Monday, August 20

Men of the World.. Get Lost

In an earlier post I've discussed a book which prophecized the end of the male species. This time, however, I am not discussing the biological failure of males and the need for them to extinct for environmental balance. I'd rather talk about the social side and why societies have deteriorated whenever they were male-dominated.

Far far long ago, societies were all led by the female, that's what anthropology teaches us. A woman was the leader of her tribe, which mainly consisted of her family members and children. This was the early beginning of what later on was to be called "society". A female leader was able to protect her tribe, organize its life, nourish it, and teach it different skills. She would never think about harming anyone from another tribe. She would never think about making men slaves for the women of the tribe. The idea of ownership itself was not there. Resources were out there given by nature for everybody. (Politics would later on define the need for ownership and struggle to be due to the growing number of people as opposed to limited resources, but that's not our issue here.) What I'm talking about is a point in time when women led their society and were successful, but had no greed or control aims.

Now, what happened later was that men would always look at the land of their neighbours, the cattle they had, the crops, the women ..etc. Then they would go and fight with them to get it by force. The idea of ownership then evolved, there came to be the concept of "this is yours and this is mine". In this new world view, and as men were the ones whose job was to steal things to make them their own, including women of other tribes, they decided that they should rule the members of their new communities.

In the old system, a woman definitely knew her children because she was the one who gave birth to them. On the other hand, a man didn't know his possible connection to those children, he would sleep with a woman and move away, nine monthes after she gives birth without understanding that this man played any role in creating them. But in the new system, women had to convince the man that her children are his also, to be able to protect them and provide for them. He now owns everything and he leads the tribe, so the fate of those helpless children lies within his hands. But how can she convince him that those children are his??

A clever woman then came up with the idea of naming her child after his father, and she would go to him and say this is your son, his name is your name, he is yours, you own him. The idea appealed to men of course. This new system now also enables them to own human beings who hold their names and who can help them in their domination plans (fighting, stealing, building new shelters). Men came to see children as an advantage, and would be kind to women who bring them lots of children. They then would own the mother as well, she is the factory of their own kids and noone else can share her. A man has to be sure that he is raising his own blood, so if the mother of his children happens to play around she is kicked out of the tribe and her children would not have his name.
Now what's next?.. accordingly, the idea of pure blood became an obsession and women were confined to their tribes. They will not to go on trips as they used to in the old days. They can't go to explore the land or plant the seeds as they were used to. (By the way, women were the first who discovered the secrets of the soil and planting, they are the ones who invented agriculture.) So, men were given all the jobs that required outside cruising. They would also plant and they would bring the crops home for the women to store them and prepare daily meals. Women stayed home to give birth, feed their babies and their cattle. What an interesting life!

But how successful were men in leading their societies? Well, this system is what we now call the patriarchal society, where men lead and dominate everything, leaving almost no room for anybody else. This full domination came to control women not only physically, but intellectually and psychologically as well.

Patriarchal societies lack lots of human values, like equality, justice, respect for the other, freedom, democracy, beauty, peace, tolerance, and many others. As I've previously discussed in my post "Power, Politics and Gender", men have proved to be control freaks. They would stop at nothing to fill their greed and lust, no matter who they crush in the process. They are drunk with power and they don't care if the whole world would turn into flames as long as they will stay stand on the top of the heap of ruins. They don't believe in evolution and the changes happening around them. They want to freeze everthing around them, as if it is a DVD movie that they can pose on the image of Si Sayed. They want to keep on enjoying all the advantages without ever sharing them with anyone else. They raise their sons to become the same dictators and they raise their daughters to become slaves, so that their cycle of control and oppression will never be broken. They brainwash the women in order to make them believe that they can do nothing better in life than to serve them and their children.
Everywhere you go there are men telling you what you should do. They design the syllabus at schools, they are the priests at church and the sheikhs in mosques, they are the controllers of media, they are the movie producers, they are the song writers, they are the historians, they are blocking every tiny space that would allow you to see the light.
In order for our societies to evolve those men should get lost and allow us some air. They've already done much damage with their blind desire for control. Don't wait for them to throw all of this long history and to break the vicious cycle of their grandfathers out of good wills. THEY WON'T. Like all the dictators, they won't leave their thrones or quit their oppressive ways until they die. The only way to change such a system is a revolution, a revolution that would set things right.

But some naive women are waiting for men to make this revolution for them. Imagine how silly and lazy some women have become!! Have you ever seen a master make a revolution for slaves? When will we wake up? When will take our destiny into our own hands and change this bleak picture? If not for us, let it be our gift to the coming generations who don't deserve to find the world the way we found it. For their sake let's say, "Men of the world, Get Lost!"

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Resources??!!

Fantasia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fantasia said...

bassam,
Well, there are many resources. This little piece is the outcome of many readings in different fields: anthropology, history, sociology, feminist theory, and gender studies. If you're interested in reading more about a certain point that I mentioned, just tell me which it is and I will direct you as to which books to look for.
A good start would be a primary source that many books keep citing from, which is "Ancient Society" by Lewis Henry Morgan.

أسوور said...

i loved your blog

but why in English?

we need to talk to the Arab world, so why in english?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

I guess in the primitive societies when women were in charged - it's the first time to know this by the way - there were no armies, and women by nature are not into fighting.
What I want to say, is that greed and the idea of ownership are a human nature, it's not a man's thing only. And if there was a woman (a queen for example) who has an army of strong men, for sure she will plan to occupy the neighbours of its kingdom. And I am sure there are plenty of examples in history when women were in charge and this didn't stop their countries from fighting or occupying others.

Now, about your idea of women making a revolution, etc. I am sure women keep saying that they have no rights and they want to be in charge and have a lead role in their societies. But at the end of the day, when it comes to real life, they really prefer to be dependant, or even controlled by men. For sure not all the women are the same, some would like to be totally controlled, others can't live without a man to depend on, however they have their independent personalities. But there is something deep inside them, may be it's nature, that makes them like to stay as they are. And it is women before men who refuse those ideas of societies where they are leaders.

Fantasia said...

yasmine,
welcome to my blog, want to see more of you here. I know writing in English causes much inconvenience for many people, but unfortunately there's nothing I can do about it. I can't type in Arabic. Some of my friends have volunteered to help by translating some of those posts into Arabic and publishing them on their blogs. It will take time to get more people involved in this in order to have an Arabic version. Thanks for caring to spread the word.

Fantasia said...

tarek,
Long time since I last heard from you. Thanks a lot for your comment. It may serve to open girls' eyes as to what men think of them.
You are totally right. Women who come to power may adopt the same ways of rule. But that's in a system that was already established by men. If a woman comes to power now and decides to be peaceful, dismissing the army and stuff, she'll end up having her country occupied. So, it's no nature, it's how the world order that was set by men in first place.
And about women's nature being submissive, that's also totally wrong. It's the way we bring up our women that makes them turn this way. Raise a girl in the same way you raise her brother and then tell me about submission and need for protection.

The Alien said...

sorry for being late
but i was very busy lately and i hardly could read my blog.
i did translate this post and i sent it to ur mail, i want u to review it because i am not sure about the translation.

ومعلش هعلق بالعربي
عشان أخد راحتي ف الكلام

أغلب اللي ذكرتيه موجود ف كتب كتير منهم قصة الحضارة
وأنا شخصيا مش مستغرب من أي حاجة قلتيها
السر زمان كان ف إن محدش كان فاهم قدرة المرأة علي وهب الحياة
ودا كان السبب ف ظهور الإله اﻷنثي وبداية تقديس المرأة

في بداية الحضارة الإنسانية كانت محتاجة القوة العضلية .. ودا كان السبب ف إن الرجل هو الي كا بيقود المجتمع .. والموضوع دا استمر لغاية فترة قريبة .. الإنسانية بدأت تستغني عن القوة العضلية من بعد الثورة الصناعية .. ودا ضيع الميزة اللي كان بيستغلها الرجل.
دلوقتي الإنسانية محتاجة عقل وعلم
ودا متاح للرجل والمرأة بنفس القدر بدون أي فرق
يعني اللي عنده علم وكفاءة هو اللي يقود المجتمع بغض النظر عن نوعه

أنا متعود إنك تكوني قاسية علي الرجالة
بس المرادي أنا شايف إن فيه ظلم منك للرجل
إتهامه دايما بالعنف وحتي السرقة للوصول للأهداف
أنا معاكي إن حكم الرجل وأسلوبه سبب مهم ف اللي إحنا وصلناله .. بس مقدرش أقول إن لو المرأة فضلت ف الريادة الوضع كان هيبقي أفضل .. دا طبع إنساني أكتر منه رجالي.
أنا معتقدش إن الحل ف إن أي طرف يحكم لمجرد كونها إمرأة أو كونه راجل .. يعني أنا مش مع دعوتك إن النساء ترجع تسيطر .. دا ضد فكرة المساواة وحقوق الإنسان .. أنا مع المشاركة.

أسف إني طولت بس الواحد عنده كلام كتير ومش عارف أقوله
تحياتي

Unknown said...

Fanta,

Thank, I follow your blog and I like it. But sometimes, I am just to lazy to leave a comment. Bad me :)

I said, "may be it's nature", I am not sure what is the real reason. May be you are right, may be it is the society and they we they are brought up.

Fantasia said...

alien,
Honestly, I didn't expect you to translate this one. Thanks for your huge support. I am really considering to start the mirror blog now. But I don't want all the load to fall upon you, so I'll publish a call for translators, may be we can find more help. It is amazing to find a dedicated friend like you. Thanks a lot for all you do.
This post, however, is not as negative towards men as you think. First of all, I only listed facts about societies were formed and how they were transformed from maternal to patriarchal ones.
What I said also implies that the contemporary generation of men are victims of a major brainwash, just like women. They keep justifying their superiority, falling under the pressure of proving their manhood in the traditional way of their grandfathers. I am explaining to them why they reached this position, so that they can also break free from the false notions and the pressure that fitting into the role of a suppressor might have on them.
The revolution I called for was not to reverse things back into a maternal society. I said it is a revolution to set things right, that is to end all kinds of oppression and hierarchy. We stop diving sexes as to leaders and led, into superiors and inferiors, into masters and slaves. We are all human and each shall use all their energy to serve society. I call for the application of human rights; for equality and justice.

Fantasia said...

tarek,
Hey, it only takes about a couple of minutes to drop a line here dude. Let me know you've been here. Let me know whether what I write makes any sense. Always glad to have you.

Dr. Eyad Harfoush said...

Dear Fantasia,
Yes, women lead one day the mankind tribes. But as far as I know. They had sort of male-prostitution in some cultures, they had multiplicity of men. By this time controling the life making secrets (giving birth) and controling the economy through working was their power factors lately taken away. They were bad too when they had the power dear. it's about power madness. By the end of the day this world can be better only in one case. Man+Woman in harmony. male domination or female domination will get us same results. what do u think?

Fantasia said...

dear eyad,
Although I might disagree with some things you mentioned here, yet I agree that humanity have now got past the phase where one group or one sex would dominate the other. I am against hierarchies altogether, even if they are female-led. Yet, harmony can not be achieved as long as men continue to dominate the social, economical and political scenes. That's why I call upon women to fight for retrieving their rights.
Thanks for the valuable comment.

"When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid" - Audre Lorde