Why women perpetuate their sense of subordination is not an easy question to answer. Anthropologists have found that many repressed minority groups tend to adopt the attitudes of the stronger dominant group towards themselves. Women may do the same by accepting the submissive stereotype, and by this device are able to escape some of the anxiety which arises if they feel themselves to be oppressed. It is easier to accept the status quo than to rebel against it, particularly if you rationalize that because of your sex you can never achieve as well as a man, but you are better at nurturant activities, and have an important role to play in caring for children and looking after your husband.
In our society, it is better to be a man if you are a person who wants status or achievement. But in other ways, it is a disadvantage to be a man. A man has a higher risk of dying prematurely. He is more likely to develop heart disease, he is more likely to become a victim of many diseases of civilization, as I describe in later chapters in this book.
There are those who fear that any reduction in the differences between how the sexes look and behave and what they do in sexual encounters, in work, or in play, will lead to a destruction of the fabric of society. This is a false fear: equality of opportunity for women in all spheres of activity will not reduce the gender-identity of women, but rather will permit women to develop as freer human beings. The reduction in a man’s competitiveness and aggression and the social permission for him to show emotion and affection will not reduce his male gender-identity but will enable him to relate more freely and equally with other human beings, irrespective of their sex.
If the stereotypical sex differences are reduced, it will not mean social chaos. That is more likely to occur if the more conservative elements in society try to prevent the increasing questioning about sexual roles, values, and behaviours which are currently conventional. In this period of rapid and unpredictable social and technological change, only societies which are sufficiently flexible to tolerate experimentation and to allow a variety of different sexual responses will survive.
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