courtesy of wikipedia.org
A rape story out of France is causing many people to drop their jaws. Gisèle Pelicot, married to her husband for 50 years, discovered he had drugged her regularly during their marriage and invited strangers to enter their bedroom and rape her.
A story of betrayed vows and broken trust, it’s also an example of how patriarchy gives many males a sense of entitlement concerning the women in their lives. The most extreme example came during the council of Macon in 584. That year, Church elders agreed to allow women to remain classified as human by one vote. In modern times, Tucker Carlson, a fired Fox News anchor, has asserted that women needed to be spanked.
The question is, why do some men feel they have dominion over women? Could it stem from the mistaken notion that females should be homebodies and that men should bring home the bacon? Little in history supports that notion. In prehistoric times, women not only gathered nuts and berries as a food source, but they also hunted alongside men. Literally, from buffalo soup to nuts, women’s work sustained the tribe.
Because women have played a major role in human history, I’m curious to know why so many societies assign them subservient positions. Is Carlson’s innuendo correct? Do women enjoy being spanked? If so, they aren’t alone. Sexual domination is a fantasy both men and women experience. A similarity can’t explain the difference.
Could genes have defined our destinies? Does the Y chromosome dictate male dominance? It does affect differences between the sexes in terms of anatomy and brain structure. These alternations I have summarized in an earlier blog. Even so, these distinctions have nothing to do with intelligence or leadership abilities. Of greatest concern seems to be the prediction that the Y chromosome may die out in 10,000 years.
In some animal hierarchies, leadership doesn’t go to those with the Y chromosome, though they make males larger and stronger. Leadership falls to the female.
Regardless of X or Y chromosomes, humans have more in common than they have differences. One is a desire to be seen and to belong to a purpose larger than themselves. A society that gives everyone a place in the sun is likely to be more peaceful than those that deny equality. Patriarchy goes against human nature and threatens democracy. I say this because when a man dictates how a woman shall vote, having already robbed her of her ability to control her body, she is reduced to chattel and is no longer represented in society regardless of the law.
I am no scholar, but nothing in my research explains why patriarchy has dominated societies for so long. It is a cancer on any culture in that it deprives freedom to women and minorities and straight-jackets male roles.
