Texas Governor Rick Perry.
10 July 13
n their 1997 book "Demonic Males: Apes and the Origins of Human Violence,"
two primate researchers, Dale Peterson and Richard Wrangham, explored
species of primates closely tied to human evolution – chimpanzees and
bonobos. Both the chimpanzee and the bonobo are the closest relatives to
human beings, tied to humans through DNA more closely than to gorillas.
Chimpanzees are patriarchal, in that the status of a
chimpanzee is related to the status of its father. When encountering
other groups of chimpanzees, they were most often likely to fight and
try to claim the other group's territory through violence. Bonobos on
the other hand are a matriarchal species, and their primary means of
engaging other groups of bonobos is through sex and other forms of
affection. Through this comparison, Wrangham and Peterson ease readers
to the conclusion that were humans not a patriarchal species, we would
see much more peace and love than we would violence and war.
This seems obvious today when looking at contemporary
American politics. In Texas, a male governor and male legislators in the
GOP are pushing hard for a bill
that would close most of the state's abortion clinics, outlaw abortions
after 20 weeks, and force abortions to be performed in ambulatory
surgical clinics. In Wisconsin, a male governor and male legislators
successfully forced through a bill
that would require women seeking an abortion to undergo a transvaginal
ultrasound, effectively legislating penetration of a woman without
consent. While transvaginal ultrasounds have been proven to have no effect
on the health of a woman or her fetus, they are an effective tool for
men to humiliate and degrade women who just want their medical decisions
to be left between themselves and their physicians.
Both the Wisconsin and Texas measures were met with
heavy resistance from women and male allies. Even though the ultrasound
provision made it into the Wisconsin budget that Governor Scott Walker
just signed (on a holiday weekend, away from the news media), the
anti-abortion bill in Texas, which is likely to be forced through after a third attempt,
has been derailed twice by a large and determined group of women and
male advocates for women's rights. As a result, the political careers of
both male proponents are in jeopardy. Rick Perry just announced
he isn't seeking re-election, and Wendy Davis, the state senator from
Forth Worth who filibustered his anti-abortion bill for 14 hours, is the
favorite to replace him in the 2014 election.
Likewise, a challenger to
Scott Walker has emerged in Wisconsin, as Madison school board member Mary Burke has announced her intent to run in 2014. Fair criticisms
have risen in regard to her support of charter schools and her
endorsement of divisive "education reform" measures involving the firing
of teachers. However, a woman in the Wisconsin governor's office is
nonetheless a stark contrast to the vision set forth by Walker and the
Wisconsin GOP.
In our country's short history, we've been marred by
major wars and conflicts all over the world, and even amongst our own
people. Before and after defeating the British empire and winning our
independence, we justified violence with principles like "Manifest Destiny"
to wage war on indigenous people and claim their territory, whether it
was with smallpox-infected blankets given to natives or through direct
subjugation and slavery. We've imposed violence on people in every
corner of the world to take resources like oil and minerals, and use state-sponsored violence to quell nonviolent crowds of people protesting the use of such violence.
Even though we've elected a scant few female governors
and members of Congress in our roughly 230 years of independence, we've
never once allowed a woman to lead the nation. It's time for men to
step aside and let women take charge of our political system. If we're
to co-exist with our fellow human beings, we must abolish the rule of
patriarchy and allow women an equal opportunity to lead. Let's be like
bonobos instead of chimpanzees.
No comments:
Post a Comment