I have a (very unserious) theory that patriarchy emerged to prevent mass die-off of old men, who have little use en masse beyond the few (maybe as few as 10%, ok 20), priests, bards, sages and counsellors 😂
haha interesting theory. The research (as far as I know it, which isn't super far) currently suggested patriarchy emerged alongside agriculture which favoured physical force to push the plow and violence to defend land when we became sedentary. But I like your theory better.
I loved this. Thank you, Isabelle, for this insightful Guest Post. (And for mentioning the discredited Alpha Wolf theory, which is still widely believed.)
Thank you. And I had not even heard of this until a commenter mentioned it on the video version of this piece, which went semi-viral on Insta. Sometimes the Internet is good to us.
There's more than linguistic bias in the search for "seminal traits" to explain human evolution: as "seminal" derives from "semen" it's an accurate description of the search for MALE traits (real or assumed) to explain human evolution.
Whatever happened to Elaine Morgan's "The Descent of Woman"?
I would never have guessed that English was your second language!
And I had to resist an automatic thought-description "seminal book" (by Elaine Morgan)--habitual usage precedes / usurps more recently learnt derivation.
It's also very hard to find an egg-based alternative!
--as one reviewer notes, Elaine Morgan presents "an alternative viewpoint ... one that asks why should we think that evolution happens because the male of the species needs to go to war".
"Maybe while chromosomally female, the individual had been intersex or had lived as a transgender man." Hey, why is there only a single acknowledgement of the fact we can only determine the chromosomal sex of these individuals, and the rest of your article automatically assumes all these people were women as modern western culture would define it? Why does this article smack of TERFism?
Absolutely brilliant and the reference to menopause made me cry!
Thank you Lisa. Didn’t mean to make you cry.
Oh, no thank you. It was crying in a good way! I have now got a whole new way to frame my menopausal life! Seriously well timed read!
Isn’t it a beautiful framing? Nature is preserving your wisdom for the benefit of all future generations.
Well, at least not killing us ;)))
I have a (very unserious) theory that patriarchy emerged to prevent mass die-off of old men, who have little use en masse beyond the few (maybe as few as 10%, ok 20), priests, bards, sages and counsellors 😂
haha interesting theory. The research (as far as I know it, which isn't super far) currently suggested patriarchy emerged alongside agriculture which favoured physical force to push the plow and violence to defend land when we became sedentary. But I like your theory better.
I loved this. Thank you, Isabelle, for this insightful Guest Post. (And for mentioning the discredited Alpha Wolf theory, which is still widely believed.)
Thank you. And I had not even heard of this until a commenter mentioned it on the video version of this piece, which went semi-viral on Insta. Sometimes the Internet is good to us.
Wow Jonn that is a really interesting read. Thank you.
My mind has been opened. Thank you!
There's more than linguistic bias in the search for "seminal traits" to explain human evolution: as "seminal" derives from "semen" it's an accurate description of the search for MALE traits (real or assumed) to explain human evolution.
Whatever happened to Elaine Morgan's "The Descent of Woman"?
Oh, English as a second-language speaker here, I had never made that connection, I just used the word as an idiom. Maybe I won't now 😅
I would never have guessed that English was your second language!
And I had to resist an automatic thought-description "seminal book" (by Elaine Morgan)--habitual usage precedes / usurps more recently learnt derivation.
It's also very hard to find an egg-based alternative!
PS As it's high time I re-read "The Descent of Woman" (published 1972) here it is on Kindle (£4.99):
https://amzn.eu/d/07eMWONE
--as one reviewer notes, Elaine Morgan presents "an alternative viewpoint ... one that asks why should we think that evolution happens because the male of the species needs to go to war".
"Maybe while chromosomally female, the individual had been intersex or had lived as a transgender man." Hey, why is there only a single acknowledgement of the fact we can only determine the chromosomal sex of these individuals, and the rest of your article automatically assumes all these people were women as modern western culture would define it? Why does this article smack of TERFism?
This is fascinating
Thank you! And yes to the affirmative view of menopause!