1:55am June 13, 2014

lichgem-i-think-cereus-said-something

lichgem:

I think Cereus said something interesting about why femininity is devalued in our culture

I think they said that because our culture is imperialistic, things not pertaining to war- soft things, caring things, things that exist only to give comfort or look beautiful- are devalued,…

Then there are the societies where women did most/all of the agriculture, and often some also fought. And never got devalued in the same ways. Some very different social arrangements, all around.

Though I would think that you’d already have some extra value placed on certain behaviors and traits—and a decent bit of inequality built in—if you’ve got a social system going that encourages knocking other people over the head and taking their stuff. People are liable to behave in similar ways closer to home, too, if that kind of thing is not just socially acceptable but encouraged. (And vice versa.)

It says a lot about some other attitudes if it seems in any way reasonable for roughly one half of the population to even start trying to dominate (and assign lower value to traits associated with) the roughly other half that way. You’ve already got some bad problems if this idea makes any sense. Same goes for finding other people to try to treat in similar ways.

Another chicken or egg type of situation, basically. Some expressions of attitudes and values are also going to reinforce and encourage other expressions, but it’s the same ideologies driving them and usually getting reinforced in the bargain. It’s kind of a self-perpetuating mess all around.