Sunday, February 27, 2011

Shifting Perspectives: A reason for sexism

It has often been taught, and rightly so, that sexism is a terrible practice and even in today's society is still evident in many places. Having spent the better part of the last two months studying woman's suffrage I can confidently say it was just that, suffrage. A dire imbalance of the sexes where women were almost as responsible if not more so than men for their oppression.
             So much time and effort has been spent trying to portray and express how prevalent and unjust sexism is and how deep rooted it is and has been in many cultures most (myself until recently included) that most do not take the time to ask "why" and even when they do the answer given is that men want to be superior, to be on top and women to be on the bottom. But what if an issue that has for so long been pervasive in human societies is not due to the fact that it is men trying to remain superior in their culture but that it is in human nature and a product of human evolution? What if sexism were reversed and men were treated unfairly, paid less, and looked down upon while women held the throne? many would say that it would not happen because it is not in women's nature. However what if past and current sexism was not due to the fact that it is a man's instinct to have the advantage but a human's instinct and women were merely the losers of a long ancient and decided battle?
            Like racism, discrimination and prejudice sexism has almost no real basis for even existing. There is no evident advantage men or women have over one another just as the mind's of a particular race do not have any hereditary advantage over one another either despite past attempts by scientists to prove it. Like everything else in the world, ideas and concepts have evolved, devolved been created and destroyed. It is my belief that sexism is just another such mutation of previous concepts and beliefs based on the shape history has taken. Women have a primitive disadvantage thrown upon them due to the simple fact that they are the ones who reproduce, who have pregnancies and create the new generation. This has proven to be as much of an advantage as a disadvantage however certain things are undeniable about human reproduction.
           Human children take on average 9 months to be born due to the fact that the human mind takes much longer to develop than almost all other species. In those 9 months women face a continually degrading state of independence, this is not an argument it is just a fact. Would you ever consider asking a woman who is 7-8 months pregnant to help you move heavy furniture or run a mile with you? In an evolving and fast moving world women frequently as a whole have to slow down or stop completely when it comes to having children.
           While not so evident in today's society where women have only a few children in the past and in other cultures women had or still have as many children as possible, and preferably at their prime when they are healthiest. This ensures a safer birth and healthier birth for children but also impedes a woman's advance during the prime of her life. I believe that this single fact has played a huge role in the past where men dominated women in society and extreme sexism was the norm. When you throw actually raising the child into the mix a women's prime (especially in poorer classes where more children meant more safety in the long run) is severely hindered and time spent on other things such as education and work skills takes a back seat. Over hundreds of years of this repeated practice men became the ones who did the work, developed their muscles and had more time to study and learn as a whole while women were...preoccupied. This resulted in a women's natural gravitation towards leaning on the man for support, since it is also in human nature to take the easier rode when it is open to them. Women are VITAL to society and this cannot be stressed enough, and in other societies and perhaps in all early societies men and women shared equal status or women were possibly even in charge, however as time went by human's natural instinct to get ahead, to make the best possible situation for themselves evolved into men becoming dominant over women. While to any outsider it would appear women should be in charge as only they can secure the future for the next generation, women became reliant on men especially as expanding societies demanded more children from every women lessening their own experience and skill outside of child bearing.
        I'm not saying this was always the case or always true, women are perfectly capable of dominating over men and making huge advances of their own. But when you take early societies starting before the time period AD and as a whole have women producing children and men supporting them it is not a stretch to imagine that in the hidden war of who would dominate whom men were obviously in a position to take control and they did. So while sexism is a wrong and vile practice and belief to grow up on, it is perhaps not a bad idea to take a step back. While instead of pointing fingers today at one another for why sexism exists, why not take a step back and see why it began in the first place? In a maturing world of exploration, expansion and evolving societies an internal struggle sprung up and by looking at the facts it is obvious why the victor won and why sexism had such a strong presence in the past and even today. While it is wrong and should not exist in the first place, it does, and it is up to women to fix the rift of beliefs that has formed over the last several thousand years.  Maybe this time as women gain more power and influence in our modern society they will not take advantage and dominate men once it is in their capacity to do so. Maybe this time women will take the high road and instead of reversing the sexism upon the men who created it in the first place maybe they will create a balance of the sexes instead of another monarchy.
        

2 comments:

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  2. Nicely written blog Mike! You make some logical and compelling arguments here.
    I don't know if many would say that reverse sexism would not exist because it is not in a women's nature- I don't think human nature differs based on gender. I think women are just as capable of reveling in superiority... and just as wrong (vile as you say) when they do so.
    I think you are really hitting on something when you allude to the fact that pregnancy has been used as a justification for sexism (remember we discussed "scientific sexism"). Today, though, we know, through medical science, that a pregnant woman can carry out nearly all tasks that she performed before she was pregnant without fear of harming her baby. Perhaps a pregnant woman will not "run a mile" or "move heavy furniture", but she can continue her education and her career unhindered. Perhaps this knowledge is helping level the playing field a bit…and this knowledge can only be attained when we as a society, as you put it, "ask why." Thus, what was once seen as a “primitive disadvantage thrown upon” women is now seen for what it is.
    I also want to point out the difference between wanting to "get ahead" and wanting to "dominate"- these are not the same instinct. It is a completely different instinct to want to be successful than it is to want to be dominant or superior.
    I am going to just skip over your whole "this resulted in a women's natural gravitation towards leaning on the man for support, since it is also in human nature to take the easier rode when it is open to them" comment (it would be "ROAD" by the way) and move on to another point I do have to disagree with you on.
    That it is “up to women to fix the rift of beliefs that has formed over the last several thousand years.” The responsibility to remove evils such as sexism, racism and all other types of discrimination belongs to all of us equally.
    The ultimate achievement of our society will be if every person is judged based on the merit, actions, and character of their person- rather than a characteristic of birth such as gender, race or sexual orientation

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