How do men get to weigh in on whether a woman bears a child even when they themselves are not involved?

Contributed By:Dorothy Nevils

“It’s a Man’s World,” sang James Brown, and he believed it from his processed hair down to his lightning fast toes! Folks filled the dance floor tryin’ to imitate the Godfather’s moves. Not too many, sad to say could do it, but they kept trying, pinching up their pants legs “just so,” so that they, and any of a dozen or so grinning cats, could catch that fancy footwork. Then, wet with sweat, they’d slide on off to the side, bathing in the attention they’d captured at the mercy of others, less adept, who’d already made their way into the shadows.

Well, JB is now a part of history, but the idea of the superiority of men lingers still. Why else, pray tell, would we have a “Women’s History Month”? There is no “Men’s History Month”! The idea of male supremacy is a “given,” and many cite the Bible to back those ideas up, even folks that haven’t touched one in a dozen years or so. You’ll catch them nodding their heads in agreement when the preacher leads the “evidence” down the aisle, his face lifted toward heaven as he booms, “Man born of a woman (long pause as this soaks in; and then, accusingly) is of a few days (vigorous shaking of the head) and then full of trouble!”

Man is best! Man is superior. The worst to throw at a boy when I was growing up was “Sissy!” That insult always fit, whether being dared to steal, push the speedometer past the 120 mark, or cross the bounds of decency with the girl who sits in front of him in algebra. That word spelled damnation.

History is still very close to history. To be female means needing to be validated. There has to be someone to make the decisions, somebody to tell us who to be, to decide our worth, our future in this still male-led world. Anything else is out of the ordinary, something over which to, in my mother’s words, “make a big miration.” Women still don’t measure up in leadership positions, or on the job. Even with the same responsibilities, we’ll earn less than our male counterparts.

That sticks in my craw. With women outnumbering men in the US, why are we not more favorably represented in, for instance, the three branches of government? Why must decisions about women rest in men’s hands? Are not adult females adults, and therefore capable of representing other adults?

That brings me to another thing I cannot understand: How do men get to weigh in on whether a woman bears a child even when they themselves are not involved? If some good-for-nothing plants a seed in a woman’s body, why must she nurture that seed, reliving that horror for nine months, and perhaps the rest of her life?

Maybe it’s because it’s a man’s world and they make the rules. They’ve ruled that breasts are not to nourish babies, but for their pleasure, and we’ve given in and believe it ourselves.

It’s time to turn things around, to set things straight, to stop pretending to be the weaker sex and claim our superiority. Let’s give them a month, a Men’s History Month, and see what they do with it… besides watch a bunch of overgrown boys run back and forth, back and forth, on a 94’ x 50’ hardwood floor, and throw a ball through a circle with a net hanging from it.

Then, tired, hoarse, and sweaty, they’ll turn from the TV and ask, “Honey, have you seen my other slipper?”

“It’s right where you left it at halftime… next to the remote, behind the TV!”

Story Posted:03/17/2017