Question 1. According to Gilder, what is the closest human bond? What is the second closest?
According to Gilder, the closest human bond is marriage. Gilder outlines that there are three different categories of bonds among human beings; legal and artificial, social and voluntary as well as biological and natural. The closest human bond has been categorized to be marriage, as it directly shifts the loose bonding in category three relationship into an inescapable and deep bonding among human beings. This places great focus on a family bond as it is considered to be a view shared for the positive good among all either by political or religious conservatives and related revisionist feminists. In the feminist ideals, these concepts are perceived as deep personal bonds existing between human beings that are intimately close. This type of bonding is driven by love and commitment. This bond can however be compromised upon detachment of feelings or emotional ties which are all considered potential alternatives to marriage. The second bond in this regard exists among the extended family. It allows people achieve peace of mind or related personal emancipation as it is a wider category of a relationship. This type of bonding however is considered a fundamental moral priority in the living styles of most human beings.
Question 2. What group is the most "sexually powerful"? What group is the second most "sexually powerful."?
Women are regarded the most powerful sexual group, and this is because most of the women group hold the role of creating babies and carrying them to the due date, and later takes care of them. Women are also considered to have a physiological consciousness which means women hold societal families together. By virtue of being a woman, it already determines her long-term goals in life because as she knows she can bear and up bring her children appropriately. It is categorical that women, therefore, are assigned a key and important role in nature and societies during her co-existence. However, the power of choice restricts them from attaining their highest level of sexuality but if this is done away with, then can collectively achieve their full potential. Men are considered to be the second powerful sexual group for a number of the following reasons; they are emotionally and sexually inferior despite them being more active in other places like their work and business ventures. This includes all issues to that pertain to the home environment. Despite this, the females still flourish as being the best home-makers. Clearly, they lack a capital role in the society that can surpass the one women are assigned to.
Question 3. "The very essence of marriage", Broneslaw Malinkoski wrote, is all?
Gilder perceives marriage as an institution civilizing men through making them gain the fatherly title. Both nuclear families and monogamy are known to strongly canalize the male species aggression that further prevents a society from blending in the unmarried male pattern of behavior. Gilder warns that any societal groups or men known for abandoning such institutions on do it out of peril. Basing on the ideology that most societies encourage the females to potentially shake off the set traditional beliefs and roles as both housewives and mothers tend to weaken the existing bond in nuclear families by virtue of it unleashing the existing ominous male aggression forces. Gilder further believes are quite predictable and obvious; ghetto crime, decline in birth rates among the middle class, divorce, rise in illegitimacy among the poor group and homosexuality cases. Most men put this entire blame on the recent apocalyptic developments regarding women movements as well as the ideology of sexual liberalism which he considers a species of Marxism. This defines the roles allocated to men which most feminists seek is not entirely a men’s role but rather described as the role of male of the Marxist dream. He considers direct return and adjustment to a society that accepts traditional sex roles as being both inmate and proper as the only alternative to the mushrooming sexual suicide in Western civilization. Such roles consider men as providers and women as nurturers.
Question 4. In class, we mentioned that feminists can point to some primitive tribes that seemed to have a matriarchal society. What is it about these tribes that pretty much discounted them as examples of successful matriarchal societies?
There is so much regarding these tribes. Patriarchal societies advocate for human slavery, unjust authorities as well as rebellion against domination. However, there should be limited assumptions on the ideology that people could entirely rebel against domination where it never existed in the fast place or rebellions against unjust authorities where none does exist. Matriarchal societies on the other hand exhibit diverse characteristics in common. One, they enhance the ideology of achieving equality among all as they uphold gift-giving as a social norm. Moreover, both men and women are defined on the basis of connections to their maternal clans where the common land is held. This is commonly regarded as matrilineal, egalitarian or matrilocal.
Their consensus systems are effectively developed for purposes of ensuring voices are heard and considered among all. These societies are known for honoring principles of generosity, care and love which are collectively associated with motherhood. The un-patriarchal societies, on the other hand, considered primitive tribes associated with collapsing civilizations, the land where women are frequently robbed and raped. Men are given the rights to doing such things because they perceive their sole purpose as being sperm donors for gratifying their own whims. They despise the concept of paternity and subject mothers to raising their sons in whichever manner without being interfered with by the pesky fathers.
Question 5. From the chapter in the book by the same name, what is the Princess's Problem?
Princess’ problem was that she wanted to embrace the powers that other princesses held in other nations which were not possible because different kingdoms hold different rules. She had grown only to want to live in a place where happiness was a major concern and not the life that her parents wanted her to lead which aimed at molding her into becoming a hard worker. As time went by, she gave in to her thoughts and followed in her mother’s footstep, where she decided to take a walk through the woods to fulfill her desires that she so longed for. However, to her disappointment, her dreams were shattered when once again another ruthless and strong barbarian leader took over and destroyed the business between the two kingdoms which led to its poverty. Therefore, the princess was no longer allowed to take her walks in the woods as she wanted.
Short essay questions
Question 1. Gilder said early in chapter 1 that women are "sexually superior" to men. What were his reasons for saying this?
According to Gilder, women are generally sexually superior to men as they contain the power to create a baby and are therefore considered a linchpin of humanity. He further argues that they contain “a very physiological consciousness” with the power to unite a family failure to which leads to the destruction of the family. Her long-term goals are defined by her sexuality because she knows she has the potential to fully nurture after bearing a child. Women are described as being that crucial hold roles in species perpetuation. According to Gilber 1994, “The Women's Movement tragically reduces female sexuality to the terms of male sexuality”. After this, she is essentially reduced to the recreational sex male level. Paradoxically, following this incident, all her power is lost as well as their respect and reverence regarding their potential pro-activeness as a woman. This can drastically destroy a given family. However, whenever the power of choice is given up, the females tend to ascend to a greater level of sexuality where her body promptly reconnects and attains a mystical power over the males.
Question 2. What does gilder mean when he says that men are the "Achilles Heel" of any society?
There is a lot gilder means when he points out that men are Achilles Heel of any society. In many cases, women are subjected to more injuries to their hamstrings as opposed to the case of men. Ideologically, men have an Achille’s heel as they statistically account for more than seventy five percent of all tendon ruptures. As for the case of the Achilles, they are known to comprise eighty percent of cases relating to the Achilles tendon ruptures. Basically, they can accommodate diverse forms of injuries and struggles as opposed to the females because nature has perceived them as be tough enough to take them in. Moreover, they contain Achilles tendon following their nature and ability to withstand diverse forces.
They have a greater probability of winning any fight with females, as well as possess a higher power regime in making commands in their home places. Actually, the society tends to dwell so much on these as men have been granted the superiority complex factor that portrays them as great creatures of human creation. Regarding the concept of male aggression, Gilder has promptly established his own self and men at large as a critic of feminism and the associated government welfare policies by setting out an argument that has fully eroded the existing sexual constitutions. He considers the Achille heels as the group of men who are fully civilized and socialized that partake their assigned roles as fathers and home providers.
Question 3. In Chapter 7 of Gilder's book, he suggests why we seem to have a large number of homosexuals today. Compose an essay to elaborate Gilder's explanations for this phenomenon.
Gilder view on homosexuality is that it is a behavior any individual can consider since it is a tempting idea. The recent high rise in homosexuality has made it more ideal compared to heterosexuality, which is the most acceptable way of life. Moreover, the fact that some of the men tend to have many female partners encourages homosexuality among the remaining population of the men with no partners of the opposite gender. He also appreciates how homosexuals prefer their privacy, that is they do not like being in the public eye but rather remain in the dark.
However, the homosexuals do not usually embrace the idea of long term relationship, unlike heterosexuals. He argues that for a relationship to survive for a long time it needs the woman present because they have the taming and calming effect which is necessary for the relationship stability and both parties to find out about their individuality. He also tries to get at some moral issues, although he is more focused on the conventional sexuality of people. There has always been the silent war on the interpretations of people’s rights versus their behavior which may be morally unacceptable in any society.
Reference
George Gilder's Men and Marriage Book for Human Development II
