Two things have come up in the last few days that make me think about this whole gender/male/female relations issue.
One was an article reporting on research that suggests certain plastic chemicals ingested by mothers may "feminise" the brains of baby boys, leading them to be less likely to play with typically "male" toys or engage in play-fighting.
The other was Mon Amore's concerns over an 18 certificate video game that finds the player shooting unarmed civilians in an airport, and which has been obtained by His young sons.
When I read the first article, my initial objection to the very concept of the brain being "feminised" (as opposed to, say, "less male-oriented"...) was no doubt partly informed by having read a few snippets of Valerie Solanas's infamous SCUM Manifesto:
"The male is a biological accident: the Y (male) gene is an incomplete X (female) gene, that is, it has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female..."
With that in mind, on top of the knowledge that the unborn foetus starts off with a clitoris rather than a penis (up yours to Freud's theory that women feel that they've been castrated...), is it not strange that the scientists conducting the research on plastic chemicals have concluded that a child's brain is "feminised"? That is to say, surely the effect that these chemicals have is to hinder the process of turning the default female into the variation that is known as the male? Well, of course it's not strange when you consider the patriarchy of language...
And the video game. It's a matter of opinion as to how much media such as video games, films, music etc have on any of us. The responsibility of the Columbine massacre was laid mostly at the feet of Marilyn Manson, rather than the troubled social circumstances of the teenagers who felt drawn to committing the act, or indeed the gun laws of the state that meant they were easily able to get the offending weapons in the first place. However, a game that puts a player in the position of a murderer, a game that isn't intended for children as young as Mon Amore's sons but can easily be played by them, surely has to shoulder a certain level of responsibility for the messages it sends to it's players.
But more to the point, what is this bizarre obsession with violence and brute force that continues to infect our planet and the experience of those living on it? The scientists conducting the research, and the journalists writing the ensuing article, no doubt consider "play-fighting" to be a typical male behaviourial characteristic. And the sons of Mon Amore are apparently becoming virtual-warfare junkies, choosing to go straight home from school to play the game rather than spend time with their father.
So this raises a nub at the heart of the feminist dilemma...
...are women in fact superior to men...?
Personally (Libran as I am) I've always clung to the Equality Post, and I suspect that this is where I shall remain. However, with the awareness I have of the devastation and misery caused by what is perhaps the predominantly "male" trait of using force to gain power, it's difficult not to draw the conclusion that women possess superior qualities. Of course, for me to come to that conclusion would completely contradict my feelings towards the evening of the boxing match.
And so I can really only conclude that individuals are the problem, groups are the problem, idiots are the problem. We arrive in the world with all sorts of biological and social/cultural factors, but it is the choices we make for ourselves that ultimately inform our behaviour and therefore contribute to the state of our society.
But I just want to be loved, and to love, always...
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