deconversion

Humans owe their long existence to women- not men

April 22, 2007 at 9:34 pm Stella Webb 8 comments

One of the primary roles of any good atheist is to dispel the many, many lies and misconceptions perpetrated by the patriarchal religious systems. Like the fact that women should be subject to men, are the weaker sex, and are not worthy of participating in religious leadership. There are many such untruths that ruled for thousands of years and still keep women in chains in various parts of the world. These ideas have convinced many women that they are second class citizens.

These lies and misconceptions have even spilled over into what we are taught of the origins of humans from a secular point of view. Therefore, when I come across information that can forever change the way women view themselves, I am obligated to share that information.

An article in the March 19 issue of Newsweek contained an interesting article on the origins of humankind entitled, “Beyond Stones and Bones.” The article had a very telling statement about how anthropologists are now changing their view of the means by which humans were able to thrive in the hostile prehistorical times.

According to anthropologist Robert Sussman of Washington University and co-author of the 2005 book “Man the Hunted,” early humans were more often prey than predators. The article says the evidence is in the “many fossils and skulls containing holes made by big cats and talon marks from raptors.”

So what does any of this have to do with the way women view themselves? Quite a lot actually. It seems that it was not the strength of the men and their hunting capabilities that allowed the human race to survive the dinosaurs and fierce prehistoric predators. Evidence now shows it was the social skills of humans and their ability to form cohesive groups – a trait traditionally accredited to women – as the reason humans survived and adapted over time to their present state.

Here is a paragraph from the article:

The realization that early humans were the hunted and not the hunters has upended traditional ideas about what it takes for a species to thrive. For decades the reigning view had been that the hunting prowess and the ability to vanquish competitors was the key to our ancestors’ evolutionary success (an idea fostered, critics now say, by the male domination of anthropology during most of the 20th century). But prey species do not owe their survival to anything of the sort, argues Sussman. Instead, they rely on their wits and, especially, social skills to survive. Being hunted brought the evolutionary pressure on our ancestors to cooperate and live in cohesive groups. That, more than aggression and warfare, is our evolutionary legacy.

[Emphasis is mine]

Women have long been made to believe that it is only because of men that humans have come so far. It is my personal belief that it is because women have been held back that we as humans have progress so little. The aggressive behavior of men have led to wars, death and power struggles that have hurt the world far more than it ever helped. Had this aggressiveness been curtailed by a balance of feminine leadership, perhaps our world would be a far better place today.

This new discovery, that it was the traditionally accepted female trait advanced social skills that has furthered the human race instead of the aggressive male trait, is indeed one more proof that gender balance is needed in world leadership. Male domination is just not working. It never has and it never will.

– Stellar1

Entry filed under: Stellar1. Tags: agnostic, atheism, christianity, evolution, faith, freethinking, religion, skepticism, spirituality, theology, women.