Monday, November 4, 2024

Primate brain: seeking alpha.

     "Peter, face it. Trump will win. No woman can win election as president. A woman could be a Prime Minister, because she would be the consensus choice of peers, but not a U.S, president, voted in by the public. The president is commander in chief. Humans are hard-wired to want a man in the role of protector. Women may think they want equality, but they only want equality after they get protection first. Harris faces a headwind of human biology and instinct. Women want a strong man.
     Anonymous email I received this week.


All social animals pick leaders. Humans. Bonobos. Chimpanzees. All of us.

Bonobos are matriarchal. Females lead their social groups. Leaders gain power within the group by showing sound judgment and by winning friends and allies with grooming and sex play. 



Chimpanzees, a close cousin species, are physically larger and more aggressive than bonobos. Chimpanzees are far more violent than are bonobos, both within their groups and to outside groups. Male chimps beat the females. Juvenile male chimpanzees beat their mothers and as practice before taking on males within the group. Females dislike the beatings, but take it. It is what males do. Leadership has its benefits, the main one being primary mating rights with the females, including the ones they beat up. 

Harris cleared the Democratic field of rivals with an "inside game" of alliances within the party, rather in a way that a prime minister emerges within a political party. She briefly feinted in the direction of having a neutral mix of gender vibe. She was theoretically tough-gal Harris, the tough-on-crime prosecutor. She said "lethal" once in reference to the military, and people noticed. That did not persist. She has settled into being the happy get-along candidate. People notice and comment on her laugh. Social laughing is an act of submission. A social laugh signifies "I'm not a threat to you."

Harris faces delegitimization, as predicted by the anonymous quote that begins this post. She gets snickering accusations on social media of having offered oral sex to men, a submissive asymmetric act, to get ahead. A real leader doesn't give. A man's man takes. Trump takes. Within Republican circles, it is acceptable to wear T-shirts calling Harris a whore. In chimpanzee culture, all adult males beat up females. 

Tee shirt for sale at Trump merchandise venues

Trump projects a chimpanzee leader quality. Trump is physically dominant, and he has allies who are physically dominant, sometimes cartoonishly so, with Hulk Hogan ripping off his shirt. JD Vance, the chosen one, wears a beard. Ted Cruz, the wannabe, grew one. Trump was frustrated by his glitchy microphone at an event this weekend. He said he may have to beat up the technical people. The crowd laughed and cheered. "I'm going to be a little bit rough, especially at the beginning," Trump said at a rally this weekend. More cheers. He said he will be a protector of women, even if they don't want it. Cheers. We hear objections to that from professional women in politics and the media. The presumption! The condescension! 

Trump is taking a gamble here, one that paid off in 2016, and perhaps still does. Some women are turned off, but he still gets female votes, including a majority of votes of White women. A great many women accept the trade-off between respect for women as equals versus a strong male protector, even one who asserts on-demand sexual access. The sexual assault claims, lawsuits, and legal judgments against Trump for his sexual behavior have not ended his support from women, especially evangelical Christian women. This behavior is part of Trump's brand: the man who takes what he wants. "And when you are a star, they let you do it. You can do anything," Trump said. It shocked people for its crudeness, but it did not stop a great many of them from voting for him.

Women in America have ample reason to reject Trump. Trump made a choice that seems unintuitive. He is reversing the trend of second-wave feminism that took root in the 1960s and doing so flagrantly. It disempowers women. It places them in subservience. Surely women will reject that. Trump thinks they won't. Chimpanzee females don't.





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10 comments:

Mike Steely said...

Their chimpanzee attitude toward women is only one small example of how stupid Republicans have become. A couple others: Trump won the 2020 election, and the government is using weather-control technology to whip up hurricanes and direct them at red states.

There’s a growing consensus that this election will be a rejection their alternate reality. Of course, that won't be how they see it. Women need Trump's protection "whether they like it or not," so Republicans will try to ensure they get it whether Trump wins or not.

Low Dudgeon said...

Since it's Trump, we'd best consider orangutan social habits as well?

Anonymous said...

We’re chimps. Third Wave = Lysistrata

Michael Trigoboff said...

Progressives way overreached in their advocacy for women and their corresponding hostility towards men. Men noticed, and the price for that overreach may be four years of Trump.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if that anonymous commenter has his wife's approval to say that.

Dave said...

MAGA guys are having problems with finding women because of how they are. It might be if your a guy who wants sex, don’t be a MAGA guy.

Mike said...

Equal pay and equal rights may seem like overreach to the far white, but not to the people who have been denied it.

Anonymous said...

Want proof that MAGAts are morons?
Look at the verb in this statement from Biden:

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American.”

Had Biden been referring to supporters, as the domestic terrorists claim, he would have used "are" his supporters.

Biden said "is" referring to Don Old's demonization.

John F said...

As a nation, we definitely have more balance regarding respect for women. We see women in combat roles, women in industry, women as astronauts, and women in governmental leadership positions throughout this country, to mention a few. The only position women have yet to hold is the US presidency.

We see Trump's behavior is more in line with a sex offender in prison or a coward, unable to remain in the school playground bully role. In his heart, he knows he is a loser. I expect a significant number of former Trump voters to do as well.

We will see whether the nation sees it as I write it.

Mike said...

Nonetheless, it's true that if it weren't for his supporters, tRump would just be another common crook. His supporters have turned him into a giant, orange middle finger brandished at America's elections and rule of law.