1) First of all, Genghis Khan was a person, not an empire. Nor were Romans and Greeks the same thing. But yes, I do find the study of ancient societies and cultures interesting from a human development standpoint. I can also see examples of male aggression and oppression though. How can you not? History is littered with it, and I don't see how you could possibly take a serious interest in ancient culture and tell me that you some how missed that.
2) I've never claimed that men have not been oppressed. That's not really the point though either. The oppression that you're talking about was more the oppression of an entire class of people (namely slaves and the poor), not the specific oppression of men. I can assure you that aristocratic Greek and Roman men had it really freaking good. The stories of their opulence are staggering. But it's hard to ignore that at the same time, women of all classes were being discriminated against. Even the ruling class women were given away by their fathers to whoever he deemed fit. They were also expected to turn a blind eye when their husbands kept misstresses and had elicit affairs with other men in addition to not being real citizens. All through Western and Eastern history, women as a gender have been more heavily oppressed than men. The vast majority of historians will agree with that general statement. How long have men had the right to own land? To be citizens? To vote? How do those numbers compare with that of women?
I'd disagree that men are "genetically programmed" to be competitive. In fact, where food is not a priority, any given Society is usually very peaceful and uncompetitive.
Men have been obligated (usually by females) to go out and fight, even if the men did not want to. Most of the time, this was because they didn't have enough to eat and thus they ended up having to take from others. No, I am not justifying this behaviour, but it does deserve explanation.
However, you are perfectly correct over the fact that men were as oppressed as what women were - but that "oppression" was more due to circumstances well beyond any human's control. Things like lack of resources, changes in climate (both warmer and cooler - remember humanity went through the ENTIRE last Ice Age), and so on and so forth, all of which have left humanity high and dry on more than one occasion.
But we must look at the way that (traditionally) women were both spared in terms of not being made to fight in the armies nor being seen as legitimate targets when an invading army finally overwhelmed the defences - the women and children were spared but the men were butchered. This is often ignored. In fact, this proves that women got (somewhat) a better deal than men in times of war.
Even today, the dirtiest, most dangerous jobs are still MOSTLY done by men. For all of the industries where death is a daily occurrence, the amount of women in such jobs is less than 15% of the total workforce.
BUT: where we see women is in places like offices, where the worst they can expect is premature flirtation, which there are thousands of laws against. The laws against the premature death of men are far, far fewer.
Comments on Do Feminists find? »
1) First of all, Genghis Khan was a person, not an empire. Nor were Romans and Greeks the same thing. But yes, I do find the study of ancient societies and cultures interesting from a human development standpoint. I can also see examples of male aggression and oppression though. How can you not? History is littered with it, and I don't see how you could possibly take a serious interest in ancient culture and tell me that you some how missed that.
2) I've never claimed that men have not been oppressed. That's not really the point though either. The oppression that you're talking about was more the oppression of an entire class of people (namely slaves and the poor), not the specific oppression of men. I can assure you that aristocratic Greek and Roman men had it really freaking good. The stories of their opulence are staggering. But it's hard to ignore that at the same time, women of all classes were being discriminated against. Even the ruling class women were given away by their fathers to whoever he deemed fit. They were also expected to turn a blind eye when their husbands kept misstresses and had elicit affairs with other men in addition to not being real citizens. All through Western and Eastern history, women as a gender have been more heavily oppressed than men. The vast majority of historians will agree with that general statement. How long have men had the right to own land? To be citizens? To vote? How do those numbers compare with that of women?
I'd disagree that men are "genetically programmed" to be competitive. In fact, where food is not a priority, any given Society is usually very peaceful and uncompetitive.
Men have been obligated (usually by females) to go out and fight, even if the men did not want to. Most of the time, this was because they didn't have enough to eat and thus they ended up having to take from others. No, I am not justifying this behaviour, but it does deserve explanation.
However, you are perfectly correct over the fact that men were as oppressed as what women were - but that "oppression" was more due to circumstances well beyond any human's control. Things like lack of resources, changes in climate (both warmer and cooler - remember humanity went through the ENTIRE last Ice Age), and so on and so forth, all of which have left humanity high and dry on more than one occasion.
But we must look at the way that (traditionally) women were both spared in terms of not being made to fight in the armies nor being seen as legitimate targets when an invading army finally overwhelmed the defences - the women and children were spared but the men were butchered. This is often ignored. In fact, this proves that women got (somewhat) a better deal than men in times of war.
Even today, the dirtiest, most dangerous jobs are still MOSTLY done by men. For all of the industries where death is a daily occurrence, the amount of women in such jobs is less than 15% of the total workforce.
BUT: where we see women is in places like offices, where the worst they can expect is premature flirtation, which there are thousands of laws against. The laws against the premature death of men are far, far fewer.
In other words: Feminism is all lies.
Could you please explain to me who is forcing men to do the most dangerous, and dirty jobs?