Big -picture gender dots to consider...

BIG-PICTURE GENDER DOTS TO CONSIDER . . . . . . (  From a #MeToo, this scant perspective of far-reaching issues obviously only sweepingly general but vital for us all to be aware of, for less of the blame-game and more of the mutual understanding we have access to)

IPPC’s latest dire report — who cares? What is it about the US that’s so knowingly and rapaciously assaulting the source of our existence?  We Boomers have had the best of it. Why is it we’re not probing for the core reasons of human nature and why we do what we do? And in the process why don't we, for the sake of all life on this our forsaken Earth — more actively seek to change the underlying power dynamic before its too late? Applying bio-logical hard-data from neuroscience is one guideline we can heed to help frame a way we could adapt and evolve!

Today, Washington, Wall Street, Corporate and Tech is 80+% men.  And no, this is not an attack on all men. Far from it.  But it is tagging the entrenched capitalistic patriarchy that’ so effectively perpetuates injustice, increasing inequality, diminishing democracy and fueling a global climate crisis as we imperil Mother Nature, and ourselves.

Men — biologically built to lead, to dominate, to be strong, to inseminate, to ensure our species’ survival (thanks to how Sam Keen describes it:  “when we men unzip our flies, our brains fall out”) are programmed to fulfill their naturally inherited roles as “protectors and providers”.  While women’s biology makes us bodily vulnerable — built to attract, to bleed, conceive, give birth, breast-feed, rear children, house-keep, nurture, nurse and care-take.

Thanks to eons of daring and discovery man’s bold and brilliant exploration, negotiation, calculation, invention, innovation, building & engineering has given us language, cities, the printing-press, electricity, radar, cars,  train, boats and planes and the Internet…… and with it — for better and worse — the mobility, comfort, speed and relative ease of our today’s fossil-fueled “Petroculture”.

The primal and predominantly masculine drive for power and control has been about fighting for, or defending turf, thus to kill or be killed.  Let’s not forget during this time of peace we take so easily for granted it’s a result of centuries of conflict and war when men have had to, and still do risk life and limb.  As the tribal impulse to attack and differentiate necessitates dehumanizing and the denial of empathy and feeling — inevitably men are historically conditioned to undertake lethal tasks.

No surprise then — in innate response to fear — testosterone-fueled violence and risk-taking is found more in the brains of men than women and oxytocin-enhanced feelings of empathy and relatedness — and with it more ethics* — more predominant in women than men (*see Dr. Paul Zak). Isn’t being aware of these basic biological facts reason to be more forgiving of ourselves and each other by better understanding the origins of the culturally conditioned power-dynamic we’ve inherited which so urgently needs a re-set to a sustaining, sustainable and re-generative m.o.

Acknowledging the roots of the limits of our collective consciousness that’s enabled our outdated political systems to be so unquestioned is pivotal to integrating new understandings to encourage frank and open conversations between women and men, of all races, young and old.  As women’s progress increasingly threatens the ‘men-at-the top’ status-quo, it is ours to recognize why male patterns of dominance are still rooted in primitive imprints of mammalian history and anatomy.  Thence, for us all to accept and appreciate more about our similarities and — thankfully — our differences,  and move on together, intentionally harmoniously from here?!  

It took Trump’s grotesque extremes to trigger crisis of democrarcy.  The varying levels of predation and arrogance men have taken for granted that women have suffered for eons must be over. #MeToo and #TimesUp etc are crucial catalysts for vital systemic change.  To say nothing of the #NeverAgain, smart gutsy kids of Parkland who still deserve our total support and who now even need Twitter protection from the NRA.  Time’s up for the tiny minority of male oligarchs who monopolize the world.

This is a call to all of us — to good men and women alike — to heed the signals and to respect and give voice to the unquantifiable human qualities of interconnectedness and caring that exist within all of us.  To do it for ourselves, for each other, for our children — and for Mother Earth — before we have to escape from this little Blue Planet and head for Mars or the Moon — ℅ Mr’s Bezos and Musk!