Some of the above posts reminded me of an interesting conversation I had with my Grandma. We were talking about divorce, and she said that in her day divorce wasn't an option. They lived in a poor rural area, and you had to have 2 hardworking people to make a household that would survive. The labor it took to run a home was huge!
The sound of the chest beating is deafening. The ability to create another human being within our own bodies does somewhat limit the time we have available to do more than suckle our offspring but nonetheless, we somehow manage to survive when the bigger, stronger, more capable sex is absent. You guys remind me exactly why I have remained untethered for so many years and be grateful for that option. While I am not known for ripping the gonads off the males of our species, I can quite capably excise them from the body of my kill and then cook them to keep myself from starving
If a female shoots a male he is just as dead as he would be if shot by another male. That is the reality if SHTF. It takes a strong man to be truly equal with his wife and be fine with it. I happen to be lucky to have such a man. We both can do every task but he excels at cooking where I excel more at mechanical things. He is a much more nurturing person than I am. It works for us. We have been married 14 years now. Personally I think the roles that people take if SHTF will depend on the group that they are with. If the people you choose to associate with believe that all people are equal then that is the way your group will function.
Yes this is true, we also know that most women don't have the strength most men have for certain things. And then age does other fun things to us all. But there are always people that are an exception to this. I have seen some big women, 6 foot 4 and the body to go with it as a body builder. Now me I am 4 foot 11 inches and while I can do a lot of things cutting wood and spitting it is very hard on me. I could haul hey bales when i was younger but that is out now.
And we must exclude them in this discussion because they are not the norm. I don't want to create a gender war here, but I had a feeling that the ladies would protest in this thread with notions of "we don't need men". Fine, great.. but it completely misses the point I'm trying to make and everything in life is circumstantial. I may be outnumbered by a gang of (hopefully smoking hot) women who are bout to rob and beat me.. but that has nothing to do with this threads context. I would fully expect the ladies here to be pretty self sufficient and the levels of self sufficiency are not clearly defined. So I can try again to say it but I'm afraid it will go in one ear and out the other and be met with more, passive, misandry.
I think the comments by 'the women folk" may appear misogamist but that is truly not the case. My point is quite simple - in general, women prefer not to be cornered into a role that may not fit their temperment, abilities, and skills. If my skills are better suited to killing the food than to cooking it, my hunting will be more useful to the group - if a group exists. If no group exists, it will be a darn good thing I am prepared to take care of myself rather than die. It is my fervent hope that as we move forward in time, each of us will be encouraged to excel in the area that most suits our talents, not limited by some archaic concept of what that talent should be, male or female
And that would be far and few between. You are including all women in your statement. Line up 1000 women and ask them to gut a deer. See what % say "ok, give me the knife" and rock and roll on that carcass. I Sincerely doubt that there would be anywhere near a majority. While YOU may not want to get cornered into a role, YOU are not included in the demographics of the discussion because YOU are atypical (not a bad thing, mind you).
Since i'm single i have learn to do alot of skill's that both sexs do in the gender role's from the cooking to bakeing to sew my own cloth's and darning and mending my own cloth's if needed to how to hunt and tracking of human's or game if need be and skin out the game i have taken along with diff military skill's i picked over the year's .. the biggest thing i can not do well is canning and i realling the some of the skill's
My daughter is outwardly an exceptional woman. She has excelled in school and is making a very good life for herself. She makes most of the decisions in her household. Her husband wanted to buy a gun to protect themselves with. They live in an urban environment that is gradually shifting demographics in a less than favorable direction. She will not allow a firearm in their house, saying she would not take another life, even in defense of her own or her children's (they are planning their first child). I cannot imagine a more gross violation of the laws of nature and biological imperative than a mother that would not defend her young. I cannot imagine a more pathetic man than one that would let those new age Sienfield show mentality ideas halt his resolution to protect his mate and his young. I see this being prevalent today and I blame it on the demise of traditional family roles, for whatever reason and allowing for the many exceptions. Something hurts six times in a row, I am not sticking my hand in again.
If we raise our daughters to know they have the ability to do whatever is necessary, that is what they will do. If we raise them to believe they are best suited to caretaking home, hearth, and husband, that is what they will do. Our greatest responsibility is to teach our children, boys and girls, that they are responsible for themselves. Hank's comments are a good example. He is doing what he needs to do. In addition, I don't know a single woman who would not gut a deer if faced with starvation or food deprivation. Do you know any woman who would let her child do without rather than take a knife to the gut of a buck? If those are the ones most familiar to you, you need to widen your horizons. I am not the exception but the norm - women like me are legion
My wife exhibits this behavior often as well. She gets mad at me when I stop traffic behind my sons' bus in the morning when people start honking (5 point harness take a few extra seconds and people are impatient). So I go out and make a fool out of them. I do it so they stop and they don't think about going around. I had the Sheriff come down and sit in various driveways and side roads for a week to prevent this behavior. People keep on doing it, though and my wife looks at me funny every time I call the Lieutenant up and lodge a traffic complaint. I went out and bought my rifles despite my wife's objections. Call me insensitive, but I won't be the guy who gets rolled easily because he wasn't armed.
I whole heartedly agree with your statement that specilization limits one's ability to take care of themselves or provide for their family. How much value is a specilaized person in a SHTF scenario? That could depend on the the needs of each individual group. If said group has nobody with more than basic first aid skills, than a RN or Dr. would be more than welcomed into the group. Even if that is all they knew. I do not know about anybody else but I have no desire in limiting myself at being able to do just one task. The day you stop learning is the day you have failed yourself. Nobody knows it all but it does not hurt to be the person who almost knows it all. In the my profession, I have seen how specialization lends itself to limited wages and job opportunities. In the job market, specialization only benefits employers not it's employees. Look at all the manufacturing jobs where a person does one mundane task all day. No thanks, that would be extremely boring and not very self fulfilling to me. I am one that likes seeing the results of my efforts and look at what i had just built or repaired. For the most part limiting yourself does not give you much bargaining power in any given scenario.
I quasi agree. Specialization is absolutely necessary to excel, achieve and progress. Cross training only helps you specialize. Take the medical field for example: Could you imagine if all of our doctors were "jacks of all trades masters of none" ?
But there are some who might require an oral surgeon a foot problem or a proctologist for a brain tumor[rofllmao]
Perhaps I should have been more specific. I would rather have a doctor in my group who had a broad knowledge of his profession rather than a doctor who specialized in Internal Medicine or Radiology or whatever you wish to pick. In my opinion this doctor is of more value to a group than the one who was a specialist and limited himself. He would also be of more value to a group if he had other skills besides the medical profession. In my trade (plumber) being a specialist limits your wages and job opportunities. Plumber's who only know how to set do rough-in plumbing, ground work, site work or set finish really are limiting themselves in their opportunities in my trade. To take this further, if said plumber only knew how to plumb he is also limiting himself in job opportunities if there is not any plumbing work. Same could be said for a lot of construction trades.
