Monday, January 29, 2007

Look Out, Girls

I keep saying it; this place is about to get more socially conservative, especially in matters of sex and gender. You can feel it coming, in the way people talk and dress. This tends to happen after a war or other gender-bending event, including in the US after WWII where so many women had been called upon to work in traditionally male roles.

Today I read this passage in an academic study about post-war reintegration [pdf]:
Many studies have documented that after conflict women and girls are under pressure to (re)submit to often oppressive gender roles in post-conflict societies.
In evolutionary terms, I'd guess that this tendency is an instinct of the tribe (society, the collective mind) trying to create order out of chaos and also to replace all the members lost in the war by putting women back into the maternal role. Doesn't sound like much fun, though.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home