Feminism vs. Womanism - A Revaluation of All Values
Вставка
- Опубліковано 30 тра 2024
- In this episode we explore a potential Nietzschean revaluation of all values in the form of a distinction. If we separate the ideas of femininity and masculinity from females and males, we are left with two possible revaluations.
There is the fight over the respective value of men and women in society; this is the classical struggle of historical Feminism. In this episode we are going to call this the Womanist struggle.
There is another, deeper, struggle that has yet to be wrestled with on a substantial level: the distinction between the values of masculinity and of femininity. With that distinction in mind we can form a distinction between Masculinism and Feminism.
Masculinism is the triumph of Masculine values in society. Feminism is the triumph of Feminine values in society. Seen through this lens, Womanism (the historical movement we usually call Feminism) is in fact a Masculinist movement.
____________________
⭐ Support the channel (thank you!)
▶ Patreon: / thelivingphilosophy
▶ Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/thelivingphilosophy
________________
📖 Further reading and study:
* Introduction to ecofeminism: www.mindbodygreen.com/article...
* Charles Eisenstein (interview with Daniel Schmachtenberger): • Restoring Humanity: Ex...
* Brene Brown’s legendary TED talks:
- The Power of Vulnerability: • The power of vulnerabi...
- Listening to shame: • Listening to shame | B...
* Blair Fix (Planet Critical interview): • Grassroots Economics f...
* Jason Hickel (Planet Critical interview): • Degrowth and Ecosocial...
* Marion Woodman’s books:
- The Owl Was a Baker’s Daughter :
/ 27245.the_owl_was_a_ba...
- Addiction to Perfection:
/ 703515.addiction_to_pe...
* Gender distribution chart:
savvystatistics.com/open-sex-r...
Masculine/Feminine Tests:
* Helen Fisher's Personality types: helenfisher.com/personality/
* Testosterone/Estrogen/Dopamine/Serotonin test: theanatomyoflove.com/relation...
* Introduction to the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BRSI): www.britannica.com/science/Be...
* BSRI test: www.idrlabs.com/gender/test.php
* Critiques of Bem Sex Role Inventory:
- www.bustle.com/articles/13180...
- www.psychologytoday.com/us/bl...
________________
🎵 Music Used:
1. Despair and Triumph - Kevin MacLeod
2. There’s Probably No Time - Chris Zabriskie
3. Lost Frontier - Kevin MacLeod
4. Mesmerize - Kevin MacLeod
5. End of the Era - Kevin MacLeod
6. 1812 Overture - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
7. Anguish - Kevin MacLeod
Subscribe to Kevin MacLeod / kmmusic
Subscribe to Chris Zabriskie / chriszabriskie
_________________
⌛ Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
1:16 Masculine vs Feminine
2:23 Industrial Values
4:54 Feminism and the FEminine
7:13 The Cost of Masculinism
13:50 A New Breed of Feminism
________________
#feminism #thelivingphilosophy #philosophy
Love the channel? Love supporting things? Check out the Patreon page:
💸 Patreon: patreon.com/thelivingphilosophy
Would you agree that the 1st and 2nd feminism movements see males as eye to eye and are necessarily in this society?
Honestly, this has always been my biggest gripe with feminism, even as someone who considers herself a feminist. We're made to believe that male behaviors and male interests are inherently superior by virtue of being preferred by men. We're encouraged to have casual (and often pleasureless) hook-ups with strangers because "that's what men do." We're encouraged to mindlessly pursue a career at the expense of everything else because "that's what men do." Every female college student is pushed towards STEM majors no matter what her actual interests and aptitudes simply because "that's what men do." Every "strong female character" in the media is an arrogant, ass-kicking badass whose strength is defined solely by physical prowess because "that's what men do." So much modern feminism worships men, emulates them in every possible way, does everything they can to beat them at their own game without questioning why we let them pick the goddamn game in the first place. I mean, maybe not everything men do is worth doing. Maybe the goal of feminism should be liberation, not emulation. Maybe it's enough to liberate women from total dependency upon men without trying to erase everything that distinguishes us from men. Maybe, so long as we have equal standing before the law and are free to pursue the lives we want, we don't need to prove anything to anyone.
... and the funny thing is, outside of the West, your assessment is obviously clear to those interested in the topic. There is little logical gain in reducing women to surrogate men to serve capitalist ends. Sometimes we cannot see what is right in front of us. Or we don't want to. The power of ubiquity.
This is because women have never been "shackled" or "oppressed". Womanism is just another tool of capitalistic endeavours. Notice how a tiny few profits whereas the masses are all divorcing left and right? Exactly.
There's also another crucial element. At one point before we became so secure and safe in the modern world. There was actually a legitimate reliance on men for survival through child birth. And both sexes had to make enormous sacrifices in order to ensure its survival. There is actually a real beauty in that but also as a consequence manifested a hierarchical structure where one sex became far more dominant over the other. Which has taken thousands of years to untangle. The main element that has relinquished that is we are at far less threat from our environment or other invading tribes or empires, which has allowed us the freedom to question and ultimately dispense with such elements of a hierarchy that no longer serves our best interests or is nessecary. We have come along way in that sense and long may it continue. But there is a wider context to why those inequalities were formed. And both sexes suffered greatly for them in different ways, without the freedoms, hardships and safety we enjoy today.
@@gavinoneill6115 the last 10p years have been simply revolutionary at redefining this relationship between male and female... but let's not pretend development is equally spread throughout the world. This is the fundamental flaw many modern ideologies of the west highlight - being out of touch with the global reality. Something which seems to bring with it dangerous consequences.
Sure but i think its a nuanced thing because some (though obviously not all) of the things that men typically do would be rewarding for women both as individuals and as a class but many women wont do them due to stereotypes, double standards and outright discrimination. So i think there should be a balance between providing support to women on that front _without_ creating a situation where men are perpetually held as the standard for female behaviour.
I first encountered these concepts back in my mid 20s. My girlfriend had forgotten something important at work, showed up to get it 5 minutes after they closed and everyone was gone. In a moment of all-encompassing frustration, she blurted out “I wish the women’s movement never happened…I hate this, I hate that”. I didn’t take the words *literally* because moments of frustration can make you say things you don’t really mean…but it left an impression on me. Is society really doing women a favor by saying “the male model is the only path to respect and fulfillment”? We’re really forcing ourselves into a lot of unnatural positions…decades spent at a desk under fluorescent lighting, eating foods made in laboratories, staring at screens for hours on end and treating physical activity as though it were a chore. No wonder self-reported happiness just keeps falling off a cliff. Feminism, as we know it, is only a small piece of the puzzle when you zoom out and look at the bigger picture.
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
❤ i hate the way the world is too. 😢
Would you agree that the 1st and 2nd feminism movements see males as eye to eye and are necessarily in this society?
@@jirehla-ab1671
I think the first through third waves of feminism all had legs. The third wave had a lot to do with labor and was the first that started to acknowledge anyone who wasn’t a middle class, white, suburbanite chick. It’s the fourth wave that’s been a problem because (like a lot of internet phenomena) the dumbest, least rational voices rose to the top sometime around 2014, started in *hard* on men and now they wonder why there’s an epidemic of lonely, worthless-feeling dudes. It’s like, really? We don’t see that pattern?
@@jirehla-ab1671 no lol. feminism in all forms is a supremacy movement.
This is such a breath of fresh air! I've been sensing some morsel of truth in reactionaries' claims that modern feminism isn't really acting in women's interests, but not with the idea that the 50's represents a more ideal time. On a personal level, I definitely found growing up that my masculine traits were much more praised than my feminine traits, and much less degraded. You've given me some words to work with to explain what I've trying to articulate for ages, and I'll definitely look into some of those authors to expand my understanding.
Wow Zoe that's music to my ears I'm delighted to have helped anyone find something that makes their world make more sense so thank you!
@@TheLivingPhilosophy brilliant
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
I think being hundreds of millions of totally compliant worker drones for 10 hours a day is plenty degradation of masculine traits.
No it isn’t it’s all regurgitated and DESTRUCTIVE nonsense
Wow, this was honestly eye opening, like I've seen people try to express this before, but I often tune out because people often ascribe "negative" meaning to masculine traits and "positive" meaning to feminine traits when they try to explain this dichotomy, but your idea of balance here and the idea that masculine traits have basically overwhelmed society really resonates with me. I guess it's just easier to accept ideas when they aren't framed as hostile "us vs. them" way.
What a delight to hear Nathaniel! That's exactly what I'm aspiring to do - get past animosity mode and into curiosity mode
I definitely agree. "Women Who Run With the Wolves" and "If Women Rose Rooted" are just two really good books that discuss this subject!
I found the first book you mentioned in a take one leave one library! Looking forward to reading it.
Would you agree that the 1st and 2nd feminism movements see males as eye to eye and are necessarily in this society?
@@electricfishfan7159 ooo lovely! if you struggle with it try to be patient, it took me a couple tries before i managed to get past the first couple chapters (could also have something to do with the undiagnosed adhd at the time ahaha) it's not necessarily a "hard" read but it is quite lengthy, and one of those books that is best to give your whole attention to when you can!
This is what I’ve been searching for!! I made the mistake of applying male oriented advice on myself as a woman. I laugh looking back now.
This is actually the second time I come across this topic and it does interest me. The first time was an article of a woman from North Africa who had moved to Western Europe. She expressed how she missed a certain sisterhood between women in the West that was much more expressed in her culture. It essentially came down to the same idea that masculinity was extremely overvalued in the West for both women and men. While in her country masculinity was also ruling the land it was solely the men being allowed to express masculinity and the women were excluded so femininity was the only choice. But for her as a member of that feminine environment she enjoyed the support and closeness from that even when she saw the flaws society-wise from masculinity being solely for men and femininity solely for women there.
I think its an incredibly complicated topic but it is just plainly visible that modern society has an extreme bias towards masculinity. Just look at China banning depictions of feminine men in their media in 2021, the constant strive for masculinity as an ideal exists everywhere. I do think that influences both men and women very negatively and that it would be the same if for example a society enforced solely femininity for success.
One thing that marks my memory is someone critiquing the modern waves of feminism. He said that women are the one subgroup in society that suffers the most in our modern interconnected world, how the disintegration of community and family has hit women the hardest in society. If you take a quick look, young women today have the highest rates of anxiety and depression outside of transgenders.
Really makes you think if these systems we are pushing are actually good for our long term society. Empathy has been weaponized everywhere I look, men are afraid to discipline their own children and we handle women issues with kids gloves all the time.
It seems like we are shifting away from reality and into a world of feelings.
good day
I think the emphasis on masculinity has actually decreased for men, and not just in the West. Men are generally not expected to be as masculine anymore. On the other hand, feminism expects women to be more masculine. Women have become more masculine, men have become more feminine.
In countries like china banning feminine men from tv has nothing to do with hating femininity. In socially conservative countries femininity is very much valued and women are encouraged to show their femininity where as men are encouraged to act like men. It has nothing to do with your western centric views of femininity vs masculinity and more to do with traditionalism.
China's not banning feminine men because it wants only masculine men, it's banning propaganda that shames masculinity and promotes feminine men as the ideal.
@@lambert801 you're absolutely right. Men are sometimes encouraged to ditch their masculinity and be feminine.
Anne Baring’s book ‘The dream of the cosmos; a quest for the soul’ is highly recommended for the revaluation of the feminine archetype. Anne Baring is a Jungian analist who spent 20 years writing her magnus opum.
*magnum opus
magnum op
Thank you for this recommendation!
I love this analysis, I feel like you put into words a perception I've had of most feminism for a long time. It became about individuals obtaining power in a patriarchal system than about revindicating feminine ideals and values. I appreciate you rchannel a lot, thank you for what you do!
Thanks a million Nat!
You're incorrect, what's going on is an inversion of the masculine and feminine. Inverting men to become women and men to become women. In line with baphomet, and Loki, the trickster.
Theres been quite a bit of feminist analysis on that. The idea of creating a world for women as imagined by women and not as imagined by men. As such there is a criticism of womens heterorelational ties with men. Under such ties women gain value either by having heteros3xual relationships with men (as evidenced by the pervasive need to ask women about their marital status) or by adopting male value systems. But if womens liberation was based on a homorelational standpoint then that would make room for more imagination and creativity of what the world could look like for women.
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
patriarchy is good
Even though I'm a heterosexual man, I identify more with the feminine values than the masculine ones. A balance is probably best, at least on a societal level, which means that feminine values have to be appreciated more! I'm for difference feminism, and I think it's sad that equality feminism has overshadowed those feminine values. It's not that women exclusively have them, as there are other men like me, but that those human values are overlooked and underappreciated by society!
This is such a deep and well-thought out presentation. I think as a woman in this day and age, I always find myself dreading this narrative of femininity vs masculinity and how societies are crumbling because women wanted their rights to a dignified life while at the same time hating the insistence that feminine traits are what holding women back and are only suitable for household matters.
I do find it interesting that modern feminism seems to boil down to rejecting that which is the unique domain of woman: bearing children. Not that this should be the end all be all, in the same way a man is not only valued as a sperm donor, but to devalue this phenomena seems to be devaluing one of the unique and special aspects of women.
Yeap. And its similar case with all feminine traits. Instead for women empowerment to mean celebrating and proudly presenting all special domains of a women and their traits, they are making it seem like its about rejecting everything remotely women-like.
Thank you! I’ve been trying to explain this to my brother just the other day. The word feminism doesn’t correlate to the fake definition of equality. And the movement simply embraced and FORCED masculinity on women and society as a whole, completely erasing all value placed on women and femininity.
This was a really interesting perspective, thanks for this.One thing I’d like to mention is the fact that there is already a womanist movement (spearheaded by women of colour such as Alice walker) that tries to diverge from mainstream/contemporary feminism and is more aligned with the aims ideas of “true feminism” as discussed in the video. I was wondering how this may fit into the themes discussed in this video?
Ah fascinating I did not know about that. And now it seems that this muddies the terminology an awful lot 🙈 Sounds like a really interesting school of thought though and I'll definitely be reading more about it!
You'd benefit reading Karen Horney. I understood womanism better on a psychoanalytical level
@@lindelwampilwenhledlamini6348 thanks for the suggestion :)!
@@lindelwampilwenhledlamini6348 Thanks for the recommendation she's definitely someone on my radar. I suppose you could say that I'm moving toward studying her
@@lindelwampilwenhledlamini6348 Absolutely agree about Karen Horney!
This video changed my mind about feminism completely. Thank you so much. Wonderfully done.
👏 I think the choice of Elizabeth Holmes‘s picture as the cover for this video was perfect. She and women like her were hailed for acting like men and somehow that was interpreted as an advancement for women. Holmes tried acting like a man so hard she even tried to change her voice. Women are only seen as „cool“ or „valuable“ when they act like men. Granted, there are people who criticise women for „being masculine“ but at the end of the day, female traits are still seen as something nice, but largely irrelevant.
Yeah that's exactly what I was going for Ditto. She's the perfect representation of this slight warping that has gone on around the feminine
Im a hardcore feminist studier. I noticed that the risk taking I did was important, but that it was based on masculinity. The book called Female Choice I think thaught me that we live in a world that rewards masculine values, and thus social update cant come about without assimilation or a reform.. well or I said that. Thats where and when I realized that. But I still want to do risky things, risk taking is important, or lifes boring.
Absolutely brilliant. You’ve articulated something I sensed but not been able to put into words. Your channel is outstanding.
Thanks a million Dylan! That's great to hear! Interesting to see people commenting saying something similar. I guess there is this sense of something like this being off in the culture so it's great to hear that other people have been seeing something similar
Wow, this is really brilliant. Thanks so much for sharing and putting so much thought into this issue. Beautiful analysis. Perhaps one thing which might be improved in the future in terms of elevating the feminine would be motherhood because having a baby is more work than a full time job, and of course it's the most wonderful thing in the world, but society doesn't emphasize the importance of this role in terms of treating it with as much respect as a career.
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
Would you agree that the 1st and 2nd feminism movements see males as eye to eye and are necessarily in this society?
I think in the past motherhood got more respect.
@@chunder393not really
Extremely happy that you made this video. Always happy to learn and understand more on topics in which I am uninformed. Another great video, friend!
Thanks Equilibrium!
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
the term womanism has already been used by a certain group of black american women starting in the 1970s. Alice Walker writes about it.
Indeed! I was unaware of it when making this video but in the reaction video (the Why it Matters: Feminism vs Womanism) I talk about this a bit. Unfortunately confusing terminology
great points you make. feminine energy is so important. I move around in the world of acedemia and (artistic) design, and it frustrates me to see how people use (fabricated) empathy as a tool to make them or their organisations look good. People go on stages to talk about climate change and unequalty, summing up problems to a crowd that is very familliar with them, without really looking for the root of the problem or suggesting solutions, talking bout the end is near and stuff, only to be applauded by people that were already in agreement. All of them never really doing anything meaningful but feeling morally superior because of their 'awareness'. Even though they seem to be fully unconsious about their underlying motivation for social status. Most of them advocate against children because they see overpopulation as a root problem, unwilling to discuss aging demographics and falling birthrate. They name overconsumption but never look for the cause, the void we try to fill with materialism... a lust for materialism they either still chase, or have exchanged for the lust for applause. Somehow I feel like it ties in to that inbalence of feminine and masculine you were talking about. No love for children, (fake) empathy as a tool for oppression. Like a masculine energy is manipulating the feminine empathics to submit. Excuse my rant.
Rant excused - that was awesome. You hit on so many key points in quick succession. Brilliant and very on point. There's a deeper levele of psychology that needs to be applied to these seemingly unpsychological problems. We know what we have to do but are not doing it. The answer isn't more preaching to the choir but a determined effort to understand the psychological reasons why this is the case.
@@TheLivingPhilosophy agreed, and also I think we should, as a global community, put more focus on hard sciences and engineering, and less on giving speeches and echo-chamber like podcasts (there are probably more/better examples for not so useful carreer paths, or oversaturated) when it's about climate change, many people seem to argue it's merely political and changing our consumption behavior. I currently have a (theoretical) assignment for making a company climate neutral and I'm getting a chance to really look at it, its quite a complex thing to solve.... we're gonna need all the brain power we can get. Ps. I sincerely do believe you should keep focus on giving speeches/podcasts (and maybe lectures?) because you really seem made for it :) I learn a lot from your videos. Sometimes I forget that you don't have a million subs yet! feel privileged to get to talk you in the comments
Didn't really get into it but I really resonate with your reply of applieing a deeper level of psychology. In my design school I have more than once argued for mandatory philosophy class for all designers. We will decide what to make and what not to make, and need, imo, to have at least questioned our moral stands and perspective on things.
@@motownmoneygangthanks a million Mo! And you're just after sparking something in my mind there: Ancient Athens really fell apart once the democracy became all about influence and speaking well rather than being good and doing good. So you could probably map out the stages of decline in democracy based off of that parallel process which is very interesting. Also for your project have you ever heard of a podcast called Planet Critical. One of my best friends runs it and I have to say it's one of the best things out there on the climate crisis she has amazing thinkers on there. There's a few people on there woo would really help with writing something like that (Steve Keen and Simon Michaux are two episodes in particular that stand out for me as relevant). Anyway thanks again for the kind words and support!
@@TheLivingPhilosophy Hey, that's interesting! gives me a question to ponder: How can I design products that contribute toward a higher validation of true merit in this society? currently, I can only think of some sort of change in social media, where rewards come not from number of likes or followers, but valuable contributions to society. This sounds an awful lot like social credit scores... Will we be able to save our society from falling apart like Athens did, you think? Maybe it should, without bloodshed, destuction or loss of knoledge, fall apart, so that there's room for a new society, building with all we have learned. Maybe The Living Philosophy will be the movement that shifts the paradigm... thanks for the Podcast recommendation, I will give them a listen! :)
Thought this for a long time. Great to hear someone put it into a video!
The paradox of the rise of depression is soo interesting to me, really looking forward to us understanding it fully. Go go go algooo go!
Hahaha don't think it's gonna go just yet but someday I suspect this one will catch fire. The bit around depression especially with Seligman's bit and what I consider the update of it with Jonathan Haidt's bit about self-harm and suicide in The Social Dilemma presents a really interesting set of questions and one I think we need to pay a lot of attention to. I think it's something I'll be returning to in future but here it just came up along the way I guess
For sure the lack of beliefs correlates with higher depression. I think the Marx's alienation and the social roles crisis have also impact on that.
I've watched your video about Metamodernism recently and I thought your intro was very metamodern. Your message could cringe a lot of people (yes, a male can talk about feminity) but you deliver that message with irony, which makes it receivable by anyone. Well done.
Thanks Benjamin just seeing this now and I appreciate it
In a way, this feels like a self-defeating argument. If you define masculinity by it's assertiveness, competitive nature and dominance, then you can hardly complain that people representing those qualities assert, outcompete and dominate. And vice versa, if femininity is yielding, then it will naturally occupy the space that's left.
I recognize that as someone who literally teaches self-improvement through the Ying-Yang philosophy for a living (as a TaiChi instructor), my pov might be a bit scewed. But also, being a very libertarian-minded person, I just don't have much trust in those grand societal-scale restructuring of values projects to begin with, especially for issues that are inherently deeply personal. I think the answer is much more in helping individual people to actualize and balance the feminine and masculine qualities within themselves
As I see it, the masculine builds structures and systems, the feminine builds interpersonal networks. That accords with the list distinguishing masculine v traits that the OP showed from 3:15. As western culture has become more technologically based - transport, communication, city admin, long range trading etc etc - the emphasis on systems will necessarily take more of our time and attention. Feminism started up in earnest as the industrial revolution was getting underway, mid 19th century, when women probably started to feel that they were being excluded to some extent from the world that was being formed, and have ended up with both hatred of the system, and a sense that they should be an equal sharer in it. Women have all the rights now to participate in the modern economies and work places, and still feel somehow excluded by an invisible "patriarchy", probably simply because men feel naturally more at home in a productive corporate environment.
The solution is not clear, but more emphasis on the interpersonal, and respect for the healthy aspect of feminine values would seem to be in order.
Separating masc and fem from male and female is intuitive when you realize the sexes are part of a binarized continuum. Thank you for this vid!
Really like this. And it’s not just hyperbolic hate or a devaluation of the historic struggle, but a proper re-evaluation
That's what I was going for! Quite a few mines to negotiate in getting here but that was certainly the hope
Since I started watching videos on YT this is the most informative I've ever watched on an issue I never respected... it's actually sad that one lense through which life is viewed by humanity is practically dead...
Thanks Khan! Yeah it's definitely on the backfoot but I guess that's often the trigger for a turnaround. By its being so far on the back foot surely that prompts the crisis which reveals its true value and so forces a revaluation. That's the optimistic view anyway. The pendulum only goes so far before the gravity of its antipode pulls it back
I don't care about the swing of the pendulum.... you have already changed mu perspective forever... now I know feminism is an intricate part of human perception of life and I will never belittle its contributions again... now can we get a video on how u think fenism should be integrated and what changes the society needs to undertake to ensure its successful revival n how that society would b different from ours
@@khanmichalson6915 thanks Khan that's a great sentiment for any creator to hear! As for how I think Feminism should be integrated and the changes that would be required I would be venturing far beyond my competence in doing that. I think I could try and I probably will but I think that those kind of changes require testing different things and a lot of creativity in coming up with different approaches to test. The murmurations of culture are beyond blueprinting but I guess what we do need are ideas that might move the needle in the direction we want and that's something I can probably play around with!
You've put out many thoughts I've had succinctly.
Earned yourself a subscriber. Thank you.
very thought provoking. I never through of masculinity and femininity in the bigger picture of value systems. thank you!
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
Thank you once again for saying what needs to be heard. I’ve been saying this for decades. We humans are stuck in a masculine worldview and it won’t be easy to get out of it. Maybe it’s our species’ trait - like we are closer to Chimps than to Bonobos. I hope that’s not the case. Anyway, thanks again for your great work! 👍
Thanks a million Joy! I like the mapping over with the chimps and bonobos. Hopefully we can embrace more of the make love not war attitudes of the bonobos!
The feminine mindset only leads to people screaming "that's not fair" the feminine mindset will never take humanity forward though the feminine mindset cultivates humanity it will not push it forward.
I watched a video recently of Marie Louise Von Franz on the Animus. She mentioned an anecdote in Jung's life when he visited Bengal (where they mostly worship Mother Kali) he noticed that there the woman were all regal beings and the men looked like children. Somehow the acknowledgement of the feminine archetype generally strengthened the native feminity in women,, but infantilized the men.
I guess ultimately, we need a society that acknowledges the light and dark of both polarities of yin and yang. The feminine isn't all light.. the masculine isn't all toxic.
@@michaelmcclure3383 Fascinating michael! That ties in with Aaron's comment about the transformation in the perception of masculine traits since the 80s and the white knight culture that has resulted. Much more to explore here it seems! I think ultimately it's always gotta be about finding a balance between the two dynamisms
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
I am partial to the idea of masculine and feminine principles, but as a woman and doctor with a science degree I would be careful about extrapolating complex human behaviours and attitudes from sex hormones. A bit of estrogen does not make me incapable of mathematics or physics. It has barely been the blink of an eye, culturally speaking, where women have been able to study these subjects in high numbers and already they are beginning to make their mark on the field. Even subjects as 'dry' as mathematics are influenced by social and cultural conditions. Who feels able to make the comment to the professor about the previously neglected or unexpected connection/ solution or association? Who feels they will be cut down before the idea will be fully considered?
I agree here!
In a sea of long winded comments I have a simple question: While we're working within a masculine framework, how is it that men are getting less masculine?
Simple answer, They aren’t.
@@NoonyJW That's not an answer, thats denial. Every known metric of masculinity has gone down since the 60s.
Feel free to try again and provide an actual (answer) that corresponds to reality.
@@dited358it’s an interesting topic to explore and I’m sure there’s many theories on why this is happening- as I’m not a man I can’t go from personal experience, but I’d say masculine traits are probably disappearing as they’re not necessary to survive in society anymore. You don’t need to be tough to get through schooling- you don’t need to do physical work, etc.
This is so enlightening! Thanks so much for making this video!
Thank you so much for this video! So refreshing. Thought provoking indeed! I find fascinating the way you use the 4Q framework. I felt some sense and a feeling of relieve get into me as you reveal the problem that we have been facing as a society. This is a living truth.
Ah thank you very much Richard! That's great to hear
I always thought it was missing the mark. Thanks for elegantly explaining that
This was well done. Thank you for sharing your understanding.
Thanks a million jobbimaster!
Just discovered this channel, really good stuff man.
I wouldn't say the Soviet Union was strictly patriarchal. Yes, it was industrial, but also had low poverty, free and accessible healthcare, lots of free or cheap leisure facilities, high art and education, and plenty vacations. I think it achieved a nice balance. It was very common to have a female boss in many industries, taking advantage of women's organization skills. There were also a lot of women engineers. Of course there was plenty of family leave as well. This was while women in the west were staying at home, or decades later burning their bras. If the latter Soviet leaders had listened to the banks and detained from printing money to pay the war debt, then there would have opened up even more high paying jobs suitable for women.
Actually a good unbiased video. And this points out how it's controlled by few guys at top make sure everyone fights each other and they come on top.
I do find it funny how what is seen as feminine is very similar to right brain hemisphere processes, and the Greeks and Romans saw the left hand as feminine, it's also interesting how folks put connections between femininity and creativity
Thank you! Very well thought out and delivered, I couldn't agree more.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
This is such a deeply wonderful video. It feels like something I should listen to on a regular basis, so I plan to.
I think it's a mistake to identify culture and society as either masculine or feminine according to identity politics.
Psychologically, men and women share traits that; if only the constraints of identity politics were to be released from them, would become inherent to their personal identity. A healthier focus for any person is to accept their personal traits without any influence from external
value systems. In other words "know thyself" and be brave enough to accept it.
Regardless of the consequences.
I believe Much of the gender dysphoria and general modern dysphoria is a subconscious rejection of societal norms and expectations(most often self-imposed and imagined) and the effects can be extreme overcompensations Like suicide and assault or when it presents itself milder as self isolation or social disconnection.
So I will say to you, who reads this.
Say your own name and learn to identify
With that. If you need a new name, find one. Long before you identify as a male or female, or as a race, as a nationality, as a sexuality, as anything other than the very core of your being. Identify with yourself!
This may sound narcissistic but it is not.
It is only the foundation. You will still be a gender, a nationality, a skin colour. Etc.
But you will now be able to deal with those issues on your own terms in way that's relevant and healthy for you.
Finally, someone is talking about this. The most important topic of our time. Thankyou!!
so my question is ..... what should we do as a women, stay home ,go out ,or balance .
Thank you, it's a great video and I really hope it reaches many people.
Thanks a million Silvia here's hoping!
This has put into words many of ideas that were running on my mind. A masterpiece 👏🏻
Really thought-provoking
This is incredible. Keep up the good work!
Thanks a million Trevor!
Amazing video, I never thought of this before. I agree that the word is way too unbalanced, and traits like empathy are often downplayed.
I have often thought that our times are characterised by both over sensitivity on some things and lack of sensitivity on other things-sometimes complete insensitivity.
I came to the same conclusion some time ago. Nothing describes out modern society better than that.
Womanism was already a term coined and used by Dr. Clenora Hudson-Weems. It was used to distinguish the primarily white movements of feminism and to bring more emphasis on women of color. The term already exists so It’s a bit misleading to give it a new meaning when it already has one
Thank you! Though Womanism was coined by Alice Walker in 1982. Hudson-Weems coined the term Africana Womanism in the late 1980s. This video really needs to be retitled.
Despite not getting most of the video, I'm very interested in this topic. Any reccomendations of videos, books, podcasts, etc that talks more about this?
Fantastic video by the way. I love your channel
Thank you so much for this video. As a woman from the third world who has always addressed machismo in my country but does feel that Feminism of the western world resonates with me. Thank you, you gave a path where to start searching.
Ah I'm delighted to hear it Grecia thank you!
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
I could be interpreting it wrong but for the graphs @2:11 , doesn't the data show that overall more individuals consider themselves to be feminine?
Really great video! Looking forward to more :)
The woman, or feminism, has to become like lillith. She's distinctly a feminine woman but she draws her own boundaries and dances to her own drum. That being said, I've seen a trend on tiktok where young girls are taking back thier femininity while pursuing leadership postions.
feminism is wrong. There is no equality at all. And add man hatred on top of that, a destroyed society
leadership is a masculine trait
@@AC-mp7cx no. Cope.
@@AC-mp7cxnot necessarily. There's such thing as masculine leadership and feminine leadership. They both operate in different ways
Great lectures and love your humour!
Haha thanks Marie-Elsa!
'Internal collective' is the ontological advaita domain of emotional empathy, which is the essence of our feminine aspect&divinity. Our innate ability to cry not just for our "own" pain and sorrow, but for that of all sentient beings.
The big, heart opening cry. The art of lament. The soft and moist ground of living feminine philosophy.
PS: Ouch, what is the hard and dry hellenic light doing to the fair Irish complexion! :D
I remember that light was very different there. Seferis is the poet of the GreeK Light, like Heaney is the poet of Irish Bog.
I honestly can't even say that the ideas of femininity and masculinity are based on any facts. It seems like it was just opinions of individuals on what it means to be masc or fem.
I disagree with much of what was said in this video but really enjoyed it, and found it very thought provoking! I look forward to thinking these things over during the next few days and trying my best to broaden my perspective.
Thinking vs feeling. The more order, the more feeling. The more chaos, the more thinking. The feeling is definitely on the rise. Of course you could look at it the opposite way and that would make sense too. Good video.
Thanks Mark!
Foucault would point to whether or not there are masculine or feminine traits at all. Personally, the devaluation of fluidity between traits regardless of sex is a great failing in most gender-based discourse. When you discuss reevaluations, I think the first thing that is needed is this consideration, which would ultimately lead to a radical de-systematization of the characteristics of gender.
Great video!!! Thanks for the awesome content.
Edit: The insights at 13:00 and onward are quite good!!!!
Great thought-provoking stuff! Thanks!
Thanks a million Rosa!
this video is really interesting and well made. I think its worth mentioning that the world is becoming more empathetic and we are encouraged to be moral and open minded. Men are encouraged to share their feelings and 'express their feminism'. And i think that being able to come across as socially appealing is a higher value then being perceived as strong or rich so in some ways values are being shared and although its not quite there maybe in the future there will be less of a difference between feminine and masculine if the values get homogenised.
Omg I wanted to comment this but I don't have the words for it thank you😭
Diluting our distinct and valuable differences into a grey blob will lead to the destruction of any meaningful social foundation
Very insightful points, especially the observation that it’s the value system that matters. I disagree in the overall perspective because I think any attempts to collectively affect value systems is problematic. True masculine and feminine connection is individualistic and private.
This video left me in an interesting state.
I sympathised with alot of the sentiments of the video and I recently have been warming up to embracing the nuance of the human creature ever since encountering it in the chapter titled "The Law of Gender Rigidity" in "The Laws of Human Nature" by Robert Greene.
However the idea of what should be done, on how society should or atleast could function outside of masculism is incredibly difficult for me to contextualize. I fail to see however the shift from "great mother" societies have brought about alot of the nihilistic dread and depression of today's age. Well actually, not the shift away from it but rather HOW "great mother" societies dealt with the human animal to mitigate against some of the negatives of a masculine dominated world.
I really wish you do a follow up video to this one and flesh out the ideas in greater detail or explore conceptualizations of a more feminist future. It would be an interesting watch.
Again this was an interesting video and I hope to see more on the topic.
I might actually never have heard this topic handled in a way that wasn't in it's foundation difference-feministic, arguing that we are forcing essentially separate sexes to be one. This actually handled the problem at hand! I always get too defensive myself, afraid that the listener will go away with such a faulty take-away.
I always thought that new words for "feminine" and "masculine" that isn't in the universal vocabulary inseparable from sexes would be good.
I'm not a student of philosophy so at the risk of being labelled an idiot, I'll say this. When I watched the movie Moana with my young niece. This was another girlboss, no need a man type of movie but the ending really spoke to me. The land was arid ave full of rage until Moana gives the heart and then the land becomes the beautiful mother earth, loving, giving, producing and healing. This took me back to my days with my Native American grandmother who had those beautiful qualities. In my view, the feminine is having the power to embrace the quality of the masculine by providing and nurturing support (never submitting). Feminism is about morphing into the power of the masculine while emancipating the inner parts of being female and emasculating the male. It's sad we got to this point...
This has to be one of my favorite videos ever made
I really wonder how it comes to be that we agree on this as well. The more I watch the more I realize I'm just curious to see when will be the piece I will have a strong disagreement with you on.
Sure I would nuance some arguments and would approach it probably from a different angle, but the core and depth of it would remain in almost complete agreement.
These sort of coincidences taunt my caution and invite me to want to challenge the position I think we share.
Just to break its bone so they regrow stronger.
Anyways great video again, thank you for your efforts!
Hahaha I'm sure we can find something to disagree on Vic. Give it time 😆
This might be your most important video yet. I really hope it gets a wide viewing. I have always deeply disliked the recent decades denigration of motherhood ("just a housewife") by modern feminism and your formulation helps me get a clearer picture of this mistake.
Thanks a million Peter. I have a very similar feeling and really think that this is my most important statement so far
What another wonerful video. I would love to have a reading list from you. It is very obvious to me that we have read many of the same thinkers/writers (perhaps even had some of the same professors, indirectly), but I would love some suggested readings from you. You are apparently much more in the academic loop than I am at present, and I am always seeking out other thinkers/writers whom I have yet to discover. Perhaps Ziziek, as I was only made aware of him and his thoughts on my way out of the halls of academia? Again, I greatly appreciate your work, and I do not really expect any reading list but I also wouldn't scoff at it.
And, @1:35 into this video is glorious and funny on a grand scale!!! Where would it fall on the BSRI? After all, it is assertive and musical and hyper-real!!! :)
Haha thanks Dennis I put far too much time into making that two second bit but it was worth it really. I am actually working on a reading list on the website. But it's not at the front of my mind so it could be a couple of months out yet but watch this space! You won't find Zizek on it though. Like you I heard of him in passing when I was in university (though never actually inside the walls of the Academy, more on the grapevine) but have never delved into his work
Great video as always sir. The Bo clip had me laughing haarrd :-)
Hahaha that doesn't surprise me Joseph! Our senses of humour are very similar and this cracked me up so not surprised it did the same with you!
I'll be interested to see what comes out of the dive into Maslow. I spent some time with Maslow (and Kohlberg and Schwartz) in my Bachelor's dissertation.
Wow, that was really refreshing to hear
I've been recently writing and thinking about this exact thing! My opinions are generally the same as yours, although I've put a lot of thought into how this same argument could be framed without essentializing gender.
My take: even in a post-gender society, there still needs to be people whose job it is to work to extract resources from the environment (breadwinners), those whose job it is to defend people from harm (protectors), those whose job it is to raise children (caregivers), and those whose job it is to create engaging living spaces (homemakers). From a traditional standing, men are seen as breadwinners and defenders, while women are seen as caregivers and homemakers. And in our society, the feminine is undervalued, so we as a society undervalue caregivers and homemakers. But again, even in a post-gender society we will need people to be doing what was once "feminine" work: the current worldview understands feminine work as somehow "frivolous and unnecessary," as if any single human being had gone through life without having been fed, sheltered, and educated by their parents, teachers, and others in caregiving roles. It's nonsense.
At the same time: what we have is a situation where our culture's Q3 paradigm understands gender in an absolutist sense: that gender is hierarchical, static, and binary. This has led to outcomes in the other quadrants which are ultimately toxic to the society as well as the individual. The suggested change by postmodern thought is to understand gender as contextual: that it is non-hierarchical, fluid, and multivalent (including space for those who identify as neutral or non-binary). I believe it is still important to keep in mind gender contextuality while fighting to accredit to the feminine the cultural honor that it deserves.
Why can't men create their own goddamn "engaging living spaces" 🥴
That's a hilarious way to phrase "scrubbing toilets" by the way
@@thatsunfortunate2771 It's true that perhaps what I wrote was confusing. Let me try to be more direct.
I am in favor of a society in which gender and work role are no longer correlated. I am in favor of anyone pursuing anything without encountering social stigma or concrete pushback. I am in favor of practical methods to dismantle patriarchy. In the previous response I included reference to "masculine work" and "feminine work" only with reference to it as archaic and backwards to enforce such notions. Men should not need women to clean their own toilets. I fear that if this was the impression that you took from my comment, then you have misread it, although I will take responsibility for it being worded confusingly.
Here is the point, directly and simply: I am also in favor of *subsidizing* the invisible work that is being done by people who are tend homes and care foe children, and for raising the pay and social dignity of such workers in accordance with the Swedish model. Because this work is undervalued, as I stated in my first comment, and it SHOULD be FAIRLY valued. In this way we not only are liberating individual people from the confines of gendered work, but we are also liberating the WORK itself from social stigma that came from historically being designated "women's work." Hopefully that makes my stance more clear.
Social change - Great David Graeber started to talk about caring classes instead of "working class", meaning of which is strongly associated with the fetish of productivism in the prototypical image of a factory worker of mechanized Fordism. A spoon is produced only once, but it's washed a zillion times.
The toolbelt stallions of the modern society are mostly engaged in care in the form of maintenance and upkeep instead of building and producing new stuff; Social movements like Yellow vests etc. 'essential work' struggles are caring class phenomena; whether people engaged in essential care take care of mechanical stuff, soil or other people.
A sign of changing times is perhaps also the fact that greatest contemporary hero of modernist productionism, Elon Musk, is also very open about his strong asperger traits, and justifies his technological creativity with ecological sustainability of the technological civilization, stating in essence that his masculine creativity is in service of feminine care and reproduction.
I think it's important to mention the extreme effect that masculinism is having on the attitude towards women's pregnancy and children.
Because women are expected to perform well in intense careers, we're expected to prioritize our careers over children and pregnancy.
Pregnancy is arguably the most amazing and beautiful thing a human being can do - create life; and is also a uniquely female gift. And it is now seen as a hinderance and obstacle to a woman's career and independence (male values).
Birth control is used to suppress our female body functions, to essentially make us function more like a man.
I believe it also is why there is an increase in the LGBTQ community because women can perform all the male roles. Woman can be the provider and the supporter in the relationship.
While I agree that we should reappreciate 'feminine' values in society, we also shouldn't essentialize womanhood.
Pregnancy and getting a child can obviously be magical, and neither women nor men should feel like their value is determined by their competitiveness in capitalism, birth control should still be seen as a completely valid choice for those who prefer to not have children.
And while acceptance of gay people in the mid 20th century went hand in hand with birth control (as the idea that sex was purely for getting pregnant became less common) this doesn't mean that the increase of lgbtq people is because of womanhood being devalued. It's the acceptance that makes lgbtq people feel more safe to come out, that's all.
I feel like this video will have a big impact on how I view the world and I would like to thank you for that.
Oh wow that's amazing Jonibot I'm absolutely delighted to hear it!
Very thought provoking!
Thanks Hashem!
Excellent video, and I could not agree more, although while a Nietzschean reevaluation of our values is sorely needed, Nietzsche did not seem to value feminine values much himself.
A very good point and I couldn't help but have a wry smile to be framing Nietzsche in such a way. Although his friends group was almost exclusively made up of highly intelligent feminist women so perhaps it would merely be a spoiling of his sport with these friends. I don't think he'd be as dismissive of it as it seems at first. We might even be able to convince him who knows!
Interesting video but what about the fact that testosterone levels have been dropping a lot in men in recent decades and that men are becoming less masculine?
Another very interesting thing to throw in the mix. I now realise between this and a couple of other comments how I missed out on addressing this shift in culture over the last 60 years. I think I'll be exploring that more in future
Very good. Well explained and true. I got a sense of this from “Who cooked Adam Smiths dinner” a book on economics from I think a feminine perspective. The invisible economy, meaning all the valuable work done in society that isn’t paid and therefore doesn’t show up, is largely feminine. Teaching language and socialising children is about the most valuable function of human society. Everything else depends on it. But this work is largely unpaid and almost always free. We learn to speak, and with language comes all knowledge. Is money itself masculine? Economists tend to be men. This is a long thank you for and interesting and important talk.
Men are also needed for socialising children. This is the point of the ying and yang. There is no whole without both parts.
Where has this channel been all my life?
VERY good episode thank you more on this topic please
Thanks Johannes! I think there will be some follow ups in time!
Audacious and interesting reflection- I like it,
In other words, power doesn't come in many forms and we are doomed to our weaknesses. Accept it and go on. Don't fight it.
The fundamental issue with this, is the problem that comes with femininity innately.
Masculinately's innate problem is hyper-competition, and Femeninity's innate problem is mysticism.
i honestly believe that the age of femininity is almost inevitable (barring a catastrophe that destroys world peace).
The real question would be, would such "femininity" learn to avoid mysticism and maintain a healthy masculine form or doom us towards mysticism?
we shall see.
Wow, and the best part of this video is the opening strings of Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture 😜
Or we just skip to the post individual and post value state, finally stepping beyond the ancient boundaries of the self and mind. No longer defining traits, no longer constantly any seeking expression. One day
THANK YOU!
sir may i know what is the source of the information of the feminine and masculine traits
Ah my bad Arpit I meant to put that in the description from the offing. I've added a section for further study in the description now where you can find starting points for all of the different elements in the video. If you want to know more about any bit then please let me know!
This is such a good video
Haha thanks a million Tobias! It took a lot out of me making it so I'm delighted to hear this!
Nice to meet you
I know genius when i meet them and this channel is pure brilliance
Haha I don't know about that but I really appreciate the compliment!
Awesome! You nail it, again.
TL;DR: I agree, we really, really need this re-evaluation of our values.
I've experienced this very dilemma myself, being a female human in a lower leadership position - and in one of the most masculine lines of all. When I was sent to the obligatory leadership seminars, there were very open minded teachers who knew exactly how female leadership can excel, or rather how female traits can make anyone a better leader. But outside of these seminars this wasn't applied. Leadership in general has different philosophies, as can probably also easily be found here on UA-cam. E.g. there is the authoritarian way and, the exact opposite, laissez-faire. These are taught to be a range on which a leader can shift depending on the situation where leadership is applied. Shifting within this range is seen as a master skill in leadership that needs a lot of empathy on the leaders side.
In my case the experience was this: If I did what was in my nature, which was to put trust in my people and work with them on a more team oriented basis, my superiors would not see me "lead" enough. They wanted to see me apply a tougher regiment, they wanted me to be more aggressive, take a more male approach. Because those were the people who judged me and thus held the future of my career and because I was raised a yielding and shy female, I naturally obliged. Every time I acted as I was told, I wasn't acting female, and thus I was wrong again.
So being female me was wrong and acting more male was wrong. There was no chance to do right.
Funnily this pile of bullshit helped me to free myself from a lot of concepts. Was a huge eye opener.
But I do have to brake a lance for men here as well. Because even though our society runs on described male values, it isn't exactly always in favor of men, most men are just as trapped in this system.
After all, the typical masculine role model says men are forbidden to show emotions, that's for girls only (except anger, aggressivness, thats for boys only, lol). Any human who has to suppress their emotions will in the long run turn to unhealthy and dangerous coping mechanisms, sometimes in a way dangerous for others.
I stumbled across the book "Mama-Trauma" by psychologist Werner Dopfer. And even though I'm not sure about how true everything he wrote was, he has a point (also not entirely sure if I'm not mixing in other sources here, so apologies in advance):
Since industrialization the way a family worked changed drastically. And even though in those beginnings the whole family was assimilated as workers, it changed to the point where women stayed at home and men were at work. Even beyond factory times, the white collars just as well were not at home. Nurseries, (after it became tolerated) teachers, supermarket clerks and the like were often jobs for women. When a boy grew up in those days, he mostly came into contact with women. Women, who often had little understanding for male traits - as they themselves were raised to obey the female model. The female role did nurture the female traits, but they weren't (and yes still aren't) valued. As the higher male temperament is often seen as bad especially by females, the boys were scolded for being boys. (Btw, there is an interesting correlation in how often boys get diagnosed with ADHD, at least in the USA. It's just easier for girls to keep calm and quiet.)
A psychological experiment during the 60s found that suppressed people or societies often may relay on passive aggressiveness as their only form of rebellion. (Funnily this was found in the US military between male soldiers who didn't like their male superior.) Females as having little to no power in society often used and still use the same means. Passive aggressiveness though is a psychological poison, it can leave it's victims deeply wounded but without knowledge about how or why. It is an unclear an manipulative way of communication.
If now a boy grows up and is surrounded by double-speaking females (to take it to the extreme), while his father is constantly at work and no other male role model is available, things are bound to go south. Those boys grow up to be man that hate women and value them and their ways as something lesser, evil even.
These men are scared never learned to express themselves, never felt understood and their only way to avoid this kind of ongoing humiliation is to take revenge on women and to take their stand in the male value system by accumulating power. They need this to cope with their lacking, while all they would have needed would be someone to tell them "You are okay the way you are". But sadly, a lot of these are beyond help or don't even recognize how much they would need it.
I guess in the particular line I worked in were a lot of these broken men.
There is a general problem with how values are seen, are judged. Some traits are valued more or less then others. IMHO, they are not more or less, they are just different, and either the traits / skills of a person fit a job / situation, or not. Some may bring better results than other, some may just bring different results. Judging is a pretty subjective thing, but the way we judge is influenced by our surroundings, by our peers, and we do the same to others. We take over the ways of how a person is to be judged. Female traits were seen as something less valuable, thus even we females apply that way of judging.
I guess society has changed it's way of life so far from what it's nature was and so rapidly, that we simply lack. When we still had our role models at home, we were influenced mainly by religion and the majority of people couldn't even read. Life was still hard enough that we had other other problems, as in these theories about facing crisis, where suddenly every other worry that drives us crazy on the usual day-to-day basis becomes irrelevant. Now, we all can read and could all think for ourselves, but we lack the very same clarity our ancestors had. In some way, at least, I guess. And of course not all humans. Depends on culture and live circumstances in general. But probably these industrialized countries, even now in the digital age, do suffer a lack of role models, as every way we judge our values comes from eras no longer related to ours, or lesser and lesser related.
I like how you mentioned the shift since agriculture times.
There wasn't "just" the shift in evaluation of values, but a physical one as well, that just didn't make it any better: Since food was suddenly more available, survival became easier and women became more often pregnant. Since a pregnant woman is definitely lacking in physical abilities, they had to be protected more. They moved differently and less and they got denied access to high protein food such as meat (since the males took over the part of the protectors and thus needed more protein, they were now the warriors). There are findings in skeleton density hinting at a shift in female nutrition whenever a culture turned to agriculture. This further weakened the female body and emphasized women as the weaker of the sexes. The perception of female traits as weaker was fueled by this.
A bit like the battle between the feather and the sword: Of course, a word, written or not, can hold an immense power, most of the philosophies are simply words and thoughts that outlived their creators and inspired thousands. But as long as a writer only holds his feather, as long as his word isn't spread, which naturally takes longer, a sword can easily strike him down. When someone, with the intend to kill, holds a sword, they will kill, and it is unlikely a word will prevent it unless it is the exact right word. The swordsman trained all his live for the fight, the writer didn't. But is the feather thus weaker?