Replies

Men and women can both be very childlike, but in women, it's more destructive, I think.

Burden of proof is on you to defend that one because from where I'm sitting the impulse "to dominance, force, brute strength, and desire to spread their seed as far and wide as possible" has been much more destructive in human history. Wars, concentration camps, gulags, anyone? Not to mention gang rape, sex trafficking, and honor killings.

I hardly think being "over-protective" and "over-mothering" is quite in the same category.

Besides, I don't ascribe to theories that generalize like this. I think women can be as ruthless as men. (Anyone ever read "I, Claudius"?)

I think women are MORE RUTHLESS than men. Much more ruthless, and hands-down more crude and cruel, as a general rule. Obscene graffiti in women's bathrooms is ten times more coarse than obscene graffiti in men's bathrooms -- I've made comparisions more than once, in my younger, wilder days. Cruelty toward peers is an aberration in boys; it is a regular feature of girls. "Mean boys" in high school don't hold a candle to "Mean girls."

What's been more destructive or constructive to human history is entirely irrelevant, in my opinion. It's like asking, has drought or flood been more destructive to earth geology?

Over-protective, over-mothering instincts can hurt as much as they can help. Men have done a pretty good job in Western Civilization of containing "dominance, force, brute strength, and desire to spread their seed as far and wide as possible" to minimize "gang rape, sex trafficking, and honor killings." I give them -- and Judeo-Christianity -- credit for that. When women in America start understanding the negative consequences of over-protectiveness and over-mothering, I will give them credit for that, too.

Read my post that happens to be just below yours:) Women can cause some little problems with each other, but men can create loud noises after they get together and organize. Women can’t naturally organize like that. That won’t change.