Are men, by nature, rapists?

I believe history provides a great deal of supporting evidence that men are, indeed, exactly that. It is only the "civilizing" affect women have managed to have on men in the last century that curbs the most overt expressions of it.

Male dominance over women is near-universal throughout history.

Note that every major religion is patriarchal and places stringent requirements on women to act in ways that are subservient, powerless, and non-enticing. The Christian Crusades of the late Middle-Ages virtually wiped all of the religions with female deities.

A case can also be made that the "war on women" by conservative men over the last 30yrs, particularly recently, is a kind of retaliation. Greater restrictions on actual sexual dominance may very well have caused many men to find other ways to assert themselves.

"Civilizing" a society is the act of teaching men to think more like women.



As a group, women are intellectually more capable than men as they have greater facility with juggling disparate and conflicting information. Male thinking is strongly geared towards searching for "the essence of the thing," a single answer or idea that is universally applicable. Female thinking leans more towards "putting the pieces together" in complementary ways that solves the most problems.

When successful, the male approach may produce more enduring solutions (think the U.S. Constitution) but that success is rare (the vast majority of business startups fail). That being the case, the most beneficial solutions for most problems are usually partial ones that are more amenable to continuous improvement.

The search for the Holy Grail is an iconic male endeavor.

The search for just the right Xmas gift for everyone is female thinking at work.