THE BASTION OF MALE INSECURITY

 

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?