Sunday, May 31, 2015

Women Gun Owners: Evidence of REAL Gender Equality


I've been ranting about various aspects of gender roles for a few months. One of the hypotheses I've highlighted is the idea that "traditional" gender roles do not occur as a function of patriarchal oppression. Instead, traditional gender roles develop out of a need for men to use their their greater physical strength and willingness to readily die for their "tribe" to protect women, and women are willingly and enthusiastically complicit in this dynamic.

I've went further and hypothesized we'll never achieve true gender equality until two things happen:

1. Men need to stop protecting women just because they're women. It's fine protecting the weak, but there's a whole lotta women out there that can take care of their own shit. We have to be willing to allow that to happen.
2. Women need to start taking responsibility if they place themselves in situations that could be dangerous. In short, women need to stop relying on men to protect them from harm.

A recent article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal highlighted an interesting (and dare I say encouraging) trend - women are buying guns in record numbers. I'm intimately familiar with the debate on the Second Amendment versus gun control laws, but let's ignore that for a minute. The encouraging part - more and more women are taking responsibility for their own safety. THAT is unequivocally a good thing and would be shocked if anyone aside from serial rapists would disagree. 

I'm easily annoyed by white knight sentiment that dismisses a female's capability to take care of themselves, mostly because I think it''s perhaps one of the most passive-aggressive misogynistic beliefs a guy can hold. SOME women may need (and appreciate) an overzealous over-protective male that assumes they're a porcelain doll, but most women I know are deeply (and justifiably) offended by the sentiment.

What are your thoughts? Share in the comments section!


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