Leighton Gill wrote:

>While I can understand an orchestra concentrating on works by neglected
>female composers of the past, it strikes me that, if this same orchestra
>will not hire male musicans, and limits any new works it commissions to
>female composers, it is at least as sexist as the VPO.

There's obvious merit in Leighton's comments, but I find it significant to
keep in mind that the VPO's discrimination against women is the "source"
problem, while the Women's Philharmonic's motivation has been to help
redress the situation.

When someone's been kicking you in the head and you finally rise and do
some kicking of your own, it is all violence, but I'd take the side of the
person being originally kicked.  That's my dilemma.  I want to be on the
side of the Women's Philharmonic, but I keep thinking that its approach
also does not really address "eliminating" the problem.

Don Satz
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