Anthropology professor Melvin Konner proclaims in The
Chronicle Review “The End of Male Supremacy.” The teaser beneath the title clarifies
his claim: “Biologically,
intellectually, socially, women are the superior gender, and society will
increasingly reflect that.” I am all for that – in fact, it recalls Ashley
Montagu’s classic, “The Natural Superiority of Women.” It’s a book which ticks
some feminists – but I do occasionally
recall it as a most inspiring read. Konner’s treatment of the subject, though,
is less sentimental. What does he celebrate exactly? How “millennial male
dominance is about to end." And how “glass ceilings are
splintering into countless shards of light, and women are climbing male power
pyramids in every domain of life” – to a point where entrepreneurship has become “the
new women’s movement.” And what, then, happened to the older women’s movement which aimed to dismantle those
hated “male power pyramids” and usher in a better world for the meek? It
apparently went the away of so many male utopian projects – minus the blood
spilled by some male saviors of humanity.
