Ok, it is a bit long, but if you want a good, intelligent, discussion about research on male supremacy, this article is for you.
Stephanie Coontz and Peta Henderson’s review of how both the natural and social sciences understand sex and gender, will also be of help to transgender and non-binary people who try to understand what it really means to be a woman or a man or something outside the binary all-together.
Coontz and Henderson argue that there is no biological imperative explaining male dominance. There is simply too much diversity among primates to argue that male dominance is the default.
There is not one to one relationship between hormones and aggression, neither in humans or animals. And to the extent the male is physically stronger, this has not stopped the development of societies where women have political power.
They also look into our interpretation of gender divisions in societies:
‘Proofs of male dominance, moreover, frequently rest on fuzzy or inconsistent criteria: if women are excluded from some activity, that is considered proof of male power; when males are excluded, it’s considered evidence of women’s “restriction” to a subordinate sphere. ’
In other words: We give value to male and female roles in other societies based on our own sexist preconceptions of what is of real value.
They conclude that evidence is lacking for clearcut mental or temperamental differences between the sexes.
USA Today reports on a new study in the Journal of Adolescent Healthfound that shows that many norms around gender, what’s expected of boys and girls, become entrenched in adolescence and have negative impacts that carry into adulthood.
The biggest myth perpetuated about gender, researchers found, is that once girls hit puberty, they are vulnerable and in need of protection to preserve their sexual and reproductive health, while boys are seen as strong and independent. It’s this myth, Mmari said, that changes how the world sees both sexes during adolescence, and how it continues to treat them throughout their lives.
“How you perceive girls and boys is socially driven,” Mmari said. “It’s not biologically driven.”
Here are my favorite quotes from this reddit thread on what “feminine” things men would do if society would not punish them.
“They’re all flowery and fruity and sweet. I wish I could smell like a flowerbed all the time without getting judged.”
“If I didn’t have a penis I would only wear yoga pants,”
“I took up knitting few weeks ago. My scarf is going to be the best one I ever owned. And I even do that on the train, fuck you people, if I have an hour and a half to sit in one place I’ll turn on some music and knit it all the way to another city.”
“Skirts. We need the ball room.I’m actually for the revival of cloaks and such as well. We should just wear robes.”
“Kept teaching preschool. I had a way with young kids and really enjoyed seeing them make connections for the first time almost every single day. I just hated the first few months of the school year where parents were on high alert with me. I understood why, having been a parent, but it was why I moved up to older kids.”
“Be the little spoon - sometimes I want to be the cuddlee instead of the cuddler”
“Skip. It’s a fast and efficient way to get around. Faster than walking, less effort than running”
“Order fruity drinks without being judged.”
“Carry a man purse. I hate things in my pockets.”
“Cry like a bitch. It’s hard to keep things bottled up all the time.”
Evan Urquhart is a trans man reflecting on the hypermasculinity found in parts of American culture. For him the dilemma is: When demeaning, dominating, and objectifying women has been entirely removed from masculinity, what will be left? Who are his role models?
His reflections are also relevant for male to female transgender people. We have often been raised in a misogynistic environment that degrades women. Indeed the reason so many male to female transgender people work so hard to suppress “the other side” is precisely this: We have internalized the misogyny and the homophobia of our own friends and family.
Urquart puts it this way:
If there’s one thing I’ve gleaned about manliness, it is that real men must never be anything like women. They must not talk like women, sit or stand or walk like women, enjoy the things that women enjoy, or do the sorts of things that women do. Anything at all can become suspect by being tied to womanishness.
This is a horrible parody of masculinity, degrading for both men and women.
As for how a feminist man can express his masculinity, Urquart adds:
I want to be a good man. I want to be a man who embraces his masculinity and makes no apology for it. But, I don’t think I’ll be worrying too much about whether I’m a real man. Real men probably shouldn’t be afraid of occasionally appearing somewhat feminine. They shouldn’t overcompensate for their insecurities by abusing or mistreating others. They shouldn’t equate masculinity with the domination and degradation of women. Too often, however, it seems to me that self-proclaimed “real men” do exactly that. I want no part of it.
Here is a fascinating new Swedish movie. Girls Lost, about three teenage girls who with help of magic flower become boys, and who can therefore see the world from “the other side.”
The movie is based on the youth novel Pojkarna (The Boys) by Jessica Shiefauer
It wasn’t until Europeans took over North America that natives adopted
the ideas of gender roles. For Native Americans, there was no set of
rules that men and women had to abide by in order to be considered a
“normal” member of their tribe.
In fact, people who had both female and male characteristics were viewed
as gifted by nature, and therefore, able to see both sides of
everything. According to Indian Country Today,
all native communities acknowledged the following gender roles:
“Female, male, Two Spirit female, Two Spirit male and Transgendered.” […]
One of the most celebrated Two Spirits in recorded history was a Lakota warrior aptly named Finds Them And Kills Them. Osh-Tisch
was born a male and married a female, but adorned himself in women’s
clothing and lived daily life as a female. On June 17 1876, Finds Them
And Kills Them gained his reputation when he rescued a fellow tribesman
during the Battle of Rosebud Creek. An act of fearless bravery. Below is a picture of Osh-Tisch and his wife.
Glamour covers an interesting UK/US poll, which shows that people are getting much more relaxed about masculinity and femininity.
Only 42 percent of guys considered themselves completely masculine. They also had roughly equal views of masculinity and femininity, with 77 percent viewing masculinity positively and 74 percent viewing femininity positively.
The results were similar for women: Only 46 percent said they were completely feminine, and 13 percent of men and 25 percent of women said they’d worn clothing designed for the opposite gender.
These liberal attitudes seem to be growing as time goes on, since there were some pretty big age differences. Among men ages 18 to 29, for example, only 30 percent considered themselves completely masculine, while 65 percent of men over 65 did.
Yet another study confirms the trend: Younger people are less and less likely to think of themselves as exclusively heterosexual or – for that matter – belonging to one of the poles of the gender binary only.
The survey, of Americans aged 13-20 (Generation Z), has found that only 48% of them identify as “exclusively heterosexual”.
It turns out sexual orientation and gender identity are more like continuums, after all. Or maybe something even more complex.
In comparison with millennials aged 21 to 34, the younger generation – known as Gen Z – were found to be more open-minded and permissive than the group just a few years older…
Using a scale of zero to six, where zero represented “exclusively heterosexual” and six “exclusively homosexual”, over a third of Gen Z respondents picked a number other than zero or six.
The youngest ones are also strongly transpositive:
Over 70% of 13 to 20-year-olds strongly agreed that public spaces should be required to provide gender neutral bathrooms, which compared to only a little over half of millennials.
Fifty-six percent of 13-to-20-year-olds said that they knew someone who went by gender neutral pronouns such as “they,” “them,” or “ze,” compared to 43 percent of people aged 28 to 34 years old. Over a third of Gen Z respondents also strongly agreed that gender did not define a person as much as it used to. This figure dropped to 23 percent among millennials who were 28 and up.
An article that I wrote a year ago. It’s about the history of women blacksmiths from the 14th century onwards in both England and the Colonies. I don’t think I ever posted a link to it on this blog.
