The Natural Superiority of Women (55 page)

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Authors: Ashley Montagu

Tags: #Social Science, #Anthropology, #Cultural, #Women's Studies, #test

BOOK: The Natural Superiority of Women
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I hope it is clear to every reader that, in stating the case for the natural superiority of women, I have not been trying to demote men by upgrading womennothing has been further from my mind. Nevertheless, I have been constantly aware that a book with a title such as this, arguing the case as it does, would lead some persons to believe that I am attempting to knock men down by elevating women above them. I cannot state too strongly that this has never been part of my intention. As a scientist, who has spent many years researching and teaching anatomy, physiology, evolution, genetics, child growth and development in medical school; as well as having been a biological and cultural anthropologist at several universities; and as a student of these subjects for some eighty years, I have enjoyed unusual opportunities to separate the facts from the entrenched male supremacist myths.
My intention has been to state the facts about women in order to correct the myths that have for too long served in place of the facts. As we have seen in the preceding pages, the facts prove that woman is biologically the superior organism, superior in the sense of enjoying, by virtue of her biological traits, a higher survival value than the male. These facts should forever dispose of the myth of the female's physical inferiority. Muscular strength should not be confused with constitutional strength. Constitutionally the female is the stronger sex.
It is either a fact or it is not that women are biologically superior to men. The way to deal with such a claim is not to ridicule or dismiss it, however cranky it may at first appear, but instead to attempt to disprove itby setting out the evidence that accomplishes such disproof. It is quite understandable that there will be many who will argue that we have had more than enough of talk of "superiority" and "inferiority," and, indeed, we
have
when it is a matter of comparing populations and ethnic groups,

2
but in the comparison of the sexes the facts are indisputably in favor of the female. The sensible thing is to consider the meaning of those facts, and the social action they indicate.

With respect to psychological and social qualities, the facts again, it seems to me, have abundantly proven that women are superior to men. The proof here, too, is by the measure of our tests of biological superiority, for women, by their greater loving kindness and humanity, tend to confer survival benefits upon

 

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all who come within the orbit of their being more frequently than do men. Women are the bearers, the nurturers of life. Men have tended more often to be the curtailers, the destroyers of life. Clearly, as both men and women are necessary for the creation and continuation of human life, the fundamental pattern of cooperation that is here biologically indicated between the sexes is the one that should prevail.
Though it is a platitude to say that the sexes complement each other, men have not, on the whole, accepted the principle of complementarity of the sexes; most have insisted that women be the inferiors. It has been shown in this book that women are, on the whole, the superior organisms. Perhaps, swallowing this pill, together with their pride, as gracefully as they can, men may more easily hereafter be able to accept the idea that the sexes should complement each other. Each of the sexes has a great deal to learn and unlearn from the other; they can best do so by getting together on an equal though different basis. In other words, the sexes need to learn the truth about each other, to take stock in each other, and know each other's weaknesses and strengths.
The continuation of the human race is contingent upon woman's grace, provided that there is a man to respond to it.
Men will have to give up their belief in masculine superiority and learn that superiority is where it resides, regardless of an individual's gender. Men will have to accept that insofar as biological superiority is concerned, women have the edge on them; but there is not the least reason why this should upset the male ego. On the other hand, men should congratulate themselves that the mothers of their children are so well endowed. It has often been remarked that if men had to have babies, few of them would survive the ordeal. All men should be eternally grateful to women for undertaking the task. How good and pleasing a thought it is that women should be constitutionally, immunologically, stronger than men; that is as it should be, and that is as it is. The natural superiority of women is something for which we should all be grateful. When we recognize it for what it is, the biological safeguard of the species, we shall be all the more ready to cherish and respect it.
Human beings differ greatly in their abilities, but practically not at all along sex lines; that is to say, abilities are not determined by sex. Abilities are functions of the persons,
not
of

 

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groups, classes or gender. Hence, so far as abilities are concerned, both sexes should be afforded all the opportunities necessary to realize their potentialities; the judgment of their abilities should never be prejudiced by any bias of sex.
Nor should women ever accept any form of male patronage. They should no longer accept the view that the world be exclusively run by men.
As human beings women have a birthright the right to complete social and political freedom. It is only when this has been achieved that they will be fully able to realize themselves. No one can doubt that such equality will eventually be won by women. The important point is, the sooner it is done, the better; the sooner women accomplish this inevitable change, the sooner will the great contributions that women have to make to humanity become creative realities redounding to the benefit of all.
All human beings should enjoy the rights that are theirs by virtue of their being human, and not one iota of their rights should ever be abridged on the ground of gender.
Gender structures knowledge and power. To secure those rights women will have to labor hard. It cannot be too often repeated that they will have to do most of the work themselves in improving their status. Getting laws passed will not be enough; the long hard pull will be to achieve full recognition and acceptance of their abilities in all phases of national and international life.
It is by becoming actively participating members of their society through their work that women will make greatest progress. The work of the world has for too long been the exclusive preserve of the male, to the great detriment of humanity. There is every reason why it should not continue to be so. The male has sought to keep the management of the world in his own hands because it has satisfied an artificially encultured need within himthe need to feel superior. Women must help men to learn that working in cooperation rather than in opposition is the best support for their egos which they can receive. Men can go no further without women; they need the help of women in balancing the budget of effort and accomplishment; and women need to realize that among their unique contributions to society is what is so often called "the feminine point of view." A full-rounded judgment of most human endeavors

 

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is best achieved when it represents the combined wisdom of woman and man. Surely, most people who have made a success of their marriage are aware of this.
Because there is too much technologized economics in our society and not enough understanding of human relations, women can make another major contribution by introducing a greater understanding and practice of human relations in the business world. As one businessman, speaking for many others, remarked to me while showing me around his factory, "You should have seen this place before we employed women. They've civilized it." A scarcely higher tribute could be paid to women's capacity for human relations. Human societies must be based on human relations first, and economic activities must be a secondary function of human relations, not the other way round as they are in the masculine business world. Business is a way of making a living, it should never become the model for a way of life. Humanity comes before five-year plans and blueprints. This is an area in which women have heroic work to do. The genius for humanity that women naturally seem to possess, and develop so highly as mothers, will find material to work upon in every phase of life.
The most important of women's task is the making of human beings, with, or without partners. In this happiest and most rewarding of all labors of love, women bear a great responsibility, for they hold no less than the future in their hands. Because mothers are closer to their children than are fathers, they must of necessity play a more basic role in the growth and development of their children. The importance of mother love for the development of human beings healthy in mind and body is fundamental. Both mothers and fathers must love each other if they are to love their children as they need to be loved, for children learn more from what their parents do than from what they say. Love may not be all, but it is almost all. Women must be free to give their children the love they require, and men must assist them to do so. Here women have a redemptive role to play of the first order of importance, it is no less than the remaking of humanity. As the mothers of humankind women have from the very beginning played a dominant role in the making of human beings. As mothers they hold the basic pattern and patent on, and provide the model for, what humans should be, namely, lovers who love others more than they love

 

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themselves. This is clearly observed and defined in that selfless, all-embracing love that the mother has for her baby. Men must understand how much they have to learn from women. Here, indeed, is the great opportunity for mutual aid. The sexes are happiest, and will always be happiest, when they work and play together, creating happy homes and children, helping each other to realize the best that is within them, giving each other the space in which to grow.
Such a mutually creative and enlarging relationship need not be restricted to married life but can be extended to all the relationships between men and women. There is no reason why we cannot be of help to each other in every way, for all relationships between human beings are social and not biologically determined. Men should cease arguing about women and start getting to know them and thinking jointly with them. Toward that end the education of the sexes must receive a thorough reevaluation. The sexes should be educated in the understanding of each other, with opportunities for education that are in every way equal. Alfred North Whitehead, the distinguished philosopher, described education as the guidance of the person toward a comprehension of the art of life. Every person embodies an adventure of existence, and the art of life consists in the guidance of that adventure, an adventure in which men and women must participate equally. The prime business of a democracy, the great democratic task of men and women, is not the making of things, not even the making of money, but the making of humane beings.
The portents are good. During the last fifty years great strides have been made at an accelerating pace. There is every reason to believe that women, together with men, will continue to make progress in the right direction. It has been said that the belief in progress is the wine of the present poured out as a libation to the future. However, the expression of optimistic hopes is not enough. The progress that women have made has been largely of their own doing, and such progress as they achieve in future, it must be repeated, will be the result largely of their own hard work. It is the women who excel as women who will win success for the cause of humanity. As I have already said, the sexes should not compete; they should cooperate and complement each other. When they compete they do themselves and one another a

 

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disservice. Women should not try to be like men. Women do not serve the cause of humanity by aping men. This perfectly understandable pitfall must be avoidednamely, accepting the errors ofjudgment and conduct of so-called superiors who have made one feel inferior, and thereby becoming trapped by the values of one's oppressors. As a wit once remarked, ''any woman who wants to be like a man lacks ambition."
Women must realize that they have been and are living in a patriarchal society, that men have tried to make them as they would have them be, and then convince them that as they have made them so it is natural for them to be inferior to men. Women have been more or less deliberately tailored to the pattern preferred by men, custom made, and thus accustomed to thinking of themselves as men's inferiors; women have been deformed and diverted from their true life's course to serve the misconceived needs of the male ego. The male has confused his needs, and he has badly confused women, but not half so badly as he has confused himself. Yet, though not half as confused as men, women are sufficiently so to be caught up in repeating a stereotyped pattern that turns out men as well as women who will uphold the old traditions. It is perfectly true that many men are what they are because they were raised by women but, it should be added, by women who were raised according to masculine standards of what both a woman and a man should be. Such traditional standards are unsound, and women know this better than men because they are less confused than men, and because, as the mothers of humankind, they are its original lovers. A serious and gratifying responsibility is placed upon women.
Women suddenly find themselves in much the same position as the United States finds itself in relation to the rest of the world. Almost too precipitately the United States finds itself the richest and the most powerful nation in the world, and its problem is the recognition of its responsibility to the rest of the world, the proper relation of its strength to the rest of the world's weakness. Similarly, the problem that women will have increasingly to face is the sudden awareness of her strength in relation to man's weakness. Recognition of this problem may prove unbalancing to some women, but when all the sound and fury has died down the question will remain: What can women do to pull humankind through?

 

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