Are we poking fun because we’re masculinized?

August 11, 2009 by Pastor Dan.

This last week I carefully drafted a verbal rebuke of a fellow community activist, for his tasteless and scarcely apologetic put down of a woman with an unusual name.  He is one of the countless people I have met in life who “poke fun” at things.

Until Shelley wrote her comment, I had never thought of “poking” as something phallic.  But then those with powers and privileges seldom notice what they have and use because to them it seems normal and natural.  Shelley tells of the incident in which a 4-year old boy’s first inclination is to poke a helpless, upside-down beetle, rather than rescue it.

I am reminded of the way in which a scientific fact was presented to me several years ago:  Scientists have no identified the genetic link or connection to human violence.  Those who possess one particular chromosome have been found to be 9 times more violent than those without it.  Want to guess?  It’s the Y chromosome — those who are biological males.

Stoking indignation (July 25) is perhaps not a uniquely male response, but men have a majority here.  Outrage, anger, and violence are characteritic responses from the Y chromosome.  When MSNBC runs a blip about Rush Limbaugh’s fringe political views, of course, they love to re-run that video clip showing him jumping up and down at some podium, undoubtedly because his not inconsiderable weight would have created a lot of violent shaking on the platform.

No women are not always better at resolving problems than stoking them.  But I keep noticing that women are picking up some of men’s worst habits, including aggression and violence.  In my examples, I mentioned three mens:  Phelps, Akinola and Otten.  But I could have certainly found women who seem to have learned (been socialized) similar behaviors. 

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