If, as a consequence of the possession of greater size and muscular power, one is better able to pull and move heavy loads, run faster, and better accomplish all those things that minister to the survival of the person and the group, then it should be plain that men are in these respects superior to women. But while men have, in part, used their size and greater muscular power in a manner calculated to confer survival benefits upon themselves and upon the group, they have also misused these qualities in such a manner as to confer negative survival benefits upon themselves and upon the group. The muscle man likes to feel his bumps and is, therefore, inclined to be bumptious, to fall back upon brawn, when brain is indicated. His size inclines him to throw his weight around, and not only to persuade his woman that he loves her most when he is showing his fellows in the pecking order that he is not to be trifled with. Since there are likely to be other men around who feel much the same way, trouble is inevitable. Such conflicts that arise within the group in this way make no contribution to its greater chances of survival. Many a good and valuable man has been unnecessarily lost to the group by relying upon his muscles rather than upon his mind, and the group has suffered. Vendettas and internecine conflicts are socialized masculine activities, and the most pathological form that such activities take, namely war, is exclusively a masculine invention and iniquity. Such activities do not contribute to the survival of the individual or of the group.
|
Since greater size and physical power are overt evidences of masculinity, boys are in most cultures of the Western world encouraged to demonstrate their superior masculinity by indulging in so-called games or sports. Sports such as football, baseball, ice hockey (otherwise known as "war on ice"), boxing, wrestling, rugby, and similar activities, are calculated to underscore the inferior power of girls. And this occurs at a time when girls may be, at the same chronologic ages, larger in size and physically more powerful than boys! Boys are encouraged to be tough and rough, to play with guns and other weapons of destruction and indulge in sports that are rugged. In addition, because boys are supposed to be able to endure more pain than girls, boys may be corporeally punished (and so unconsciously encouraged in the development of additional hostilities), whereas girls are usually punished by deprivation or by the assignment to uncongenial tasks.
|
|
