Roots of Mysogony

This is not an exhaustive examination, just some thoughts engendered by observing my tiny slice of the world and observations of parts of the world around me.

I have watched many nature documentaries.  Some about life in general, some about specific species.  Watching and thinking about several of them have led me to some possible origins of misogyny.  Not the single most important origin, but some of the behaviors that exhibit origin, and the fact that they extend so far back into the history of multiple animal species.

Consider most species, specifically mammals, but I suspect many others.  In particular, consider those that have some type of social life.  By social I mean those that are frequently in the company of other members of their species.  Mostly, think of the various mammal species, vegetarians and carnivores.

In most of them, the male is larger and stronger than the female.  The males fight amongst themselves for status and the right to breed.  The biggest, strongest, and presumptively the smartest, win the fights and get to breed with more females than do the losers. 

One that we’ve all seen is the Elephant Seal.  The males are much larger than the females.  Considering that they have no arms or legs worthy of a fight, the males tear each other to a bloody mess.  Sometimes the fight results in death.  Not only losers but the winners pay a major price.  Bighorn sheep are another obvious fighter.  They are a bit better built for outright battle.  A search for “bighorn fight to death” will produce some results.

Consider wolves and most types of dogs.  As observed by us humans, most packs have an alpha male.  This is the larger male who dominates over the other males, and importantly, over the females.

From here, let's consider the higher-order mammals, specifically the larger primates, gorillas, and chimpanzees.  The dominant male is referred to as the alpha.  In addition to breeding rights, the alpha gets additional privileges over most of the remainder of the whoop. (Whoop being a name for a collection or tribe of chimpanzees.)  This is a critical point.  Not only does the alpha and his buddies dominate all the other males, they also dominate the females.  They are the leaders of the whoop with significant privileges.  Baboons also fight fiercely to achieve the position of alpha.  And the alpha also dominates the females.

Note that these behaviors, the concept of the alpha male, are present in primates, canines, lions, and many other mammals such as sheep.  The point is that the concept and fundamental behavior of the alpha male goes deeper than just primates and carnivores.  One notable exception is hyenas.  They are neither canine nor feline.  The males here leave the pack at maturity and join other packs, putting them at the bottom of the pecking order.  But it seems we always need to have an exception or two around.  Elephants mostly the same but the mature males are forced out of the memory (memory is the elephant’s name for the herd).  But the males do fight for the right to mate.

This indicates that the roots of misogyny go very deep within us.  This tendency for rights to be assumed, or forcibly taken, has been part of how our brains are organized since the beginnings of mammals.  Possibly even before the first mammals branched off from their ancestors.  Regardless of how hard we try, we have those behaviors embedded in our DNA, within our very souls.  That does not mean we must live our lives that way.  But it does mean that we will strongly tend to behave in those manners.  It does mean that we can and should be aware of this. 

Side note:  The phrase "… in our/my DNA …." is very much overworked.  Most of the time, it is just a catchy phrase and is not valid, meaning not technically correct.  In this situation, the phrase is valid and carefully selected.

We observe and we do know that girls and boys tend to have differences in how they learn and how they play.  While there are many exceptions, girls and boys tend to separate in their play.  They generally have different goals in their play and at even a young age, the play of each gender is often incompatible with that of the other. As we begin our sexual maturity, the differences in the genders become more pronounced.  Witness the sports that we play.  The differences are so universal that they do give cause to believe they are part of our DNA.

Once we become aware, then, and maybe only then, we get to decide on our behaviors.  We can make conscious choices to behave differently than our DNA tells us, but…, we need to be aware of the need for those decisions, and be aware that we can consciously decide how to behave. 

Human behavior shows that many of us will disregard logic and reason and will continue to behave in misogynist manners.  Knowledge of why people behave as they do is extremely important in deciding how we will choose our behaviors. 

I ask and encourage, all readers to take time on a regular basis to think about their behaviors.  Have I engaged in misogynist behavior recently?  Maybe today?  And yes, women can engage in behaviors that are misogynistic.  If so, do I want to continue that behavior?