Yes All Women and Men Can

Most phenomenon have a tipping point. The current news stories about the o going cultural/political war against women all seemed tame and harmless until a nut job recently took out his immature frustration out on seven people-- especially women. It got men and women talking to each other about the rampant misogyny in our society and it's about time.

I expect the usual sound bites from the media when there is yet another mass shooting but this one got my attention with some rather astute observations from surprising voices. Men. A certified nerd zeros in on the myth pushed by Hollywood that nerdy guys will always get the hot chick. A persistent and irritating plot line that I always found offensive and wildly unrealistic.

Bishop Ken Robinson in his Daily Beast article put his finger on something known all too well by women:
" It is difficult for those who are not subject to discrimination and denigration to believe that it’s happening right under their noses, especially if they belong to the group that is perpetrating societal bullying. White people are shocked to learn that African-Americans are routinely followed around stores while they shop because of the color of their skin and their perceived likelihood of being thieves. Able-bodied people rarely notice the barriers that riddle the world which keep the disabled from participating in society. The threat of violence against women, because they are women, goes unnoticed by most men."

This conversation needs to happen everywhere, In India where the national sport of gang raping/ murdering of women occurs on a regular basis. In Afghanistan where young women  attempt suicide rather than  be forced to marry some shriveled up old man. In China where female infratricide is still the norm where males are more precious and if they can't find a women locally they buy them.

Women are fed up being treated as cattle, sex toys or prizes for the male ego. Men have to recognize the value of the other half of humanity if the species is to evolve. 

Let's keep talking.

How Equality for Women Will Save the World

Humanity is evolving -with women. The men are not. The men I speak of cling desperately to an outdated patriarchy where they rule and women are submissive.  They hate women, they fear them out of the fear of being left behind as the next step in evolution happens. Women have been greatly enpowered in the last 30 years -particularly in this country- but some men are afraid of the advancement.

Pussy Riot, Malala Yousafzai, Mona Eltahawhy have expressed themselves in ways  women never have before. Women are tired of being treated like dirt.Tired of being treated as incubators for procreation or sex slaves for men’s primitive desires.Women are rising up in greater numbers- and in many countries- where women have traditionally been oppressed in a state of slavery. It’s about time.

In response medievel thinking drives men to violence to preserve their distorted sense of superiority. But by oppressing women they keep themselves and humanity from advancing.

When I was a teenager I was in the midst of the “women’s liberattion “ movement. I thought that men can’t be far behind in finding their new voice in the modern world. Instead the dread and anger towards women and homosexuals demonstrates how the conservative notions of masculinity are further entrenched in fear. Men wield power with brute strength rather than the intellect they so admire but use less and less.

Women got the right to vote in this country because they convinced men we had the right. Men agreed with the change. We made the change together. Men and women need each other, we are twins in nature. We are equal but different, yin and yang that dance together. We can not exist in separate states. It’s time the evolved men of the world show their brothers they can have their masculine identity without having to promote it with fear and oppression.