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Why Are Violent Cultures More Gender Egalitarian? (Spartans, Vikings, Scythians, Appalachian, etc.)
In this script, the discussion centers on the relationship between gender egalitarianism and violent societies throughout history. The hosts challenge the stereotype that violence and gender equality cannot coexist by examining cultures like the Vikings, Spartans, Iroquois Confederacy, Scythians, and historical Islam. Each society highlighted had unique roles for women, often more egalitarian than their contemporaries, which challenges modern perceptions. The hosts provide examples of empowered female figures, address misconceptions about the treatment of women in Muslim history, and reflect on how historical gender dynamics have influenced modern views. The discussion is peppered with humor and personal anecdotes, engaging the audience in a thought-provoking exploration of gender roles.
Malcolm Collins: [00:00:00] HEllo, Simone. I'm excited to be here with you today. Today, we are going to be talking about, despite the public perception to the contrary, where people are like, Oh, well, women are the peaceful gender.
Speaker 6: This will be the first instance of capital punishment in our society due to our awesomeness. So we are forced to improvise. We placed a boulder on that ledge.
Speaker 4: Y y you're gonna crush us with a boulder?!
Speaker 6: No! Stop interrupting. The boulder falls onto a lever that will launch knives.
Fine! You were right the first time, okay? The boulder crushes you. Happy? No, just ignore them. Ignore them.
Malcolm Collins: And therefore societies that are peaceful. Would be more pro women. And yet Historically speaking, we find the exact opposite trend. The more, and I will add a little note here, Successfully violent
Simone Collins: Yeah, casting shade already.
Malcolm Collins: The [00:01:00] more gender egalitarian that culture is likely to be in a historic context.
Speaker 3: You're a young lady now. You gotta start wearing dresses.
How? Folks would call me a sissy.
Malcolm Collins: And I had never realized this until today. I was listening to some people talk and I just started thinking, I was like, Okay. You know, what they were talking about Spartans versus us. And they were like, well, Spartans was actually generally gender more, more equal by a significant degree. And I was sort of thinking like, wait, Oh my gosh, every super violent culture.
I can think of from history was more gender equal than its neighbors. And people are going to be thinking, Oh, what about Islam? We'll get to that. We'll get to that because you are not considering the context at which it rose nor its neighboring cultural groups within that context. But, let's start here with Viking culture, right? North Viking culture. Love the
Simone Collins: Vikings. All about the Vikings.
Speaker 8: You Should be really proud of your wife, at least.
I mean, [00:02:00] Freyja dove into that pillaging 100%. Even took part in quite a lot of the
Microphone (Wireless Microphone Rx)-10: Gripping.
Speaker 9: .
Huh? Freyja forced all kinds of monks to let her write and stuff. I didn't really expect that. I was totally blown away when I suddenly saw her on top of this monk, moaning and groaning. Seriously, !
Speaker 10: Of course, I mean, that's what you do when you pillage.
Malcolm Collins: The women were primarily responsible for managing the household and farm.
This involved running the farm while men were away on raids or trading expeditions. They managed finances and household resources. Women's domestic authority was highly respected as evidenced by archaeological findings like the Hasmari tradition praising a woman's skill for running the farm. So the farm o
Published on 1 year, 2 months ago