I’m serious, by the way. I’ve just come across something that makes me wonder if the genders are doomed to forever exist in opposite realities, and I’ll tell you what in this post. However, first, I need to explain something.
OK, so I’m sure you’ve heard the theory about how eggs are fertilised, right? The man’s sperm race from his penis in search of the egg, of which one of them will fertilise to create a new foetus.
Everybody’s heard that, right? Cool, well, when I was younger, that story used to piss me off like you’d never believe. It symbolised how easy life is for women and how brutal it is for men.
The egg (woman) sits back, relaxes, chillaxes, kicks off her shoes, lights a blunt, and sips on an ice-cold glass of rosé while millions of sperm (men) do battle for the chance to be the victor and win her hand (or cells). Awaiting the one sperm who succeeds is the ultimate prize of life in a human body. However, for the many who fail, awaits the eternal void that is the oblivion of nothingness.
In my mind those failed sperm were essentially worse than stinking, drug-addicted homeless men who sleep under bridges smothered in their own filth. Those men were sired by sperm cells who won that epic race while those who lost weren’t good enough to earn the chance to be born.
Like I said, that concept made me irate when I was younger. However, I recently came across this post.
It was written by a woman who’s equally pissed off by that fertilisation tale but for polar opposite reasons to yours truly. To her, it symbolises an enduring patriarchy and its perpetual and systematic suppression of the feminine.
In her eyes, the egg (woman) is forced against her will to be a weak and pathetic damsel in distress while the potent masculine sperm (man) has ultimate agency and is therefore imbued with the ability to shape reality however he deems fit.
Now, I’m not here to say my view is right and hers is wrong; that’s not my point. It just blows my mind and makes me sad that a man and woman can interpret the same situation not only in entirely opposite ways but in ways that are an ‘obvious ‘ symptom of how hard their gender has it.
Both myself and the author of that post were looking at the same situation: sperm fertilising an egg. Yet, somehow, it meant matriarchy to me and patriarchy to her.
…
It’s the exact same fucking situation, yet we were both equally angry about it for different reasons. I would have told you it shows how women have it easy, and men have it hard. She would have told you it’s about how women are suppressed, but men can take life by the horns and forge their destinies.
If you read enough of my posts, you’ll see that I never present a problem without a solution. I usually have an idea (right or wrong) of what should be done, but honestly, this has me stumped. At some point, the genders need to come together, sit down, and hear each other out without bias, but I don’t know if that will ever happen.
Is there too much mistrust and resentment for an amicable and good-faith meeting of hearts and minds between man and woman?
One where both parties sit and openly listen to what the other has to say without their perceptions being by coloured preconceived negative notions of who they are and what they think?
Maybe there is, but hopefully not, and we have no choice but to try.
Boa noite.
Excelsior!
Ciaran
…
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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