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Say Again, Why Do Men Exist?

Jun 19, 2015
by Caroline Miller
Huffington Post, Inuits, Rebecca Solnit, San, science postulates on why men exist, Shooting down Man the Hunter, women in agrarian life, women in the Industrial revolution
6 Comments

Science has finally answered a woman’s age old question: Why do men exist?  (Click)  Apparently, nature opted for variation rather than replication and so the “X” chromosome gained the potential to become a “Y” chromosome, introducing competition.  An amoeba, dividing endlessly, wouldn’t effect change and without change, there is no competition.

 Since Nature’s fateful decision to create variation, women have been forced to consider not only the mystery of the “Y” chromosome but why they are continually obliged to “splain” themselves to men.  Writer Rebecca Solnit, in a Huffington Post blog post, describes a frustrating evening with a misogynist male who kept recommending a book for her to read, one which she had authored.  When she told him she had written the book, he fell into denial and went on recommending it to her throughout the evening. (Click)

 On the subject of men and women, only extreme literalists cling to the fable of Adam and Eve as real,  but it has set the tone throughout much political, social and religious thinking.  Women are depicted as flawed creatures whom men are obliged to carry around like excess baggage. A man provides and a woman lies around perpetuating his genes.   (“Shooting Down Man the Hunter,” by Rebecca Solnit, Harper’s June 2015 pg  5.)

 A study by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas of the San, a Kalahari people who, until recently, had maintained their ancient ways, shows that the notion of male as hunter and  woman as keeper of the hearth is a myth.  Not only do San woman forage for food — fruits, nuts berries — but they hunt small animals as well.  In other words, they bring home the bacon and fry it in a pan. A similar relationship exists with the Inuits, an Alaskan tribe dependent upon meat as their diet mainstay.  Inuit women not only prepare the food and make clothing but they  accompany the men on long hunting trips.  The reason for their presence is simple: If a garment rips in sub zero temperatures and isn’t repaired, the hunter dies from exposure . (Ibid, pg. 6.)

 During the Industrial Revolution, women who worked in the sweatshops were hardly sluggards.    Nor are today’s women who labor in the same way in less developed nations.  Agrarian economies tell the same tale.  Besides their homemaking chores, women often worked in the fields alongside their husbands.  That’s hardly being baggage.

 As Sonit points out, only  in the 1950-60s  did women sit at home as ladies of leisure — if raising children and washing and ironing and fixing endless meals can be described as leisure. (Ibid pg 6.)  Today, in the USA, 47% of the wage earners are woman, most of them working full time.  (Ibid pg. 7.)

   “Woman, thy name is frailty”? (Hamlet, I, ii)  Anyone who believes that shtick should think again.  If women weren’t strong enough to bear labor pains, men wouldn’t exist.

Mother behind plow

Courtesy of hoovesandhound.blogspot.com

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6 Comments
  1. Judy Farrell June 19, 2015 at 8:57 am Reply
    Many thanks, Caroline, for this fascinating entry. I was born in '36 and during the women's wakening movement was so buried working two jobs and raising three babies that I really missed the significance of The Happening. However, I do remember during my nursing student days that we all had to stand up and acknowledge the docs (all male) presence as they arrived for rounds. Thanks for the inclusion of the Huffington article by Rebecca Solnit...my first introduction to her.
    • Caroline Miller June 19, 2015 at 9:07 am Reply
      Happy to make the introduction with Rebecca Soint. She knows how to sling words. As for the woman's movement. You didn't miss a thing. It's still going on.
  2. ALC June 19, 2015 at 9:49 am Reply
    It's hard to believe we are still fighting the same battles for recognition and equal treatment. I was in high school during the 50's and my guidance counselor told me I had the following options: Secretarial; pre-nursing; elementary education; or, Home Ec. I definitely would NOT need to take physics, calculus, etc. (even though I had gotten an "A" in Algebra). Typing and Bookkeeping were more appropriate classes. I signed up for Physics anyway, but soon discovered that as the only girl in the class I was considered an oddity and would be treated accordingly--even by the instructor. So, I reluctantly transferred to Bookkeeping. Aced it....but I still long to study Physics. Thanks for continuing to shine the light.
    • Caroline Miller June 19, 2015 at 10:26 am Reply
      Such a typical story in the 1950s. Think we've made a little progress on career choices. But the battle is far from won, as I shall be pointing out in a later blog.
  3. S. L. Stoner June 19, 2015 at 6:47 pm Reply
    A study of women's food gathering activities within the Columbia River Indian tribes, during the pre-European period, determined that the women's activities on behalf of the tribe provided over 50% of the tribe's nutrition. I suspect that number would be pretty universal among aboriginal groups worldwide.
    • Caroline Miller June 19, 2015 at 10:14 pm Reply
      Didn't know that. Not surprising. Thanks for sharing.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published five novels

  • Getting Lost To Find Home
  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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