THE BASTION OF MALE INSECURITY
We should all be able
to feel proud of who and what we are and not feel threatened or treated with
disrespect.
For the record, I do identify as male and personally I’m
getting tired of this societal nitpicking of ours and our obsession to tackle
the most inconsequential things as worthy of in-depth criticism and in need of
evaluation. How insecure are we? Anyway, I’m positive that’ll be stirring up
some dust and controversy with this article.
Why heap well-deserved scorn upon males when I belong to that part of
our species? Well, stay with me and at
the end of this tale you can either bury me with scorn or, bend your head in
shame and admit that within the male species there is massive room for
improvement.
Since the dawn of mankind we have struggled to explain ourselves. I purposely chose man (kind), and not woman (kind). Part of male dominance and insecurity is
rooted in the simple fact that from the onset males have ensured that women
play second fiddle; makes perfect sense when viewed from a male perspective
only! (Something we do on such regular basis that we don’t give it a second
thought anymore)
He, who writes the
history defines history!
Males have been responsible for writing more than 90 percent
of mankind’s history and for the bulk of all the stories, legends and myths
concocted. All the holy books and
scriptures have been written by males.
Very few women were allowed or could contribute because as the saying
goes, “Education sets you free,” and that is something males have consistently
been able to repel and subdue. And
again, for obvious reasons. Why would
males willingly give up a dominant position? (All of a sudden suffering from a
pang of consciousness?) Shiver me
timbers if we had to hand over control to women or were mandated to share on an
equal basis.
Men have also been the principal slayers of life throughout
recorded history (it must be obvious that we picked those nasty habits up
somewhere and archeological evidence of unrecorded times shows plenty of
crushed skulls and bones in unearthed graves).
In other words, we have been bad for really long time.
Women in all our stories, tracts and myths, always play a
secondary role: window dressing if you like.
Objects of beauty or scorn, willing participants or sacrificial lambs,
admired or cursed as villains and seductresses.
We have forced women into so many bizarre roles over time that it is no
small wonder that so many of them are confused.
A male prerogative (intent) it seems to keep them off balance and insecure. Part of that male-driven insecurity strategy
and it has been working well.
Male hubris has been inspired by male insecurity; the male
species strutting with puffed up chests like peacocks, attracting attention with
unrestrained egos. Men have never been
able to accept that what they contribute to life is nothing more than a tiny
drop that merely puts the reproductive process into motion. Other than that, men contribute very little
(some claim that going to work and providing is a man’s domain and therefore we
do our part, but I only know of a few stay at home dad’s) and it pales in
comparison to what women have to go through and what they have to
sacrifice. Decades of their lives and
bodies dedicated to delivering, rearing and raising our children. And who takes the credit? Who claim all the rights? Legal rights, ownership, birthrights, lineage
and worst of all: control! You know the
answer.
By deliberately relegating women to inferior roles males
remain dominant, in power and in charge.
Not allowing women equal status and equal rights and being able to
contribute according to their talents and abilities continues to secure the
male’s bastion. The attempts, mostly by
males, to this day and age to deliberately undermine woman’s rights are
deliberate and intentional.
Attacking women when
they’re most vulnerable.
A lot of women have been conditioned to accept their fate,
their perceived role, and not to challenge it.
Men are well aware that women are at their most vulnerable from the time
they start menstruating until menopause.
And they have always taken advantage of this, as if a dependency while
raising and rearing our offspring equates submission. Men expect so much more from women; to bear
children, to raise them for decades, to cook, clean, to be demure or beautiful,
to wait hand foot on the master, to be a hostess or vanish into the background,
to be sexy or plain, to only speak when spoken to, to dress according to the
master’s wishes and the list of demands and expectations goes on and on. It’s never enough. All intended to enforce compliance,
submission and acceptance. In some
nations men treat their livestock better than their women.
Education for centuries has been withheld from the majority
of women for fear that education would set them free and break those chains of
male authority and oppression. And
nations to this day are struggling with this and women around the globe are
forced to fight for every scrap of freedom and improved rights, even having to
double down fighting efforts to take existing hard-won rights away from
them. Men never have had to do this. Why?
Because men make the laws and enforce them. It is that erected bastion of male insecurity,
petrified of extending full integration and legal equality to women because it
would showcase how ludicrous the male expectations are, the forced compliance
and submission and the acceptance of a lesser and inferior role.
Equality is only
meaningful if fully embraced.
Men have been at it from the dawn of mankind and have
expertly honed their roles as warriors and providers; to be firmly in charge of
all decisions, to explain the mysteries of life, all knowing and able to solve
all problems. The image of the strong
male. Virile. Smart.
Protector and slayer. What we
have done as males in this warped evolutionary process is putting an awful lot
of pressure on ourselves and ignoring the obvious contributions women could
have made in decision making processes.
How many wars could have been avoided if women were fully consulted
prior to the hotheads escaping their parental responsibilities in preference of
murder and mayhem and carousing with a band of other men?
With power and control come expectations and responsibilities
often ignored. A lot of our wounds are
self-inflicted and fall squarely under that male insecurity syndrome. Rash in our decisions and with very little or
no consultation. Or sober second
thought!
Men have been responsible for the majority of myths and
fanciful stories created, mostly intended and designed to hide our basic
ignorance and to explain our inherent right to dominate and rule over others,
mostly women and those dependent on adult males for protection and care. A façade of supremacy.
Insecurity.
US president Donald Trump is a prime example of a primate
whose insecurity and ignorance comes shining through in full color. From infancy into adolescence he is the
product of a dysfunctional upbringing that turned him into a selfish,
narcissistic psychopath upon reaching adulthood. The fact that he is not bright and poorly
educated and that he doesn’t even make an attempt to learn or to act and behave
better is obvious in the way he laughs away his lies and inaccuracies.
“I’m just joking with you guys, testing to see whether you
pay attention. I knew the answer. I know everything.” Power has gone to this head and in his corner
he is surrounded by people who are feeding him his lines. “We are strong, they are weak.” His disdain for women, for women’s rights, openly
disrespecting race and gender, all are signs of a level of insecurity that is
off the charts. He is an extreme
example, but not rare!
The complicity of
ignorance.
We have become a species that is not only made to believe,
but that prefers to believe, and what we can’t see, feel or comprehend doesn’t
really matter. It only serves to
strengthen the ludicrous concepts we have construed to validate roles and
expectations. I will illustrate this
with a simple, yet somewhat stomach churning example.
If we could visually observe how food gets broken down inside
our stomach and guts we would soon lose our appetite and all of us would be
skinny without ever going on a diet.
Once it enters our mouths and we taste every mouthwatering morsel we
don’t really pay attention to what happens to it once it disappears down the
esophagus. Out of sight, out of
mind. (Ouch, it must remind us of so
many other things that fall in that category)
And the following mornings’ ablutions don’t even resemble what was
ingested. Wipe and flush and all the
evidence is gone.
How much attention do we pay to what we do, say, omit,
discard, destroy and conveniently forget and ignore? We behave like that with so many things. As long as we don’t see it, as long as we’re
not reminded, as long as it leaves us alone.
That bastion of male insecurity wasn’t built overnight. It hails from our primal past and how evolution
works in the natural world and we’ve never left that world although we pretend
that we have. Introspection is not our
strongest suit. Rationally contemplating
our actions or lack of is often missing.
Mindfulness appreciated but not demanded.
Fairness has never been
mandated.
All species survive by cruising on automatic. Life is basically about surviving with the
least amount of effort. We’re not
challenging that superior intelligence of ours to its fullest potential. Catering to the lowest common denominator is
the norm and not the exception. Males
will never conscientiously tackle their insecurity and admit that they constantly
take advantage of their gender and role.
Why admit that what we contribute to life is rather miniscule compared
to what we could offer if only we made an effort?
Let’s face it and be honest.
In most males the toolbox that dangles between our legs is far from
impressive and even a well-hung male without imagination will soon equal
disappointment. Most of the time it
hangs there unused and it’s not exactly used in overabundance, unless you’re
young and fascinated by the novelty and the surprising results. But the novelty does wear off. Men are well aware that it takes more than a
penis to impress and it explains why they’re so eager to walk around with big
assault rifles and guns.
Nothing highlights male insecurity better than sexist jokes
and portraying women like objects, delighting in their treatment and
submission. And then there are the
horrendous number of reported assaults and rapes, partner violence and murder.
Men (On average) can physically best women and humiliate
them, but this doesn’t mean that women deserve that kind of treatment, that
kind of disrespect. If women were equal
in strength and showed a willingness to use violence and weapons in equal
measure, the picture that would emerge would be totally different than the
current one.
As usual, feel free to
comment or share. Will I be deluged by a
storm of outraged male testosterone or will this article evoke a pause, a
reconsideration of our role and that there is vast room for improvement?
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