Gender Roles

In the world today, the most common way in which human beings probably distinguish themselves is by their gender. All human beings, or at least the vast majority, are born as clearly male or female. Perhaps this is also why this distinction has, since ancient times, served as a factor in human relationships and indeed vast-scale human oppression and even slavery. Indeed, to this day many women suffer indignities at the hands of patriarchal societies with a sense of entitlement over the fates of half or more of their populations. Whatever one's personal views on this state of affairs might be, it is interesting indeed to consider ancient literature to determine the various cultural roots of many patriarchal societies and viewpoints that remain existing to this day. Often grounded in religious values, the male-female relationship is complicated not only by the "men are from Mars" ideal, but also...
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