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Gravitycollapse

(8,155 posts)
20. The short answer is men, religion and capitalism.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 12:41 AM
Apr 2013

Western society seems to have taken a rather wrong turn around 300 years ago, at the start of the Victorian era.

With the proliferation of the religious confessional, so too came the obsession with applying the confessional to our every day lives. This, in turn, began a complex process by which we converted human sexual practice into sexual rhetoric. The consequence of this was the creation of normative sexuality, normative bodies and abject bodies. Men and the phallocentric model of medicalized sexuality placed the female body wholly in the category of abject. Vaginas were viewed as sources of weakness and hysteria.

On top of this religious absurdity came the advent of capitalism. Heteronormative sexuality was incentivized as economically and socially efficient. It provided for the necessary workforce to maintain production of means for ends. Through this, the female body necessarily became a conduit for production of human capital, and eventually capital in all form. Women lost their agency because their reproductive capacity became an essential element of the capitalist machine.


All of these mechanisms continually constructed an ideology around the debasement of women and the building up of men as leaders of industry, intelligence and morality. Women were merely abject, stupid, insane, baby factories; incapable of possessing identity without it first being filtered through the male.

And the cycle continues.

Males? DURHAM D Apr 2013 #1
Well, yes. RainDog Apr 2013 #2
I don't know. DURHAM D Apr 2013 #3
I asked a question RainDog Apr 2013 #4
Sorry... DURHAM D Apr 2013 #6
goodbye n/t RainDog Apr 2013 #10
the poster to whom you responded is one seriously dedicated feminist, and probably, as I am, niyad Apr 2013 #13
Thanks niyad. DURHAM D Apr 2013 #16
you are most welcome. niyad Apr 2013 #17
Thanks for telling me off. DURHAM D Apr 2013 #14
In other words Nuclear Unicorn Apr 2013 #34
This is such a stupid response - but allow me to explain RainDog Apr 2013 #43
Except it wasn't a tautological statement Nuclear Unicorn Apr 2013 #47
I'm a female RainDog Apr 2013 #49
I accounted for the possibility of you being a female Nuclear Unicorn Apr 2013 #50
I think it probably dates back to caveman days...comes from men. Honeycombe8 Apr 2013 #5
Ah, but women in Judaism and Christianity were either mothers or saints..... PDJane Apr 2013 #8
True, I suppose. But that was a new idea at the time. Very modern and a new way of thinking Honeycombe8 Apr 2013 #11
But we don't have proof of this RainDog Apr 2013 #9
No, I haven't done a scientific study. That was my opinion, based on things Honeycombe8 Apr 2013 #12
There are cultures that exist today RainDog Apr 2013 #18
Caring for the elderly has nothing to do with the treatment of women. Honeycombe8 Apr 2013 #19
I wasn't arguing with you RainDog Apr 2013 #45
There is more balance there I think rrneck Apr 2013 #46
^This. When survival depended on brute strength, a woman needed a man to survive more than a Squinch Apr 2013 #80
I read somewhere that it was jealousy over childbearing... Whisp Apr 2013 #7
where does it come from? the abrahamic, patriarchal religions, to start (meaning, christianity, niyad Apr 2013 #15
Have you read The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler? riderinthestorm Apr 2013 #33
I read it many years ago, thought I still had a copy somewhere, but I dont. Saw Riane in niyad Apr 2013 #37
And I to get "When God was a Woman" by Merlin Stone! riderinthestorm Apr 2013 #39
Great book! Squinch Apr 2013 #82
will have to order that one, as well. thank you. that one I know is not on my shelves. niyad Apr 2013 #87
In early Christianity, women often were leaders of the movement. So in Squinch Apr 2013 #81
The short answer is men, religion and capitalism. Gravitycollapse Apr 2013 #20
Lord, are you actually arguing that Riftaxe Apr 2013 #26
Uh, no, it started a hell of a lot longer ago that 300 years. a la izquierda Apr 2013 #36
Since the first man realized the value of women LittleBlue Apr 2013 #21
The answer is simple: men. Beacool Apr 2013 #22
The Bible. Zoeisright Apr 2013 #23
+1 sweetNsassy Apr 2013 #42
I believe it started when we became an agrarian society u4ic Apr 2013 #24
The soundest argument, it seems RainDog Apr 2013 #44
Good post. I would add that before war and settled communities came an ecological barrier that byeya Apr 2013 #56
Capitalism, profit maintains sexism Mushroom Apr 2013 #25
Religious institutions n/t malaise Apr 2013 #27
The concept of private property Cal Carpenter Apr 2013 #28
So you think Engels asked the right questions? RainDog Apr 2013 #62
Indeed Cal Carpenter Apr 2013 #66
I'm glad you decided to weigh in RainDog Apr 2013 #67
Fear. alphafemale Apr 2013 #29
HIstorically, whatever is convenient for males. nt raccoon Apr 2013 #30
Warrior cultures tend to be male dominated Nikia Apr 2013 #31
You have to look at evolution for that Shankapotomus Apr 2013 #32
This is not true RainDog Apr 2013 #48
Genetically, humans are slightly closer to common chimps than bonobos, I think. When a bonobo female byeya Apr 2013 #53
Bonobos and common chimps share the same % of DNA with humans. RainDog Apr 2013 #58
This study claims human ancestors had societies like bonobos RainDog Apr 2013 #85
There are still matriarchal societies today. The Mosuo in China come to mind riderinthestorm Apr 2013 #35
Also the Iroquois had an amazing civilization RainDog Apr 2013 #64
Penthouse. randome Apr 2013 #38
Fashion magazines and the media haven't done us any favors. sweetNsassy Apr 2013 #40
The anthropologist Marvin Harris showed that the more militaristic a society was, the worse females byeya Apr 2013 #41
do you have a link for this one? RainDog Apr 2013 #70
Thomas Jefferson who wrote "All MEN are created equal" and left out 76% of the country graham4anything Apr 2013 #51
Abrahamic religions. kestrel91316 Apr 2013 #52
You may find this article interesting... Maine-ah Apr 2013 #54
Yes. I'd read that one earlier RainDog Apr 2013 #61
Mass media. Rex Apr 2013 #55
Just need a clarification. Helen Reddy Apr 2013 #57
I was just tossing a question out there for discussion RainDog Apr 2013 #59
K&R smirkymonkey Apr 2013 #60
Religion, society, old traditions, nature, the media, parents, etc.. davidn3600 Apr 2013 #63
some men and women are taking each others' names RainDog Apr 2013 #65
The Jackie Gleason show. n/t L0oniX Apr 2013 #68
Pregnancy and property transfer Recursion Apr 2013 #69
but that assumes a nuclear family RainDog Apr 2013 #71
No, it assumes a tribe Recursion Apr 2013 #74
From men. MineralMan Apr 2013 #72
This is in there. Squinch Apr 2013 #83
In answer to the final question in your post - NOPE ConcernedCanuk Apr 2013 #73
Recommended reading: The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler Hekate Apr 2013 #75
why don't you talk about it here a little bit RainDog Apr 2013 #76
Sorry for the post and run Hekate Apr 2013 #77
I'm somewhat familiar with Eisler's work RainDog Apr 2013 #79
You're asking for a single source, for one of human society's most complex constructs? Scootaloo Apr 2013 #78
Good question, RainDog. Interesting thread. I'm getting a lot out of it. Squinch Apr 2013 #84
A lot of good ideas here. I would suggest that it is some combination of smirkymonkey Apr 2013 #86
Social Scientists have only recently chervilant Apr 2013 #88
The Chalice and the Blade LWolf Apr 2013 #89
Gilligan didn't quite do it for me. RainDog Apr 2013 #90
Yes, I agree chervilant Apr 2013 #91
I don't think the AAH has much merit RainDog Apr 2013 #92
Unfamiliar with AAH... chervilant Apr 2013 #93
Aquatic Ape Hypothesis RainDog Apr 2013 #97
Lucy and her culture One_Life_To_Give Apr 2013 #94
I don't know about all religions, fadedrose Apr 2013 #95
Fashion designers? Neoma Apr 2013 #96
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