DISCLAIMER: I AM FULLY AWARE THAT THIS WILL OFFEND SOME PEOPLE BUT I AM MERELY BEING OBJECTIVE, SO PLEASE DO THE SAME. AND IF YOU DECIDE YOU DON’T LIKE THIS ENTRY, ONLY DO SO AFTER READING IT IN IT’S ENTIRETY.
Not that I actually WANT to sound like a sexist, but men are much more socially defined as to what they they can do or can’t do. Hundreds, maybe thousands of years, of trial and error have evolved and groomed a society where men have always been expected to perform certain roles. And likewise, to some extent, men simultaneously evolved physically and mentally to better perform those roles.
The social roles of women that had been similarly defined, have been pretty much cast aside by the social upheavals of the Twentieth Century. The feminists won. And now women can do what they’ve always done, what men have always done, and what hasn’t been done before; without (or with little) interference from a system designed by the eons to define their options.
Now let me interject at this point, I do not believe this to have been a bad thing. It is my conviction that the only way for mankind to really surmount the bulk of our problems is shed the social dogma that has been holding us back all of these years with medieval traditions, customs, and superstitions. These are veils that we place over things that we don’t want to understand, or the problems we don’t want to face; and in doing, allow the problems beneath those veils to grow. The veils must be removed and our future must be one dominated by reason.
Anyhow, men on the other hand have had no “sexual revolution” and therefore are still defined by the same rules that have always defined them. Men are still socially discouraged to take traditionally feminine jobs and roles. “Stay at home dads” are openly laughed at. Meanwhile all of the male firemen can only grumble under their breath over the new female in their shop.
But it’s actually MORE than that. It isn’t that women can now fill traditionally masculine jobs and roles, it’s that there is no frame of reference any longer; and that broadens the spectrum exponentially. A good example of this is homosexuality. Lesbians are much more accepted than gay men. This isn’t an arguement, it’s a fact. Referencing Television, film, literature, and celebrity news, there is a much better attitude toward homosexual women. My hypothesis: it’s because of this lack of social definition. There needs to be no polar absolutes and women today can and do exist under any combination of social limitations they can choose THEMSELVES for convenience.
I served in the US Navy for 8 years and I’ve been on all male ships as well as integrated ships. I’ve met allot of tough girls who work just as hard or harder than any man working next to them; but I’ve met significantly more who only act that way part of the time, and when it comes down to being given a job they don’t want to do, they revert back to the stereotypical helplessness that their predecessors fought so hard to overcome. They have a choice. They have a choice of “how equal” they want to be that day. And men, by-and-large do not yet have that luxury. And and interesting question is where will the motive force come from when there is no longer any social expectations for either sex?
Now let me finish up by saying I am aware of the “glass ceiling” and that we are have never seen a female president, etcetera etcetera. The institutions of business and politics haven’t been universally open to all members of society for centuries. It must be expected for them to be harder to penetrate, but that is a topic for another discussion.
SARACANITE 