Why are men expendable

[Chatha]

Good post Tycho. Safe to say its actually a woman's world

[Kleptin]

There has only been one case of a woman getting pregnant with no man responsible, and even though that was the basis for a major religion, it still can't be proved x.x

[Sayonara]

There has only been one case of a woman getting pregnant with no man responsible, and even though that was the basis for a major religion, it still can't be proved x.x

Although rarely directly observed, "virgin births" happen in the animal kingdom all the time. Interesting huh.

[Dak]

are you implying that mary may have partheneogenisised?

[Sayonara]

Assuming that the story of the virgin birth is true (and there's no good reason why we should), it's a more credible explanation than her getting banged up by an angel.

 

Mind you, so is the idea that she was having an affair. Or that she was a nut-job.

[Dak]

Assuming that the story of the virgin birth is true (and there's no good reason why we should), it's a more credible explanation than her getting banged up by an angel

mary would have had to have been a hermaphrodite, in that case -- unless of course jesus was a female transvestite.

 

i dont believe that males can result from partheneogenesis: there genes come soley from the mother and, whilst the offspring is genetically different from the mother due to different allele frequensies and recombination etc, as the mother has no y chromosome the offspring cannot either.

[Sayonara]

Unless she is really messed up, which I think is a given in such cases .

[Dak]

so mary was a hermaphrodidic nut-job. mmmmmmmm, sacreliciouse

 

[RE:credible explanations for the virgin birth][/b']Mind you, so is the idea that she was having an affair. Or that she was a nut-job

the affair is my personal favorite hypothesis.

[mmalluck]

Most religious scholars recognize that the Virgin Mary is simply a mistranslation.

 

The ambiguous translation occurs in Isaiah 7:14, an Old Testament scripture which was translated from Hebrew into Greek around the 3rd Century B.C. There are two Hebrew words which are usually translated as 'virgin' (or 'parthenos' in the Greek) - 'Bethulah' and 'Almah'. Bethulah definitely indicates a virgin, whereas Almah most often means a young girl, depending on context. The word used in the original Isaiah is Almah, and refers in its context to a woman already pregnant, indicating that the 'young girl' meaning was the one intended. I should note that some scholars dispute this, stating that Almah also means virgin, but in a different sense (perhaps a spiritual metaphor?)

 

The suggestion is not, therefore, that the New Testament itself, upon which the Catholic Church is based, contains any ambiguity - quijote quotes from Luke and Matthew, missing the point that these Gospels would have been specifically written in order to fulfil the Messianic prophecies made in Isaiah. The mistranslation in Isaiah prompted the authors of some of the Gospels to add further legitimacy to Jesus' status as the Messiah by stating that his mother was a virgin.

 

This mistranslation in fact is disregarded, or not properly addressed, by the Catholic Church, which in its past has been extremely selective about which texts to include as part of its canon and which to consign to the wastebucket of religious history. Not all the Gospels maintain Mary's virginity, but only four are included in the New Testament Bible.

[Chatha]

Well I will say men are definitely cuter than women. I don't mean in a sexual manner but in a cute cuddly teddy bear sort of way. Women think they are cute but that’s not true. Men are oblivious, stupid, they think they are in charge more than half the time, and they only think about food and sex. A fat man is probably the cutest of all humans. Women are already beautiful and it will be double jeopardy or even a shortcoming to say they are cute, not to mention more mature.

[hyebeh]

Throughout history, it's women, not men, who have been seen as expendable. Up till recently, if a woman died, the man would simply take a new wife and move on while a widow taking a new wife was taboo. Furhermore, the whole tradition of dowry arose as a payment from the wife's father to the husband as a sort of payment for the husband taking care of the woman. In most cultures, boys and men are valued infinitely higher than women because they pass on the bloodline and the family name.

 

True, you can argue that because men are sent of to war and used to defend the family, that they are of less "value," but the point is that men are valued because they can protect the family.

[Auburngirl05]

In most cultures' date=' boys and men are valued infinitely higher than women because they pass on the bloodline and the family name.

[/quote']

 

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know of any human societies/civilizations that have been matrilineal? I remember reading about one from Sumatra, but I couldn't remember the name of it. (I'm not at all disputing the quoted statement, but that's what made me wonder about the rare matrilineals).

[Mokele]

Iirc, the Picts were matrilineal. They were also so vicious and warlike that the Romans build a wall all the way across England to keep them back.

[ifm2181]

Well its no news, you read and hear it everywhere. Anybody here know specifically why it should be so?

From a reproduction stand point, I think the males are the expendable ones because the females are the ones who really do the reproducing. One male can impregnate many females, where as a female can only be impregnated by one male at a time. So, if a society was cut down to like, 10:1 for females, the population could continue to grow rather rapidly, whereas if it were 10:1 for males, it could only grow as fast as the women could birth the children.

Though, most societies value men above women for generally being the stronger sex, and the one to pass on the bloodline, honor and family name.

[husmusen]

the population could continue to grow rather rapidly

 

Incorrect assumption implied.

That population growth is determined by impregnation rates

and ability to carry young.

 

It's no good having lots of young, if they all get pinched by the

neighbouring tribe, if they all, or even many, die from protein energy,

starvation because there is no game, and so on.

Or more relistically end up as 4 foot adults competing with six foot

neighbours.

 

It's not nearly so simple an interaction,

at least not in humans.

 

Cheers.