FEMINISM

S17 Ep 26 - Christina Hoff Sommers

Psychologist have an ongoing debate of ‘nurture or nature’ as the primary contributor to human development.  We are a product of our social experiences, learning and social norms; but we are a young species that just stepped out of the trees on the African plains some four million years ago.

   

In the process of evolution, the primary aim of every species is to reproduce itself.  Embedded in our DNA is the sequence that has allowed our species to survive – and some might say too successfully for our own good.

The human animal reproduces sexually.   Women and men have different functions in reproduction.  Women produce approximately 250 eggs in their lifetime.   One ejaculation of a man contains more than enough sperm to impregnate every female in the United States.

 

Women, once impregnated, experience a lengthy pregnancy, during which she nourishes the developing young in her body, then after birth provides nourishment, security and comfort for a helpless infant.

After birth man’s instinct is to provide and protect his sexual partners, and by extension the children, from environmental dangers and other males.

 

Women until menopause, and men throughout their lifetime have the desire to copulate.   This is the animal side of our DNA that ensures the continuation of the species.

In the evolutionary process of genetic replication, women’s success depended on the number of children she could produce and nurture, and man’s success was decided by the number or women he could inseminate.

Ahh, there is the rub.  

 With the advancement of cultural norms and science and technology, the reproduction of the species no longer defines the roles of women and men.   Women are now moving into Maslow’s definition of Self Actualization – pride in self and accomplishment. 

This is an adjustment that conflicts with four million years of human development.

   

We, as a species, are going through a struggle to redefine the roles of women and men into the future.  The acceptance of sex and sexual desire has to have a place in those social norms and, a definition between sexual predation and sexual invitation must be understood. 

the Ol’Buzzard