Roll out the role reversal
If the changes in society (described in Part 2) continue on their current path, I expect that in the near future, females will control both the public sectors and the private sectors of our society.
Females will have broken through the old glass ceiling. In its place will be a new glass ceiling that will confront the males who do not have the education nor the status required to compete with females.
Females will probably dress the same as they do today, that is, they will wear some kind of bifurcated clothing most of the time, but they will have the option to wear a skirt or a dress whenever they feel like it.
On the other hand, boys will dress to please and attract a female mate, that is, they will dress to expose and show off their physical assets, which they can best accomplish by wearing tight, revealing, skimpy, and sexy styles of clothing, similar to what females wore when they were in the same position.
When women become the dominant gender, they will act like the dominant gender. They will be strong, self-confident, courageous, assertive, vigorous, bold, virile, and loud (traits that we see in many females already).
There will be a turnabout in the gender roles. To what extent the turnabout goes depends on the females; they will be in control and it is entirely up to them how boys will fit in the woman's world.
For example, will females write males out of the Constitution just as females were excluded when the Constitution was originally drafted? Thus, males would lose the right to vote, hold public office, own property, speak freely, etc.; they would become their female’s chattel.
Another example, will female scientists develop a way for males to give birth and rid females of that burden? If male pregnancies are possible, will male breasts be able to become heavy with milk to feed their newborns?
These and many other questions remain to be answered when the role reversal occurs.
(Part 4 of "What Will Men Wear When Women Wear Trousers?" will appear here tomorrow.)
those things might come to pass if the behaviors you are outlining were socially learned. But most of them are do to testosterone and estrogen, and they will not change.
ReplyDeleteYou can change things socially all you want, but you can't change 25 million years of evolution.
Your post today sounds a lot like Thomas Berger's "A Regiment of Women". You might want to add that to your reading list, if you've never seen it. It's a wild departure from his most popular book "Little Big Man".
ReplyDeleteI love this little series, and reading about your adventures and outreach. Did I mention I want to be you when I grow up?
Staci - FANTASTIC!
ReplyDeletePlease keep Writing. I LOVE the Way you Think. Men - No Vote - Prperty of Women!! WOW...You don't know how much we think alike!
Patti
Interestingly enough, this is *not* the way that most of my feminist interlocutors want things to go. Nor I might add, do I think it is the way that most women would see things going. What I see coming is equality - or perhaps a better word would be equity - where gender does not matter before the law.
ReplyDeleteIf the marketplace remains competitive (as it will) then those best equipped to compete will prosper, be they men or women. Women have traditionally valued some things differently than men, and some of those values *are* more suited to a collectivized working environment (as are most commercially creative professions at this time). Whether those values are innate or socialized has thus far been impossible to ascertain, and I think the voyage of discovery will be interesting to say the least.
Regarding the science - men can already nurse babies: there are many documented cases of this. And the proportion of women who see childbearing as a "burden" seems roughly proportionate to the number of men who can't stand the thought of kids. If you leave out the misopedists, I think you will find that bearing children is something that women cherish, and wouldn't want to be rid of.
So having said all that, I have to wonder: is this whole series a modernized send-up of the attitudes presented at the onset of suffrage? It seems that you are providing a privileged masculine view of the possible losses as women are enabled to reach their full potential.
Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about men becoming obsolete: the way things are going, the surplus of young, testosterone-fuelled idiots coupled with economic contraction seems pretty likely to kick off a *major* and ugly war. It's old-school birth control at it's worst, but it's worked so often I think it unlikely that we as a race will be able to avoid it.
I'm reakky enjoying these insightful, clever and fun postings! Can't wait for part 4! And I specially love the pics! (I wonder where do you get them from!)I'm not sure if your prophecies will ever come true, but I, for one, would have no problem living in a female-lead society (at least we have a lady president where I live), on the contrary: I think it's something natural, as you can appreciate in many cultures not belonging to the Judeo-Christian tradition, I think I'd love it, even if (or rather specially if) we get to the point of the complete role-reversal you're describing. But I think the healthy thing to do would be to try to achieve a perfectly equalitarian society; one in which biological gender is something of minor concern (other than for breeding). Thanks for mentioning my blog! I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoy yours!
ReplyDeleteThomas Berger's "A Regiment of Women".
ReplyDeleteI read that book... truly a book that mtf CDers and TGs would love. Very much what a submissive CDer would fantasize.... You could either see it as Utopian or Dystopian, depending on your orientation...
deborah
To be exact, men can breastfeed.
ReplyDeleteThere were a couple of cases where the mother died and the fathers had no other choice and luckily produced milk.
Why?
Because every embryo starts out female and males have breasts(mostly minor ones), including milk producing cells. All that makes a womans breast big, is fatty tissue, only a minor ammount of it is milk producing cells and the milky ways where the milk flows from the cells and bubbles where it is collected to the nipple.
So if a man is getting milk inducing hormones, the milk producing cells will react, swell and produce milk.
Also very high emotions and stress can cause the milk to flow because men also have female hormones and certain circumstances can cause an imbalance which turns on the milk factory.
In the cases of the milk producing fathers it was the fear that the babies would die without milk and in their dire need they laid the children on their nipples...and suckling on the nipples is also a trigger to produce milk...which is often seen in women adopting children and starting to lactate because of the different triggers or they try to nurse and use a breast pump until milk flows.
There are also different bats where the fathers nurse the children while the mothers are out hunting and than the child is switched to the mother and the fathers fly out to find food...it is also a safety net if the mother dies so the father can feed the baby
Here, hope you enjoy it
http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/malelactation.html
That is really informative. Thank you
DeleteRegards,
Marko
Lotsa Green --- Thank you for the information and article link.
ReplyDeleteI am afraid the opposite will come in time. You see Males are being raised to become little soldiers, while Females are being raised to become princesses. In the information age this differential treatment is creating the present role reversal. All of the good princess treatment is creating wonderful stability, lower average stress, much social vocabulary, and other mental/emotional/social supports, all vital and necessary for growing up fit for learning and competing in the information age.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem is that as Males begin to fall behind collectively and there comes to be a recognition of Female superiority, this will lead to a great negative synergy of silent, verbal abuse, and much great patronization of Males in school, the media, the workplace, and even at home. I have to say, collectively Males have been greatly accommodating to this change in society. I thank them for it.
However, as this negative synergy takes hold, this will begin to wear, tear, and hurt collectively those presently very restrained and accommodating Males. These are Males whose forefathers stormed Omaha Beach and Iowa Jima long ago. Those Males I know of are no less courageous than in the past and will only show restraint for just so long. Then I feel they will to react in a very collective way, losing all sense of tolerance, I have so thanked them for.
We must end the terrible genetics model and much differential treatment that is creating this role reversal. Our little three, four, and five year old boys had nothing to do with the many perceived denied privileges for women in the past. We cannot allow shortsighted feelings of superiority to grow to the point where those very patient Males begin to take back with interest all they have lost and then some.
I am afraid the opposite will come in time. You see Males are being raised to become little soldiers, while Females are being raised to become princesses. In the information age this differential treatment is creating the present role reversal. All of the good princess treatment is creating wonderful stability, lower average stress, much social vocabulary, and other mental/emotional/social supports, all vital and necessary for growing up fit for learning and competing in the information age.
ReplyDeleteThe only problem is that as Males begin to fall behind collectively and there comes to be a recognition of Female superiority, this will lead to a great negative synergy of silent, verbal abuse, and much great patronization of Males in school, the media, the workplace, and even at home. I have to say, collectively Males have been greatly accommodating to this change in society. I thank them for it.
However, as this negative synergy takes hold, this will begin to wear, tear, and hurt collectively those presently very restrained and accommodating Males. These are Males whose forefathers stormed Omaha Beach and Iowa Jima long ago. Those Males I know of are no less courageous than in the past and will only show restraint for just so long. Then I feel they will to react in a very collective way, losing all sense of tolerance, I have so thanked them for.
We must end the terrible genetics model and much differential treatment that is creating this role reversal. Our little three, four, and five year old boys had nothing to do with the many perceived denied privileges for women in the past. We cannot allow shortsighted feelings of superiority to grow to the point where those very patient Males begin to take back with interest all they have lost and then some.