The Irrelevant Males

There are a few animal species where an adult individual naturally switches from being male to being female, or the other way around. Science suggests that the age of the animal, and the situation it is in, makes the switch happen. Wow! What an extraordinary evolution! Or, is it that the all powerful Creator got bored making separate male and female bodies for every animal species, and clubbed the two genders into one body for some of them? Some people might want to believe that He did that to convey an ideology or to portray His power to the humans. Whatever be the belief, I am none to reject it, because I agree with Richard Dawkins that belief is not based on evidences. I think it is based on convenience.

Despite having gender-specific bodies, the biology of human gender is more complex than just male and female. Some are biologically males or females, but they feel they are the opposite. The psychology of sexual orientation is definitely messing up with the biology of gender. Well, the future of gender classification looks clumsy. Isn’t it? Soon the census statisticians might have to ask people, “What were you during the last census?” “What are you now?” “Are you planning to change later?” “Do you feel in sync with your present gender?” Ah! Poor guys!

The subject of human gender is more than just the biological plus psychological complexities. Many gender discourses and arguments focus on empowering females and removing social stigmas so that females are made equal to males, if not better. If not anything else, these discourses blare it out that females are weak so that the business of female empowerment continues to flourish. I might have sounded rude here. But I know that females are more powerful than the males. I need not be told about it. The reality is that males are fast becoming irrelevant in the modern human society. Wait! Don’t dismiss me as someone crying for the males. I am not. And males don’t deserve my tears either.

The relevance of males needs to be viewed from both biological and societal perspectives. The former tries to see if females can produce children in the absence of males. Well, we might not be there yet, and males are still required to initiate the process of child birth. This makes some people to view the contribution of both genders as equal. However, females nourish and protect babies in their wombs for nine long months before giving birth, which makes some other people to view the contribution of females as greater. Interestingly, there is a third category of people who think that a male can contribute to more child births than a female, and is therefore superior. Well, notwithstanding the extent of the contributions, the male is a relevant gender for mankind’s perpetuity, and might continue to be so for some more time.

It is from the societal perspective that one can see the males losing the relevance that they have, so unmercifully, gained. Let us begin from the time humans started settling down to form societies. Back then, males took up riskier and physically challenging jobs like fighting animals, building shelter, and hunting food. Females were engaged in, among other things, caring children, cooking meals, and gathering plants for consumption and medicine. The female jobs, in comparison with those performed by the males, and not underestimating the importance, did not entail high levels of risks. As the males were indeed risking their lives, it is likely that they set the rules in most societies. And, it is possible that the initial set of rules were meant to ensure survival, not exploit females. However, things did not remain like this for long.

With time, the human societies became bigger and more sophisticated leading to the diversification in the number of roles. And most new roles were garnered by the males. The blacksmith, goldsmith, carpenter, priest, architect, mason, and many other designations belonged solely to the males. Those serving in the armies were, once again, all males. Money emerged in the society as the remuneration for the roles they played. Of course! Males kept all the roles, thus all the money. Although the roles played by the females diversified, as in farming, their access to money was limited. Why? Because the rules said so. The rule-setting males had, by then, twisted the rules completely in their own favour to exercise control over money. Money became the most powerful weapon. With it came domination. It paved the way to female exploitation. So much that females became the objects of entertainment to the males. God became increasingly relevant in those societies, and rules, set by the males in the name of God, decided the fate of the wretched females. The crucial point here is that the females lost the rights to chose their mates. Families held centre-stage and marriages were required to start a family. With marriages came in the rules that, on the one side, presented mating opportunities for every fit and unfit male, and on the other, led to the complete subjugation of the females. Females had no choice, but to live with their husbands, even die with them if they survived the trauma. Any violation of the rules was met with severe punishment to the females. Ah! Brutal! Indeed!

Of course! Producing children was a male decision. And so the fit and unfit males relentlessly produced and reproduced in abundance. The rules allowed them to have multiple wives, and, thus, they did not have to stop themselves in-between child births too. Males had very little to loose. Isn’t it? They were not the ones holding babies in their wombs. Consequently, human numbers rapidly expanded in those societies. But, the quality of those numbers declined. Populations grew weaker. Diseases became rampant. Death rates increased. Female health deteriorated. What else could anyone expect when hordes of unfit males went on a rampage producing babies? Well, it would have been an altogether different story if females were to decide on their mates and child birth. Sadly, it was not to happen. Societies degenerated to such levels where it was deemed a curse to give birth to a female, an imaginary punishment for the sins committed in the speculated past of the parents. Female babies were detested, abandoned, killed on birth, and, if allowed, murdered in the wombs. Ah! Brutal! Yet again!

Sadly, things remained like this for a long time. Glimpses of the brutality are visible in some of the present day societies too. Rules are still set and promoted by the males for the lustful control of the females. The males have escalated and diversified God’s powers; the stories of His punishments are more vociferously narrated than those of His benevolence. The males have been incessantly taking refuge in both Heaven and Hell while making the rules, and while bending them. Today, these Heavenly and Hellish rules are framed not simply to favour male dominance; they are made to support a thriving business of God, and to customise the political environment of countries. Yet, and despite the All-Mighty being highly supportive of the males, there is a subtle, now discernible, change in many societies. This change should be feared by the rule-bending males because it is soon going to make them irrelevant. Change is natural, it is inevitable, it happens with or without God’s wish, whether anybody likes it or not, although it is sometimes delayed by more than we can bear with. But, change can create frictions in societies, the extent and intensity of which cannot be predicted. Therefore, it is in everyone’s best interest to accept and adjust to the change as soon as it can be done.

If, once, money powered male dominance, it is now, interestingly, transferring the power to the females. Let me put it across this way. Money became abundant in societies where natural resources were greater, and human consumers, fewer. Simultaneously, the roles in the society, thus the opportunities to earn money, diversified. By then, countries, not just individuals, were vying to claim richness. Rich country or poor country, developed country or not so developed country, first world or third world — countries were being tagged. Some countries were enjoying being economic predators of others. In many of those rich countries there weren’t as many males to fill up the overflowing roles.  And so, these countries encouraged females to receive formal education, essentially getting them trained to run their money-making factories. Thus, females firmly set their foot on many of the roles that once were in the exclusive domain of the males. This time around, occupying the roles meant that they had their own money. With money came power, came independence, and came the time when the females could frame the rules. Today, the human lawmakers wield greater power than God in setting up the Laws of the Land. Their laws, being more powerful than the heavenly and hellish rules, view female exploitation as a punishable crime. With money in their hands, with no need for the males to protect them, in fact the laws protecting them from the males, females are truly becoming independent. They are now choosing whether to, or whether not to, have a child; and whether marriages are absolutely necessary in their lives, even to have children. This change is rubbing-off on the not-so-rich societies too.

Today females can live on their own and decide on having children. They are calling the shots in the families too. Supportive, fertile companions are what most females are looking for. Exploitative males are despised upon, unfit males don’t have female takers, they are becoming increasingly irrelevant. The pressure is rightly mounting on the males to care and perform, their qualities are subjected to female assessments. Multiple wives is a thing of the past for the males in many of the societies. So, with these changes happening, one can expect child births to decrease, and the quality of the children born to increase. Well, the decline in child births is already visible in almost all the societies. Females, after breaking free from the masculine shackles, seem to be enjoying their new found independence. Well, why not? They have endured male brutality for a very long time indeed. Their wombs need some rest.

Check this out! The changes are happening when God continues to have an inordinate likeness for the males. Whether It is a He or a She, the rules are still made by the males. In a last-ditch effort, some males are pushing very hard to persist with the rules that uphold their dominance. They are still framing and bending them on His or Her behalf. They are fighting against the fact that God is slowly relegated to the personal choices of people, that He or She cannot be forced upon anyone anymore, that people in the same society are choosing from a diverse set of Gods, and an increasing number of them don’t bother making choices. Nothing can be done to stop people from changing. It is a loosing battle for those fighting against the change. The males, who still persist with instilling the fear of God among people, will surely become irrelevant. Come what may, the change is set to spread across all human societies. It is better for the males to respect it, adapt to it, and move on.