The crisis facing men is not the crisis of masculinity, it is the crisis of patriarchal masculinity. Until we make this distinction clear, men will continue to fear that any critique of patriarchy represents a threat. – Bell Hooks

If the world’s major political powers and corporate powers suddenly became a hard majority – if not entirely – female, a sufficient amount of men would decry this as absurd, unfair, excessive, dominating. And it would be. Yet this is exactly what women live with on a daily basis the world over and are told it’s normal and we should, in effect, stop making such a fuss.

If any human being is to reach full maturity both the masculine and feminine sides of the personality must be brought up into consciousness. – M. Esther Harding

The effects of this grotesque imbalance are innumerable: patriarchy and its version of masculinity are oppressive, fear-mongering, degrading, unsustainable, and down-right dangerous; destructive to men and women alike and devastating for the health of the planet and hampers any possibility for sustainable equitable access and distribution of resources.

We’ve been conditioned to believe this imbalance is normal. None of this is normal.

Suggested Reading:
Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development (print | digital)
International Law and New Wars (print | digital)
We Should All Be Feminists (print | digital)
Gender and Climate Change: Impacts, Science, Policy (print | digital)
Women Waging War and Peace (print)
The Green Collar Economy (print | digital)
Making Peace With the Earth: Beyond Resource Land and Food Wars (print | digital)
Ecofeminism (Critique, Influence, Change series) (print | digital)