insulted if I opened the door for her, but as often as not, when 1 didn't, they got insulted anyway. Finally, | gave up and went back to opening doors for women, walking on the curb side along a sidewalk, holding chairs for them, generally trying to treat them as though they were on a pedestal. it was chauvinistic as hell, 1 admit. The surpris- ing part was that almost QUT! Go the swag lamps! : The table lamps! The fixtures! The desk lampst The lampshades! The floor fampst @ Every light we don't want hanging around all summer at Lighting Unlimited is going out, right now! At 20%, 30%, 40%, up ta 50% off the prices they sold for before! ype THE UP-TO-HALF-PRICE SALE AT « LIGHTING UNLIMITED w eB LANSDOWNE PARK MALL 270-2118 THE EXPERTS IN HOME LIGHTING SALE ENDS AUG. 17 th PARK ROYAL SOUTH 925-1511 every single woman with whom ! have discussed the matte agrees that she prefers ihe doors to be opened, ete. Surely this runs against feminist doctrine. And on the face of it, surely it repre- sents a backwards step in terms of equality. But | don't think so. I think most of us really do ache for some civility in our relationships. Perhaps day-to-day life ought to be a bit more of a Strauss Waltz, after all. Generally speaking, the more repressive a society is, the more twisted the rela- tionships between the sexes. In our enlightened times, in our liberal democracy, it follows that men and women SHOULD be able to get along about as well as anywhere on earth. And I think we probably do. The world my oldest daughter confronts is millenia away from the world my mother faced at the same age, or the one my wife knew. It has got millenia to go before it gets anywhere close to perfec- tion, but let us admit that the Women’s Movement wrought a revolution. And having penetrated the gates, women are simply milling about, I sense, regrouping the push on the bread and butter front. Almost every woman 1 know is psychologically liberated, even though there are quite a few of them who don't seem to know it, or at least won't admit it. And others who pretend nothing has happened because they don’t really LIKE being liberated. Too late, sister! You are free. Good luck. Ronald J. Schmidt! | _Barrister Personal Injury | 1. ~=Divorce: West Vancouver "| 8 Summer fitness packages to choose from ee ner: pecials*at the ’ fr and ‘established 12 months of aerobics & trimtone 4 months of weight training “Early Bird Special” 3 months of weight training & aerobics 3 months of aerobics & 11 tanning sessions 3 months of weight training & 5 tanning sessions 1% months weight training and aerobics plus 11 tanning sessions 3 months weight training plus a credit on any current fitness membership elsewhere (up to 1% months} 27 tanning sessions on our famous WOLFF SYSTEM...the World’s #1 choice Meicalfe’s North Shore People A happy Wednesday to Lus Angeles television producer and writer, John Aylesworth, whose creditials include the Perry Como show, the Judy Garland and Julie Andrews TV specials, the Hee Haw series, Wayne and Shuster comedy hours and the long-lived Front Page Challenge. After years in Toronto and L.A., he’s putting down roots in our town. The relaxed charmer entertained at a lavish Sunday brunch recently in his new Penorama Village condo with friends that included the just-married news boss at BCTV, Cameron Bell, the Irish Rovers’ Lee Weinstein, former broadcaster and top Tory, Don Haxailton, free-lance TV producer, Gail MacGregor, one of Canada’s leading actors and directors and former Canada Council head, Mavor Moore, CKVU's top honcho, Norm Kilenman while Media Club owner and North Shore resident, Jeff Snowball, played bartender. John, in the midst of writing a new comedy, hopes that when the play is finish- ed, he'll be able to mount the finished product here...... Several years ago when WardAir's famed Max Ward bought his first 747, he threw a big party and launched the new bird in the traditional champagne-across-the-bow christening, The result was a huge dent in the nose of the 747 and an even bigger dent in Ward's wallet. So the He Still with the Western Magazine awards, two other North Shore writers were honored at the ceremony held at Richards on Richards. David Rodgers, former director of the Vancouver Planetarium and wellknown wine expert, won the Science and Technology award for Tech Soars in Equity while my partner on this page, one fat and sassy Robert Hunter, won the Profiles category with, a look at BC Ferries’ Stu Hodgson entitled Just Call Me Stu.... This has not been a good year for West Van's Anna Wymar. and her famous ballet company. Established here in 1967, they've been in dire shape for some time due to management and financial problems. So the company, with the aid of directors, friends and parents, have launched their most ambitious project to date — Anna’s Lottery, The Sure Thing, For $25 you'l get a chance to win the new Ford Merkur, five Ford Escorts as well as many other prizes with every ticket redeemable at Anna Wyman's dance performances, The encouraging news is that Anna and her world-calibre dance company will be the subject of a PBS television special on Ch. 9 on or about Aug. 4 and will make their debut in New York Oct. 12....yes, that was Bruno Gerussi and North Van's Robert Clothier and the Beachcomber crew in Lymn Valley a couple of weeks back. For the first time in 12 years, the CBC-TV series moved from Gibsons and its Molly's Reach location. Mountain of Fear, shot on Grouse and Crown Mountains and the streets of Lynn Valley, highlighted the talents of West Van's 19-year old Dione Luther....Congratulations to North Van's 18+ old Rob Jacobi, son of Carol and jeweller Bob. fie's just won the BC Youth Soccer Association's $300 Ashdown Scholarship and was thé only North Shore winner....Congrais too, to Antonio Pasecreta, win- ner of the Lynn Valtey Centre's first annual Clam Chowder Contest. The item is that he used his mum's chowder recipe that she serves in Sear’s Restaurant Friday nights... Cheers!... P.S. Dear Noel — I'll stick ‘ with my sources re: The Mayor's accident, but thanks for the plug. Glad to know you're reading. Need the latest on the North Shore Real Estate Market? Call your Community Specialists... Sussex Realty 984-9711