Some researchers have tried to romanticize and reinterpret human history to make men the violent gender villains and women the peaceful victims. There can be no doubt that men as a group are much more physically violent than women,but there is little indication that women are any less aggressive in their basic nature. If only to deal with potentially violent males, women have always had to be aggressive enough to stand up for themselves and their children and to hold their own in dealing with males in their own families and clans. With the strongest males often away hunting or fighting, women have had to defend their homes and children from animal and human predators. When away from camp to carry out tasks such as gathering food and firewood, they also had to protect themselves and any children who accompanied them.
Given that women have primary responsibility for the most challenging task of all—raising children—women on a daily basis have always been required to manage the stressors and provocations inherent in what may be the hardest, most frustrating, and potentially most important and rewarding job in the world.
Culled from Guilt, Anxiety and Shame by Peter R. Breggin
Abdulkareem,Taoheedah Kehinde
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