From a woman's point of view, me being a woman and all, I think the mystique of women's superiority is mostly a male invention. It's an invention used, historically, to keep women in their place. The pedestal is a gilded cage.
From a survival point of view, women are precious because so many more women are needed than men for the species to survive. "Women and children first," right? Except that men have been abusing women and children throughout history to the present.
It has been less than a hundred years since women got the vote in Canada. It has been little more than a hundred years since women were allowed to own their own businesses, or even hold their own property after marriage. In war time, we have shown that we can do the same jobs men do, albeit not always in the same way men do them, and once the job is done ... I could go on and on, but you know the history. Women have been suppressed in our society for centuries -- suppressed and endangered. We have learned to use the weapons at hand, words mostly, and we have learned to be deadly with them. Since we are all only human, we don't always fight fair, any more than men do.
As for being superior... Women have been told for centuries that their place is in the home. To this day, women are expected to be the homemakers. Men may share the work, but more often than not, they view this as helping out, not doing the job because it's their job to do. I'm not saying all men are like that, but given the history, is it surprising that women try to rule the roost?
As for intellectual superiority or moral superiority, I think that myth started with the World Wars. Women had served before, but never in such numbers and in such a variety of jobs. In this I include the women who did "men's" work at home as well as the nurses, clerks and drivers that served in the military. When the war ended, they were expected to go back to their homes, but people knew. WE knew we could do it.
That's just equality, however. I'm running out of steam so I'll just drop a couple of names ... Wonder Woman, created by a man. Almost anything by Robert Heinlein. The popular concept of the Super Woman is a male invention, not a female one.
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branchandroot
Pedestals
Date: 2006-12-05 06:58 am (UTC)From a survival point of view, women are precious because so many more women are needed than men for the species to survive. "Women and children first," right? Except that men have been abusing women and children throughout history to the present.
It has been less than a hundred years since women got the vote in Canada. It has been little more than a hundred years since women were allowed to own their own businesses, or even hold their own property after marriage. In war time, we have shown that we can do the same jobs men do, albeit not always in the same way men do them, and once the job is done ... I could go on and on, but you know the history. Women have been suppressed in our society for centuries -- suppressed and endangered. We have learned to use the weapons at hand, words mostly, and we have learned to be deadly with them. Since we are all only human, we don't always fight fair, any more than men do.
As for being superior... Women have been told for centuries that their place is in the home. To this day, women are expected to be the homemakers. Men may share the work, but more often than not, they view this as helping out, not doing the job because it's their job to do. I'm not saying all men are like that, but given the history, is it surprising that women try to rule the roost?
As for intellectual superiority or moral superiority, I think that myth started with the World Wars. Women had served before, but never in such numbers and in such a variety of jobs. In this I include the women who did "men's" work at home as well as the nurses, clerks and drivers that served in the military. When the war ended, they were expected to go back to their homes, but people knew. WE knew we could do it.
That's just equality, however. I'm running out of steam so I'll just drop a couple of names ... Wonder Woman, created by a man. Almost anything by Robert Heinlein. The popular concept of the Super Woman is a male invention, not a female one.