I’m not objecting to gender differences in who does the raiding, I’m objecting to assuming that the reader is male and then encouraging the reader to only identify with the raiders.
I actually think politics is what makes it possible to organize raids on other villages, and also what makes it possible to sometimes prevent raids from happening, but let’s try some other phrasings for h-H’s original quote.
“If we didn’t have politics, we’d have no way of stopping raids on other villages, and we’d be enduring theft, kidnapping, and rape.” (I’ve heard that there are cultures where women do the deciding and men do the fighting.)
“If men didn’t have politics, we’d be subject to raids.” (I’m having a surprisingly hard time phrasing a woman-centered version of the quote. I don’t think this is because there’s something unrealistic about it, I think it’s because a mode that’s as woman-centered as the original is male-centered is very rare.)
“Politics are the only way the human race found to avoid small-scale conflict.”
I’m not objecting to gender differences in who does the raiding, I’m objecting to assuming that the reader is male and then encouraging the reader to only identify with the raiders.
I actually think politics is what makes it possible to organize raids on other villages, and also what makes it possible to sometimes prevent raids from happening, but let’s try some other phrasings for h-H’s original quote.
“If we didn’t have politics, we’d have no way of stopping raids on other villages, and we’d be enduring theft, kidnapping, and rape.” (I’ve heard that there are cultures where women do the deciding and men do the fighting.)
“If men didn’t have politics, we’d be subject to raids.” (I’m having a surprisingly hard time phrasing a woman-centered version of the quote. I don’t think this is because there’s something unrealistic about it, I think it’s because a mode that’s as woman-centered as the original is male-centered is very rare.)
“Politics are the only way the human race found to avoid small-scale conflict.”
I was encouraging the reader not to identify with either raiders or victims.
Then I’m missing something. How were you doing that?