Sex and War are inextricably linked
Quotes from
Sex and War
How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Pathto a Safer World
by Malcolm Potts and Thomas Hayden, © 2008, 2010
“All life…is about competition for resources…Human wars may come wrapped in a veneer of religion or political philosophy, but the battle for resources is usually just below the surface.”
“All of the major religions are patriarchal, and all have inspired aggression, war, and terror. It was men, after all, who wrote the holy books.”
“The human predisposition to dehumanize an enemy is deep-seated and virtually universal.”
“The fossil evidence strongly suggests that Homo Sapiens and our hominid predecessors have been killing one another for millions of years.”
“New social mechanisms developed to ensure paternity through the social control of women. Covering the body and even the face when outside the home, concubinage, prostitution, the cruelty of bound feet, and the horror of female genital mutilation all arose for the first time in settled agricultural societies.”
“In Africa today, women make up half the population, do two-thirds of the work, receive one-tenth of the gross income, and own one-hundredth of the property. There is an African saying: ‘Women and cows belong to men.’”
“Afghan proverbs include, ‘One’s own mother and sister are disgusting,’ and ‘Women belong in the house and the grave.’”
“To the Maori of New Zealand…the proverb ‘men die for women and land’ ex-pressed a self-evident truth. After one battle, Maori warriors immobilized the women by running ‘sharp sticks through their feet to prevent their escape.’” My note: Another form of footbinding.
“In Bangladesh…women…live in purdah, forbidden to leave the home.”
“As population growth rates fall, access to education improves, especially for girls.”
“We may have exceeded Earth’s carrying capacity as long ago as 1975.”
“In 2008 Michael Hayden, the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency,
identified rapid population growth as the number one problem in national security.”
“In the human species the empowerment of women and the possibility of peace and freedom from terrorism are united in important and genuine ways.”
“The natural tendencies of men are not consistent with survival, the well-being of their sexual partners, their children and future generations…our very survival of a species requires finding more ways to cooperate than compete.”
“In a sensible world, the second Coalition airplane into Kabul after the fall of the Taliban in 2002 would have carried millions of packets of Pills and IUDs for women who wanted them.”
“Biology may be our starting point…but it need not be our destiny.”
“Our evolutionary past provides neither a moral compass nor a strategic plan for the future.”
“If we are ever to tame our Stone Age behaviors, we must begin by understanding their origins.”
This is an excerpt from Sex and War by Malcom Potts and Thomas Hayden.
