Having Equal Rights is Not The Same As Being Equal

(Image from here)

Written by Elaine Charkowski

Webster’s dictionary defines “feminism” as, “The theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.” In other words equal rights.

For women, having equal rights means being able to get loans and credit without the creditor requiring a husband’s signature. It also means access to the same education and job opportunities men enjoy. If a modern society existed that granted equal rights to both sexes, women would be elected as often as men and have equal political and economic power in every nation on earth.

Col. Kim Olson, an Air Force pilot said, "I am proud to have been part of the generation who made it normal for women to serve in the military. " The behavior of women who fly jets and bomb civilians (including other women and their children) is equal to the behavior of dysfunctional men. According to a study by a research team at Johns Hopkins University, more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed due to the March 2003 U.S. led invasion (Sentinel 10/29/04). However, having equal rights should not mean trying to be equal to dysfunctional men. Adding to the confusion is the false belief that men are naturally violent. 

In her book “The Chalice and the Blade” Riane Eisler describes partnership and dominator societies. In a partnership society, both sexes interact on equal terms and share power. In a dominator society, one sex is subordinate. In today's global dominator societies, women are subordinate to men. The shift from partnership societies to dominator societies began approximately 5,000 years ago. The island of Crete enjoyed a 1,500 year long era of peace when art and culture flourished. Crete’s culture of equal rights for both sexes was based upon the worship of the Goddess who represented life and renewal.
However, over thousands of years, waves of invaders, (Kurgans, Hebrews, and other tribes that worshipped violent male gods) destroyed the Goddess worshipping partnership societies and deleted powerful women from scripture, including the bible. Over millennia, they gradually took control, replacing the Goddess with their jealous, vengeful Jehovah.

Patriarchy is the current model of global society we inherited from male-supremacist barbarians. The domination of women by men is enforced by physical brute force and spiritual blackmail (scripture written by men). Since women and men are born into patriarchy, our thoughts can be distorted and constricted due to a lifetime of immersion in a dysfunctional culture. The media is full of violent warrior types we're supposed to admire. The patriarchal model of society requires winners and losers. From the boardroom to the battlefield it’s the same old story. This can blunt our critical thinking and confuse the issue of equal rights.

 

However, men are NOT innate warriors and killers, prone to uncontrollable violence. Assuming they are is using the sexist theory of biological destiny which also casts women as naturally helpless and submissive. This theory is used to keep women “in their place.” It also holds men to lower standards than women. The influence of testosterone is used as an excuse for men to be violent and cruel. This is actually anti-male sexism because it implies men are slaves to their hormones and out of control. This sounds like a description of mental illness.

If all men are natural born killers, should they be trusted with power? A critical point is that men aren’t the whole problem. The problem is the artificial, human-created social structure of patriarchy and its ethic of “might makes right” that most men have internalized. Patriarchy demands that men become aggressive and also emotionally dysfunctional— a very dangerous combination.

This is a false and warped definition of "being a man."

In today's violent world, male dysfunction is accepted while mentally healthy men of peace are mocked and regarded as weak. Patriarchy justifies war and expects men to obediently throw their lives away by surrendering their bodies and minds to the military. It also sanctions the microcosm of war— domestic violence, in which dysfunctional men control their families by brutality and force.

A few years ago, women began to demand the “right” to enter combat and fly fighter jets. However, unlike women who struggle for equal rights in the workplace, the equal rights that military women fight for is the “right” to murder people.  This is where clear, critical thinking is required. Just because men get to legally murder people in war, should women fight for this “right?” 

This is a step in the wrong direction!

When working to achieve equal rights, women must not seek to attain the rights of dysfunctional men. Equal rights must be humane-the right to improve one’s life and society by helping, not inflicting pain, and certainlly not murder. Rather than following the dictates of patriarchy, women must reject it just as many men of peace are doing. Fortunately, increasing numbers of men are rejecting the false theory of biological destiny and the narrow roles cast for them.

Women and men must work together to create a modern partnership society by refusing to support patriarchy and rejecting its narrow dysfunctional roles. Meek obedient doormats and bloodthirsty warriors are obscene parodies of what it means to be a woman or a man.

If enough people raise their consciousness, “critical mass” can be reached when rapid change sweeps away the old world order of “might makes right.” Patriarchy is outdated and dying; the earth as well as humanity can’t sustain it much longer.

A global partnership society may be closer than we think! Who will be the last person needed to tip the balance which will bring the dark ages of the last 5,000 years to an end? Will it be you? Will the pro-peace flyer or email message you hand to that one person be the grain of sand that changes the world?