Thursday, March 29, 2012
Packs, Herds, and Social Constructs
I have heard humans described as “social primates”. I think it would be interesting if we took a look at male-female relationships in other social creatures. Maybe we spend too much time thinking about pack animals, such as wolves, with “alpha males” and too little time thinking about herd creatures like elephants, which are female dominated and shunt the males to the periphery except for mating time. What about social insects, such as bees or ants, which immediately kill males after their purpose is accomplished? Maybe the logical conclusion of socialization, or colony life, is the de-emphasis on the male?
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Why are females and their eager male enablers so eager to eliminate non-productive males? Does this signify a particular innate viciousness about females that is lacking in males? After all, I've never heard of a culture that automatically eleminates post-fertile females. Why is that? Post-fertile females have no biological usefullness. Perhaps males are just naturally kinder and more humane than females? Perhaps a human society without males really would resemble an insect society.
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