The End of Martial Law

2008.03.08   prev     next

DEE Dee Myers, former White House Press Secretary, has written a new book, “Why Women Should Rule the World.” Is she right?

I haven’t had the time to read much of her book, so I really can’t comment on her particular reasons for thinking that women should be running society. But I think it will probably happen.

Of the two genders, which one is the soldiers, the military? (Not literally members of the military, just figuratively.) Obviously, males. And society has been male-dominated for all of human history — only recently starting to look like it might not remain so.

What do you call it when the military rules society? Martial law. And what is the purpose of martial law? To keep the population safe in a time of severe danger.

Humanity, starting with a low population size and no technology or modern social infrastructures, was born into a state of severe danger. Hence, it was inevitable that males would rule, in what could be called a form of gender martial law.

Martial law is often no picnic for members of the general population who have to live under it. It’s rife with random abuses that have nothing to do with protecting the people from the dangerous situation. But it’s necessary. Until it isn’t.

In the twentieth century, I think, humanity began to pass the critical mass of technology where it’s no longer necessary for males to run society. And so what do we face in the future? Probably a society run by females. Not a society of reversed gender roles. Not even a society of muted gender roles. Probably just a society in which women hold more of the strings of power. A society in which males, like the military, are a valuable resource for women, but not their rulers.

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