I have fussed in the past about gender specific permaculture events. I do not believe permaculture is about excluding one race, ethnic group, culture, or gender class from _any_ event. Especially one designated as Permaculture. And just now I was reading about a woman who said that she had read 30 something books about men and that she thought she understood us now.
Laughing.
30! :-)
Maybe there’s a reason there are so many books. My friends, the X & Y chromosomes have been separate for
300…
million…
freaking…
years. !
And that’s just for mammals. Our X & Y chromosomes have been separate genetic entities for longer than most _species!_ have been in existence. Our sex chromosomes contain more DNA than many small, wildly successful animal’s entire genetic complement. Our X & Y chromosomes contain massive amounts of control systems and information (many, many hundreds of genes) to control brain chemistry, moods, and emotion.
About 7% of our total unique DNA is in our sex chromosomes. A higher percentage than the percentage difference between the total DNA of a human and that of either a chimpanzee, or a gorilla. (5% ish). In addition because of the sequencing projects, we now have the entire sequences of our own genome and many of the great apes. Sequences that give us the ability to predict actual (areas of information) coding regions apart from the structural parts that hold the DNA in place. These structural regions play a role in division and also provide structural components at the ends but do not play any role in the physical, chemical, and hormone differences between males and females. The coding region differences between our X and Y chromosomes are still in the neighborhood of 6% the coding region differences between us and other great apes falls to between 1 and 2%
I have more in common _genetically/brain chemistry_ with a male gorilla then I do with a human female and for you women out there smirking — think about that again and your immediate and uncontrolled _chemical_ response when you see a baby. Have you ever seen a mother gorilla with her baby. Yet do you think you could ever _understand_ a male gorilla? Do you think you could understand why he gets angry or upset or moody?
I think all of this is highly amusing and fun to think about.
Males and females are genetically significantly different. But to use that as an excuse to treat each other with disrespect is childish.
We are all human beings. And we all have things we are very good at and things we aren’t so good at.
And I have a suggestion; that we begin to accept our differences and not try to “understand” each other but to treat our fellow hominids and in particular our partners in a kind, generous, open, and uncontrolling way. Let us treat the other _with respect_. Respect encourages openness and most importantly, communication. It promotes acceptance of our fellow hominids.
I do not believe we should _tell_ a partner how to do such and such, or how they should dress for their business. Or show them the “right way” to do something. Or sulk, hide, be unavailabe, or hit, if they don’t follow your “directions”. Let’s treat each other and especially our sex partners with respect. And treat them as we would _like_ to be treated ourselves.
To me, it does not seem disrespectful to give warm, thoughtful, open _encouragement_ about such and such especially if requested! The same with how someone is dressed, or how someone could do something, etc. But to me it seems a bit disrespectful (and disingenuous too) to give that encouragement and then expect that any suggestions to be immediately acted upon by the other.
I believe that I would give all encouragement that I receive the due consideration it deserves. But then it would be my choice to follow or not follow the advice.
Just a thought. :-)
For a permaculture event, maybe programs could be labeled “a kinder gentler program” or a “we’re gonna find heavy equipment and use it” program :-)
But in my opinion it is simply disrespectful to decide that women can’t enjoy a “heavy equipment program” and that men can’t enjoy a “kinder gentler program”. I believe it is disrespectful to have a program that is advertised as only open to one gender or another! And I do not believe that anything in permaculture should be based on disrespect.
Bob
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