New University: 'If Women Ruled the World'

... that has always made me wonder about this question recently came to me. There was always something it seemed to me missing in this question. Actually a few things. A few important ones. One of them is the list of assumptions it makes.

"Have you stopped beating your husband?" is a question that assumes a wife is beating her husband in the first place. Likewise, to ask, "What if women ruled the world?" assumes men rule the world (or maybe it assumes cats or sheep do, dunno-- but I guess we can assume it's men the question assumes rule the world).

I don't think men rule the world any more than the sailors on a ship rule it. Indeed they may be on the ship a lot and may be doing most of the work, but it's the officers and NCOs that rule it (well, at least most of the time anyway). Just because you find lots of men in a gov't office doesn't men it's men's interests as a class, to the exclusion of women's, that they are serving, any more than one could say a roomful of slaves in mansion are serving the interests of themselves over and exclusive to their "owners".

That said, let's assume for a moment that the assertion is true nonetheless, that "men rule the world". Now let's get on with the question: what if women ruled the world?

Well if right now at this moment men stopped "ruling the world" and women did, should we assume all the physical and sociological constructs are in place just as they are? That is, should we assume that all the many things men are responsible for inventing, both the good and bad, and things that are both good and bad (cars for example: good they get you places, bad they pollute the air), are still in place? If we do, how long will it be, assuming part of "ruling" is maintaining and inventing these things, before these many things stop working, and would that be better for women? Hmmm...

Or to paint another picture, let's pretend that the human race gets visited by space aliens that are about 10,000 years ahead of us in technology, and they give us all kinds of kewl things to use-- warp drive, eradication of illnesses of all kinds, etc. Now after a few years, we adapt to using this technology (though maybe not *fully* understanding it), would it be a good idea to turn to the aliens and say, "Well, thanks, but your presence here, despite the kewl new gizmos and stuff, is really, all in all, a drag, and we now want to be in charge and perhaps you should just toddle off back to wherever you came from or at least stop being 'in charge' all the time so we can do for ourselves some."

Would that be the best of ideas? I am reminded of the Pakled on the "new" Star Trek series (which is not so new anymore). But this image isn't to suggest that women collectively couldn't figure out such things as power transformer engineering, applications for sub-nuclear technologies, quantum particle engineering, etc. Indeed, there are women in these fields and they contribute just fine. No, the question is, if men were not "in charge", would there even be any of these fields of endeavor in the first place? Would there be "modern medicine", would it have arisen as we understand it? Would a lot of other fields of endeavor have arisen? Or would, if men had not been "in charge" now for the past whatever x-thousand years feminists say we have been, things still look a lot like how they used to: 4 in 6 babies dead at or shortly after birth, life expectancies of of 40 (if you make it to 50, wow!), sudden death by fast-acting and mysterious diseases, lots of drudgery of hard labor, etc. etc.

Sure, women could learn to do the many things men do for them now. But it'd be pretty rough and fairly slow-going, I reckon. If it takes a man 5 years to really learn auto mechanics, can one expect a woman, if indeed, as feminists assert, we are roughly at equal capacities, that a woman will do the same and in the numbers needed to keep the cars going? Or if women "ruled the world" starting tomorrow, would we soon all be walking places instead of driving? I don't know many women ready to give up their cars. I have a feeling that would be an unpopular change. But if women had "ruled the world" for the last 1,000 years, would we even have cars to talk about?

Hard to say. "Ruling" or not, one thing we can be sure men have done for a very long time is invent/create the things the world around us provides, both in terms of mental chum as well as physical tools. There is a big divergence in approach to this question, "What if women ruled the world?" that should not be overlooked: what exactly do you mean by "rule" and just what if the world of today, instead of being informed by the inventions of men, had instead been informed by the inventions of women? What would those inventions have looked like? Would there have been nearly as many or would the world be filled with super-evolved cafes and hairdressing places (built by women, too?) instead of things like modern cars and paved roads? Which world would women themselves be happier living in themselves, I wonder?

MCC99,

I suspect that you asked a rhetorical question, but I did read your post with interest, so I will answer you anyway. Keep in mind that I am not a feminist in anyway (far from it), so I suppose most women will not agree with me (oh yeah, in case you did not know I am a 25yo female).

I would HATE to live in a female only world. I have no desire to build roads, bridges, etc. I admire what men have done for science, technology and so forth. Even though men do the hard stuff, I am sure that women have played supporting roles. I believe that there is nothing wrong with 'supporting roles'. In fact, I believe that is how nature/biology intended it. I don't know why so many people try and fight this. I am all for the exceptional women that has the desire, skill and strength to do what men do, but I believe they are far and few between.

I also believe that there should NOT be any lower physical standards for females in occupations such as military, fire fighting or police. I mean, who benefits from lowering standards?

There are certain things in life that I want a man for, If I was ever in need of an attorney, I would want a male. If I called 9-1-1 for a fire or home intruder, I would want a men to show up, not women!

I am sure many feminist would be outraged if they read this. They would think I have low self esteem or a poor self image or that somehow I was 'not supporting the team' of womanhood. I am only answering honestly based on how I see the world. I actually have very high self esteem and have always been a very capable person. I moved out of my house at the age of 17 and started college early. After my first year I left college for a career in dance and TV. By the time I was 19 I was earning a good living, traveling and had many experiences under my belt. I returned to college and will graduate this spring.

I had two children with a man I was deeply in love with. Because of his profession he was in the public eye, and before we were together he was heavily criticized and his career was going downhill. Then when we were together I prided myself on keeping a happy and positive homelife and being supportive of him, and suddenly he became very popular in his career again. I can't help but think that in family, career, and relationships that a 'supportive person' is very important.

I also believe that good sex makes everyone happy, and therefore more successful If a man is working hard then a woman should do everything she can to keep herself fit, attractive and spicy in the bedroom. Why do some women feel I am demeaning myself when I say this? It has been proven that people with healthier sex life live longer!.

I do not mean this as a sexist, sub-servant attitude or that women are below men, I just mean that we should not be striving to put ourselves in roles that I believe nature did not intend for us to be in. Nature made our bodies and brains different for a reason and we should respect that.

Well, it is late and I am rambling. Sorry I have no time to edit and proofread this, but I hope you get what I am saying: I would hate to live in a world without men.

I think a world without men would suck, and a world without women would also suck. The truth is, neither world is really feasible if you think about it.

If all men died today, the world would be screwed over. The economy would collapse. Reproduction would not be possible, despite the fact that they can make sperm cells from stem cells. This field has been vastly male dominated.

If all women died today, the world would be screwed over. Not to stereotype, but I think us men would be overwhelmed taking care of the kids and working with no help from the government. Just like if all men died, mankind would also not be able to reproduce without women.

So there you have it. We need people with two Xs, and people with an X and a Y, or else the world simply wouldn't work.

I think the essay was well-written overall, but I agree that it's wrong in its assumption that men 'rule' the world. We're more like caretakers if you think about it.

Evan AKA X-TRNL
Real Men Don't Take Abuse!