The Female Arts

one of oldest cave paintings. El Castillo Cave, Spain Pedro Saura/AFP/Getty Images

The title of this article ("Early Humans Became More Feminine, Which Led to the Birth of Culture") drew me in immediately, as this correlation is something I've thought and wondered about for a long time. In particular and bringing it to the present tense, it seems to me that many of the countries whose laws make it more difficult for creativity to bloom are the same as those where punishment for unsanctioned behavior is the harshest and, (not) coincidentally, where women are subjugated and seen, basically, as non-citizens with few, if any, rights or voice. Conversely, it seems to me, those where women have attained some level of acceptance and respect and, even, elected positions in government, are those in which the arts are more revered and dissent and "otherness" are more tolerated. This observation seems to apply even to organized groups or areas within countries. Now comes a study that finds a correlation between lower levels of testosterone in early humans and the beginning of agriculture and cooperation. According to the article, the study concludes that "this may have proved an evolutionary advantage for early human societies, as it would have fostered wider-ranging social networks, closer cooperation between unrelated individuals, a wider choice of mates, and reduced chances of inbreeding." (This is one of the reasons I'm so concerned about women feeling they need to be more competitive and aggressive/assertive in the name of equality, instead of men feeling the need to be less so, but that's another story): http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2015/06/22/early-humans-feminine-culture/#.VZG21OezfeR