Mark with an X

Justifiably, the Women’s Movement has fought long and hard for what, in reality, they should never have had to fight for. It must be galling to any woman who considers what they have had to earn over the past couple hundred years – not least for the strange ideas they have had to believe about themselves in order to make any headway in the struggle.

It is no wonder, really, that women have begun to see men as toxic to their existence. Isn’t it men, after all, who have stood in the way of their goals, heaping up barricades at every step, hindering progress, maintaining a social structure inimical to the rights being sought as their due?

This is the essential question. Just how far are men qua men responsible for the injustice of women’s existence to date? Women, especially those who identify as feminist, are likely to think that men are largely to blame for all that ails woman. Feminists have adopted a wide range of theoretical approaches – most of which were initially established by men – to support a view that situates the male as the oppressor of the female. To the extent that men may, rightfully, feel they are under attack simply for being.

One can hardly blame women for having such animus against men. The appearance of history certainly seems to support the impression that men are toxic to women.

Appearances, however, can be deceptive.

That the history under review is all fairly recent should give us pause for thought. Women have fought against the social structures that have kept them in subservience to a patriarchal order that saw them as less than the male. This, it goes without saying, is a fight that had to be fought and, though the feminists would likely claim some variation of cultural appropriation at my saying this, the feminist or women’s victories are victories for all human beings. In their struggle, women have utterly changed how we view the human. To this we should all feel indebted.

Yet, it remains the case, that the fight originates in the Nineteenth Century, a mere couple hundred years ago. This is significant.

Say what you want about the Victorian era – lampoon it, ridicule it, condemn it for its colonialist ambitions – yet, despite all the legitimate criticism heaped upon this particular period of history, it was the first point in human history when women were safe to vent their spleen. Despite the poor health and the dire medical practices, it remains true to say that society had stabilised enough for women to feel empowered to resist those structures that appeared to work against their best interests.

I should acknowledge that there could well be some quibbling over my use of the word “safe”. Surely Jack the Ripper proves otherwise? But the Ripper is as much a product of the time as women’s fight for rights. They are the same moment. And the moment is where we yet remain. As long as women “fight” for the rights they justly deserve, there will be a line of Jacks, ready to do what men have always done when they feel attacked.

Human history goes back much further than the Nineteenth Century. Indeed, for the vast majority of our history, mere survival has remained in the balance. In order to survive, the group needed strategies in place that would best enhance survival prospects. Patriarchy is, and never has been, some nefarious structure imposed upon women in order to keep them subservient to men. It is simply the structure that evolved as the best means of survival in a world that had no intention of allowing us to survive unless we found our own way of not being weak. That way was men and women identifying roles that needed occupying and filling them with those most appropriate to their success.

This scenario is neatly inverted in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games trilogy. Survival is the primary goal. All else is second to mere survival. That person best suited to ensure survival takes the role of fighter – in this case, it is Katniss Everdeen, the female. The simple switch of a female for a male doesn’t make for a revolution in perceptions of women, despite the hype!

Those feminists like Hélène Cixous and Luce Irigaray, who really explored the nature and extent of being woman, they are the revolutionists.

I truly enjoyed the first novel in Collins’ trilogy. Yet, I remained disappointed that all it offered us was a view of woman as simply taking the place of man. Katniss Everdeen, apart from her wardrobe (designed by a man), offers us nothing we haven’t seen in a million Schwarzenegger/Stallone movies. Women really should be ashamed of themselves!

Maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh! After all, what do they have to model themselves on? Hence, Cixous and Irigaray. They, at least, resisted the temptation to see women as female men!

Third Wave feminism should not be ignored in this context. They celebrated the femininity of woman and allowed for each to choose their own way of being. Third Wave feminism saw woman as woman and, I for one, agree whole heartedly. But it does kind of pander to all that men see as woman, as well. So, as much as I appreciate the ideals of the Third Wave, I’m not sure they really pushed forward the cause of woman.

The cause of woman will not be furthered, either, by demonising men. Male history dictates that survival is a fight and men are good – our history has made us very good – at fighting. Choosing to turn the male toxic will, eventually, work against women’s best interest. Subjugating the enemy simply turns you into the enemy! And a good enemy is almost as desirable as a good woman to the male conception of reality. By toxifying men, women only ensure their own downfall.

So, in conclusion, the answer to the essential question is to recognise that patriarchy was never an invention of men, it was the unfortunate outcome of a strategy of survival. When men and women work together for the good of the species, we are proven winners. The roles that were once necessary (or deemed necessary) no longer are so. Yet, survival still remains a matter of women and men unifying. We need to identify new roles or we need to accept that there are no distinctions between male and female roles. Whatever!

There just ain’t no future in humans demonising humans!