Preface: This post has a few generalisations and is written from a female perspective. I would love to hear male views on this so fill the comment section up please!
This morning, I was taking care of my little cousin (so cute!) when the doorbell rang. Needless to say it was around 10.30am, and my late nights watching British soaps are catching up on me! I went to the door, looking fully dishevelled. A man who was a Jehovah’s Witness was at the door with flyers for talks and seminars that were happening in Cardiff, Wales in July.
The flyer was non-descript but I turned it over and in fact, there was a seminar about how family roles should be carried out, ie, the individual roles of each family member. This automatically turned me off. I am from a matriarchal family even though we are Catholic, I never really got that “man is the head of the house vibe” because my father was not the domineering type. He just saw every one of us as equal to each other.
In essence, I don’t think it is a question of religion. I think it is more the subject of society. Humans like submission and dominance because it is a symbol of relationships and moreover, it represents power. One person has the power and the other does not. Isn’t that what modern Earth is all about? Rich nations have power, poor ones have nothing. Women live in a man’s world and generally get paid less whereas men have it easy in some aspects of the corporate world.
However, why do women still like playing the “submission” role? Or is that question even right? Have women changed? I think we still have a long way to go. Many segments of women cater to men: Glamour models in men’s magazines are catering to the imagination of the male readers and the women who believe that their place is in the home do that as well. The latter of which I find incredibly puzzling and maddening. Is a woman’s place really in the home, wiping her masters floor before he comes home with a day’s sweat slicked on his forehead?
The “Submission/Dominance” equation is never going to go anywhere. I think the key is how women decide to challenge it and how misogynistic men modify their conservative feelings on women.
