>. Does that make me a male chauvinist pig dick swinger? Many working
>people think that it makes me some kind of a faggot, and they don't mean
>that in any positive sense.
well, i don't know. the reference to dick swinging came from a guy (matt) who used it to label something i'd said about rituals of deference and demeanor. in that case, i believe i claimed that much of what geeks do (and i agreed that anyone does) is seek the acclaim of their peers on some level. had nothing to do with men, though i did say that it could be used and is used as part of the apparatus of power. so, when matt said that my dropping refs to names and publications was dick swinging, i said, "yes and no". it's a way for me to communicate with my peers; it is shorthand. among my peers it works actually to open me up to challenges (so when i say parson, yoshie demands to know how i could possibly say that name! :) but it functions also to keep outsiders out and make it clear they are outsiders.
when i said we should do the Dick Wave, it was a joke to my bud joe noonan and i didn't think he was dick waving, but rather, being self conscious of the practice and nudging me in the elbow about it!
christ, men are so sensitive about dicks!
kelley