I always question causes and conditions.
When it comes to the topic of men’s behavior, it is not an isolated phenomenon. Men are shaped by the same interconnected web that we are all in.
We women raise, marry, and groom these men.
With estrus, our biology is a superior carrier signal.
Thus I venture to question: are dominating men the cause or the result of women not finding their power?
I am interested in one thing: the efficacy of the process of getting us all out of suffering.
The notion that there is an isolated cause of men being dominant and aggressive is simply out of alignment with the physics of interdependence.
It disturbs me to see women stop at the level of reasoning that men are “just this way”—a fixed cause and a fixed condition—because it is so deeply disempowering.
Executive functioning shuts down when one can’t see how to win and that is an unwinnable proposition.
The truth is that, no matter where you stand, you can assert influence.
Were women to claim the mantle of power, they could reshape the very dynamics at play. Otherwise, we fall prey to the powerless notion of “this is just how it is.”
“The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” -Audre Lorde
In this case, women become aggressive or angry or embittered. Again, it is not a character issues but one of effectiveness.
We have the advantage if we develop and apply.