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From: mat@mtx5a.UUCP (m.terribile)
Newsgroups: net.singles,net.women
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Why male dominance?
Message-ID: <1250@mtx5a.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Mar-86 02:58:18 EST
Article-I.D.: mtx5a.1250
Posted: Thu Mar 20 02:58:18 1986
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> In article <1235@mtx5a.UUCP> mat@mtx5a.UUCP (m.terribile) writes:
> >
> >	If a culture is to survive when pressured by adjacent cultures, it must
> >respond, and respond with aggression.  This aggression may take the form of
> >open warfare of or more subtle hostility, but it nonetheless represents means
> >of coercion.
> >
. . .
> >	If men grew more skillful at coercion than women, they might come to
> >predominate in the leadership of the society.
> 
> So, perhaps this dominance arose when the human population density finally
> got high enough that pressure from adjacent cultures was a common occurrence?
> And the time when females were dominant was before this? Sounds reasonable.
> 
> And what will happen if the "global village" ever becomes reality? Will
> females dominate again? 
> 
> Horrors! Quick, Watson, the bazookas!!   :-)
> 
> 					Jeff Winslow

My suspicion is that before competition between other clans/tribes/tribal
nations became a significant factor, competition from the environment began
the process.  Note, however, that in the frontierlands of this country,
where the environment was the major competition, very often women had
(locally) as much authority as men ... there was too much to do to spend
energy and time governing or dominating.  And I suspect that, apart from
the (admittedly considerable) asymmetries, of childbearing and child-rearing,
in very young societies, there was not a major distinction between the
authority of men and the authority of women.
-- 

	from Mole End			Mark Terribile
		(scrape .. dig )	mtx5b!mat
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