GuidoWorld

Male/Female Modes of Progress and Growth

January 18, 2008 on 12:16 pm | In General |

In August I began writing posts on the male sex drive. At first I focused on the pervasive and strong impact of the inherent sex drive on the emotional and social development of the male adolescent. The demands of the male sex drive were found to be pivotal in how men feel about themselves and what they are willing to share with others.

This led into a comparison between the emphasis men place on activities, accomplishment and pleasure and the female focus on relationships and beauty. This in turn spawned a discussion regarding ways to successfully bridge the gender divide while creating mutually satisfying long term relationships.

During our exploration into the male sex drive we came across many popular myths regarding both genders. This in turn led us to investigate to what extent it is true to refer to our culture as being male dominated. After some discussion I put forward the hypothesis that our culture is male dominated but increasingly female oriented.

Oftentimes people use the Freudian concept of the phallic symbol to demonstrate how men are aggressive, violent and controlling by nature. We used this as a starting point and discussed not only the male (phallic) symbols but also introduced the female sexual images as well.

Our discussion then compared the images related to the phallus with vagina/womb symbols. The male phallic images were seen in objects and activities which related to penetration, probing and emission. These included the standard phallic images of guns, knives and missiles, but were complemented with more positive images as pens, paintbrushes, drills, tools, microscopes, telescopes, trains and submarines. The goals of the phallic images were expanded from aggression and control to include discovery, creativity, progress and expansion.

The female vagina/womb symbols included the purse, bank vault, gold mines, a ship’s hull, homes, nests, and many containers such as pots, pans, urns, vases and barrels. These images reflected the related goals of protecting, housing, accumulating, storing, and gestating.

At this point I’d like to add a few more observations comparing the male and female sexual symbols. The goal is for use this additional information into determining in what ways is society feminine and masculine.

While the male phallus is exposed the female genitalia is hidden. The exposure of the male phallus makes it logical that men would be direct, blunt and aggressive. Likewise, the hidden nature of the female genitalia leads to images of secretiveness, tact, nuance, diplomacy and passive aggression.

Another interesting characteristic of the phallus is that it its mode of growth is sudden, quick and expansive. In contrast the apparent changes of the womb/vagina are cyclic in nature and generally favor consistent growth and long incubation periods.

In the world of social and political change the phallus is akin to revolution and periods of sudden growth. The womb/vagina is more akin to evolution and bringing things slowly to fruition.

In yesterday’s post I was drawing upon this imagery when I talked of how aging democracies become less mercurial and more status quo oriented. This is an example of why I feel that modern democracies are becoming more feminine in their goals and methods. This is neither inherently a positive or a negative but rather only meant to point out that the modern view of our society being male oriented and dominated is a little overstated.

The early years of almost any social system are dominated by issues of quick and sudden change. Progress in such societies is usually quite dramatic and the previous status quo is viewed in a negative light. In the early stages of democracy an improvement in the standard of living is heralded along with expansions of personal freedom. The new citizenry is hopeful and the society is bustling with new technologies and ideas. This emphasis on quick, dramatic change is obviously male in nature.

In the infancy of the US there were many periods of huge change which improved the standard of living and health of its citizenry. Each improvement in the means of communication and transportation had dramatic impacts on the daily life of citizens. Likewise improvements in medicine, chemistry, physics, farm production, animal husbandry and agriculture had an impact on the quality of human life.

During the early years of the US it was in a state of perpetual expansion, not only in terms of technological growth and invention, but also in terms of physical space as prospectors and pioneers traveled south and west. From the phallic symbol perspective it makes sense that the Wild West was such a enticing fantasy for so many men.

As our society aged and we ran out of frontier land our lives had to integrate change in a new way. Once our borders stopped expanding our communities began to become more complex and intricate. This allowed us or maybe forced us to make life more predictable and safe.

Yet, as a society matures it’s rate of growth slows and its continued success increasingly depends on the existence of the status quo. Large successful businesses began to replace individual entrepreneurs. These larger enterprises began to fund and monopolize the bulk of research and through time became increasingly in control of which new technologies were developed and how they were implemented. Through time many successful enterprises evolved into huge monopolistic corporations which then became huge multinational corporations.

We are now at the point where are society is capable of absorbing incredible amounts of technological growth without damaging the status quo. We will not here point out the relative merits and drawbacks to this fact, but only will point that this method of growth is more in line with the vaginal/womb form than that of the phallus.

Due to the length of this post I will leave it to you to read between the lines and expand upon the basic ideas I’m suggesting here. I urge you to take the time to see how our society has changed from one of masculine means of progress and growth to a more feminized approach.

I’ll stop with a couple of examples of how the political process has become more feminine in its methods and goals. Years ago politicians were very direct, blunt and honest. They stood up for what they believed in and seldom worried about offending their audience. Sure they attempted to show people that they were good, but they also wanted to convince people they were right. Politicians not only tried to exhort people through slogans promoting national pride and patriotism, but also encouraged them to vigorously go their own way and grab the American dream.

Today, politicians are afraid to stand out and spend hours on wording things in a manner which will appeal to the widest audience. The pressure of pleasing the electorate has weakened the desire to speak one’s mind. While the old politicians told people to roll up their sleeves and make sacrifices the modern politician relies on feel good issues or on posing their opponent as evil or dangerous. While the old politician talked of common sense and the need to raise taxes to get what one wants, todays politicians find sly and secretive ways to tax citizens while bragging that they will never vote to raise taxes.

The political world used to be very masculine in its methods of getting in people’s faces and challenging them, today almost no one understands the hidden working of politics and instead they have to rely on innuendo and half statements made by political handlers to guess at a candidates position.

Jim Guido