Creation
What do renowned chefs, great programmers, model railroaders, famous artists and fabulous transgendered individuals all have in common? They are all overwhelmingly men. That is NOT to say that there aren't women in all those categories, but the bulk of the participants in the above activities are men. Why is that? What is it the common denominator? I'm proposing that maybe it's creation.
Note that I did not say "creativity", but "creation". What I mean by that is the desire and the ability to make things that exist as independent entities. Chefs can create gastronomic masterpieces that provide not only fuel for our bodies but also great taste for our enjoyment. Programmers can create a whole set of behaviors for inanimate machines. Model railroaders can create whole worlds in miniature. Artists can create visual masterpieces that dazzle our eyes and sometimes even our sense of touch. And transsexuals can create an entirely new person from an existing one.
So if the common denominator here is creation, why is it that men achieve so much more notoriety in its practice? Perhaps it's because women already have the ultimate power to create: the power to create actual life. The instinct to create is hardwired into the biology of every living thing as the drive to reproduce and propagate the species. Humans are the first creatures to not only be aware enough to realize that half of a species, the male, doesn't create life but only assists in conception, but also to try to do something about it.
Women, or generically, females, bring new life into the world. In essence, they create the world by giving birth to all the things in it. Men are forever one step behind in that regard. The best that they can do to satisfy their innate desire to create life is to create a pale imitation of it. Women don't need to create things because they can create life. It's no accident that Victor Frankenstein was a man. Victoria Frankenstein would simply have had a baby.
I've wondered for a long time why women make so much more fuss over birthdays than men do but I think I now know why that is. It might be obvious to others, but I think I just figured out that there is only one reason for this, but it's interpreted differently by men than by women. Men don't make a big deal about birthdays because birthdays only serve to emphasize the birth process that they can't participate in (except on the conception side). Women DO make a big deal about birthdays for the same reason: because they serve to emphasize the birth process - the ultimate creation.
Note that I did not say "creativity", but "creation". What I mean by that is the desire and the ability to make things that exist as independent entities. Chefs can create gastronomic masterpieces that provide not only fuel for our bodies but also great taste for our enjoyment. Programmers can create a whole set of behaviors for inanimate machines. Model railroaders can create whole worlds in miniature. Artists can create visual masterpieces that dazzle our eyes and sometimes even our sense of touch. And transsexuals can create an entirely new person from an existing one.
So if the common denominator here is creation, why is it that men achieve so much more notoriety in its practice? Perhaps it's because women already have the ultimate power to create: the power to create actual life. The instinct to create is hardwired into the biology of every living thing as the drive to reproduce and propagate the species. Humans are the first creatures to not only be aware enough to realize that half of a species, the male, doesn't create life but only assists in conception, but also to try to do something about it.
Women, or generically, females, bring new life into the world. In essence, they create the world by giving birth to all the things in it. Men are forever one step behind in that regard. The best that they can do to satisfy their innate desire to create life is to create a pale imitation of it. Women don't need to create things because they can create life. It's no accident that Victor Frankenstein was a man. Victoria Frankenstein would simply have had a baby.
I've wondered for a long time why women make so much more fuss over birthdays than men do but I think I now know why that is. It might be obvious to others, but I think I just figured out that there is only one reason for this, but it's interpreted differently by men than by women. Men don't make a big deal about birthdays because birthdays only serve to emphasize the birth process that they can't participate in (except on the conception side). Women DO make a big deal about birthdays for the same reason: because they serve to emphasize the birth process - the ultimate creation.
On 11/30/2006 3:42 PM,
SoulPony said…
You don't think it might be because women have just begun to be seen as equals on the playing field? Most women I know in everyday life are very creative and the men, not so much. Maybe it's just that women are still not as recognized for what they do in the world as men. Men still do control the country.
I never disagree with you and I'm not sure about this but I think women do more than just create babies.
On 11/30/2006 5:06 PM,
Jami said…
Hell, yes, women do more than create babies! And well they should. I didn't say that women were less creative than men, only that they didn't feel the need to indulge in the "surrogate" creation that men do because women have got the real deal. I actually think women ARE more creative than men, BTW.
And you NEVER disagree with me? I have to disagree with that. ;)
On 12/03/2006 1:40 PM,
DeniseUMLaw said…
As with most generalizations, I have some problems with this post. I think I see what you're trying to get at, and I have no quarrel with that, but I think there are too many exceptions (take fabulous transgenders for example -- are you calling FTM's women or men in this context?) to allow the generalization to stand. I also happen to know a fair number of really excellent female programmers. And, of course, I know so very many women who can't simply have a baby. And, finally, whether I am a woman or a man, I have always cared a lot about -- and made a fuss over -- birthdays. Does all this mean that the instinct to create is not hard-wired into us? Probably not. But, I couldn't just let a over-broad generalizing post like this go unchallenged! :)
On 12/03/2006 7:53 PM,
SoulPony said…
ya big cutey! I'm winkin' at'cha right now.
On 12/04/2006 9:56 AM,
Jami said…
Denise, if I were to see this post on someone else's blog, I'd probably make the same challenge you did and poke the same holes you did - if not more - in it. This IS just a generalization and is really more of a "stream of consciousness" piece than a reasoned argument. (It was prompted by my son's birthday last week. He's now 11!) Yes, it's got some points in it, but I'm very much aware that they can easily be challenged. I posted it anyway because it happened to be where my head was at.
Tonya, back at ya! And I love you, too!
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