Is the world overloaded with males??

[SoCalDem]

It almost seems as if all these "wars" popping up all over the place, and sabre-rattling might be a "built-in" reaction to population woes.There's a lot of unemployment, and perhaps wars provide the outlet for all the anger that's built up, and prevents some extra mouths to feed in uncertain times..

Earth is under assault by all us pesky humans, and maybe wars are unavoidable. (in a macro sense)

[ewagner]

1. Bad, bad case of

testerone poisoning........

We've got to keep it under control......

[SHRED]

4. I like channeling mine...

into love.
:pals:

[solinvictus]

2. What the hell kind of stupid question is that!?!?!?!

Why, I oughta kick you're..now what were you saying? ;)
Seriously, you should read Harold Bloom's "The Lucifer Principle". He posits the same theory: that wars are a genetic expression to cull the population.

[sweetheart]

3. Indeed there is a "patriarchy" problem

It is a global network of lower-male black magicians who seek to hold
this planet and its population in bondage. The bush filth are but a
small bit of this crabgrass-like evil with heads popping up across the
planet.

The earth just "is", yet the patriarchy believes it holds the earth in
its thrall... a delusion sold on every channel, but a delusion nevertheless.

[Lone Pawn]

18. Yes, all males get together to try to hold females down.

The meeting's in Phoenix this year. We discuss the finer points of systematic abuse, work on ways to polish our glass ceilings, and watch exploitative pornography. I've got my OPPRESSICON '05 T-shirt already!

[sweetheart]

36. You din't hear! The meeting's been changed.

Its in Washington DC, at 1600.... you know. There, the discussion is
on the finer points of systematic abuse, so it seems your adgenda is
still accurate... just phoenix is out.

[KittyWampus]

5. China Certainly Is. Lots Of Potential Baby Girls Were Aborted Or Left

to die.

[Goathead]

13. It is becoming a big problem too. No girls, all this testosterone.

It is going to have a huge backlash in their population a few generations from now.

[SoCalDem]

21. Unemployed, hyper-religious, angry, horny young guys....

Fasten your seat belts..

Like someone upthread said, we could use some help with our renovations..

take yer pick

roof
painting
yard
patio
yard building
re-do all the ceilings in the whole house :(
re-do kitchen
take out a tree
new a/c system & ductwork

a lot of stuff for two oldies like me and my husband.

[Maru Kitteh]

27. God, I hate doing ceilings, that's the worst

when they're done at your house my kithchen remodel is STILL not finished.

[Igel]

37. Not "a few generations" ... more like a couple of decades. n/t

[moondust]

6. Some used to speculate

that Vietnam was being used to thin the population of baby boomers.

[Spider Jerusalem]

7. More like "overloaded with PEOPLE".

Females constitute something like 52% of the global population.

However, war is an inherent human behaviour, and as population increases, so too do the number of conflicts.

And overpopulation is responsible for a number of OTHER "societal ills"...from increased rates of mental illness to greater poverty. There are just TOO MANY FUCKING PEOPLE. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem that humanity has the ability to control their population expansion absent external constraints.

And in a sense, viewed from a perspective of population dynamics, war, famine, mass epidemics, and so on have some net positive effect in acting as curbs to population growth. It's almost like a negative feedback loop built into the system. (Which isn't to say I think those are GOOD things, but I CAN look at the question from a perspective divorced from emotion.)

[left15]

35. 52% of the total population.

But for most younger demographics, there are more males than females.

I believe the women only start to out number the men above 55 years of age.

[Igel]

40. Usually younger than that.

At birth it's something like 51-49 M/F split. But boys die off more, nature really is sexist, and by adulthood it's split fairly evenly, with a few more women, if I remember right. Even with improved health care. The die off doesn't balance the artificial M/F imbalance in China and India.

Balancing China, or, since China's so big, slightly offsetting China's male-bias ever so slightly, are places like Iraq or sub-Saharan Africa, where men get hit a bit harder with war and disease. At least currently (and that women are also hit hard isn't relevant here ... not to the point). The oldest generation of Russians, those that went through WWII as adults, is sharply and increasingly skewed towards women, and has been since 1944/5--smaller lifespans and increased incidence of alcoholism, sucky health, and suicide hit men harder, of course.

Bad ob/gyn practices hit the women harder in and around childbirth, but I think war and disease still win.

[K-W]

8. Plenty of women voted for Bush.

If women were pacifists the US wouldnt be anything like what it is today.

[Dogmudgeon]

9. Two Words:

Condi Rice.

--p!
That's DOCTOR Condi Rice to you, peasant!

[smurfygirl]

10. well, if they need something to do they

can come on over here and get to work on my patio I'm putting in. A 150 pound women trying to lift 80 pound bags of concrete by herself is enough to wear anyone out. They'll be so tired they won't have time to think about aggression.

[Clark2008]

16. I hear ya, sister!

Since I've been laid off, I've been working non-stop around the house (either to get it in order or to put it in shape if, God forbid, I have to sell it) and I've never been so tired at the end of the day.
Whew!

[Lone Pawn]

22. How unabashedly sexist.

Imagine the following thread on FR:

1. "I think Women are the reason that gas prices are so high, always driving around all day! Damn women!"

2. "Damn straight! I'm tired of cooking by myself; if they want to drive somewhere, they can drive to my house and make me some damn food!"

3. "I hear ya, brother!"

------

Sexist, yes? Now how is this different?

[Clark2008]

30. Because we're kidding.

But, in answer to the question regarding the OP, it is a delve into a theory, not a bash on maleness.

In fact, as the mother of a young male, I take pride in having him both help me with the yardwork AND the dishes.

[SoCalDem]

31. My youngest son (26) loves to iron.. His fiancee is not displeased

In fact, one year he asked for and got his OWN iron for Christmas (among other things).. His brother was a slob with "iron care", and I hid MY iron:)

[Spinzonner]

11. Genetic diversity aside

and ignoring fatigue issues and travel time, more than one is unnecessary.

[Lone Pawn]

24. And ignoring genetic diversity,

gestation time, and travel time, more than one woman is unnecessary.

[More Than A Feeling]

12. Add also that when there is an excess of males

the lower status males don't have access to breeding possibilities, and the lack of status in normal society makes them become aggressive as a way of saving face

There was a book written on this very thesis about "bare branches" in China (men with no marriage prospects)

[leftofthedial]

14. personally

I blame the women

[Clark2008]

15. If this is the case, then why is it so hard to find a decent guy to date?

:7

[SoCalDem]

17. They are at war??

:spank:

[Clark2008]

19. I'm a little too old for most of those who are at war.

I realize there are some 30 and 40-somethings at war, but the vast majority, I think, are the 20-somethings.

Actually, the problem lies more with the attitudes of those I'm near, more than the number.

[johnaries]

33. Call Me! I look just like Keith!

Well, as far as you know.....

I could make a Keith Mask and wear it all night!

Not that I'm, like, desperate, or any thing like that...

[Lone Pawn]

20. So you would prefer like

25% males 75% females?

Wouldn't change a thing. The people who claw their way to the top of governments are assholes almost by definition. Male or female. Males tend to be more assholian, but women are just as capable. So the biggest assholes get to the top. Rice is just as much an asshole as Rumsfeld is, for example. And then they go about being assholes on the world stage. A President Rice would be no more restrained than President Bush is.

[Book Lover]

23. Well, since we are the majority (52% or so), no.

The planet has too many people in concentrated areas and no truly effective global resource sharing. Wars are avoidable if we should ever decide to take politics out of governing.

[adwon]

34. Take the politics out of governing?

No thank you. I much prefer politics in governance to any, and I mean any, substitute.

[On the Road]

25. Is Your Name Dr. June Stevenson by Any Chance?

US statistics indicate that men are more likely to commit a crime than women. The report revealed that 84% percent of those imprisoned in federal prisons in 1991 are male. Schools and boys' education need to be radically changed by cultivating the feminine side of their personal makeup. Most of the violence recorded have been directed toward women. Expenditures for prison construction has been the first priority of the US for six years now.

http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?docid=1G1:17388475&refid=ink_tptd_mag&skeyword=&teaser=

[SoCalDem]

29. My first name starts with a "J", but the similarity ends there

:)

[Maru Kitteh]

26. I'm going to vote yes on this one.

But I still get to keep mine, right?

[bemildred]

28. It's really women that are the problem.

If we could just restrict the number of women enough the
population would drop automatically, it's been well understood
for a long time that it's women's fertility rate that controls
population. Men are disposable and fungible.

[johnaries]

32. YES! The ratio should be 3:1. 3 women for every man!

For my 3 women I pick Pam Anderson, Angelina Jolie, and Tina Fey.

OK, Tina Fey would be first on the list - she's sexy and I wouldn't mind talking with her after the fun stuff was over.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

[rman]

38. If so, then that reaction would be build-in our leaders, not us.

Has there ever been any war instigated by a popular movement?

[varun]

39. The solution is

...for those "extra" males to....

TURN GAY }(

That will reduce the violence in this world.

[Igel]

41. Dunno about that.

I think the domestic violence for gay households is the same as for straight ones, or at least that there's no significant difference.

Don't know about the incidence of violent outside-the-home crime for gays, though. You may have a point there, I haven't seen any such studies (or references to them).

[Jose Diablo]

42. I admit my position is one of self interest

but it seems to me the ratio of roughly one to one as dictated genetically is way out of wack with the reality of the world being a far more dangerous place for males, than females.

The effort put into reproduction is far higher in females than males, thus making the males less valuable when viewed from a reproduction standpoint, thus the males are expendable in all cultures, especially those males with little power, the poor. We see this in who actually does the fighting in wars or who does dangerous work. The pattern today is not new, this pattern has been typical through out history. The females are protected at all costs because the children (the future) can only be produced one at a time over a nine month period by a single woman. However, the male could contribute many times with multiple females, providing what is needed to produce hundreds of children per year, if the number of males were drastically reduced. If the timing were perfect, from a males perspective, "one squirt will do it".

I don't know if maybe there is some massive mind at play that produces the wars when too many males are available, but it almost seems like some kind of 'master' something is at work regulating the ratio of males versus females at reproduction age.

It seems to me the optimum ratio of males versus females from an efficiency standpoint should be around one to six. As for how many males would be needed to keep society afloat, I have no idea. However, the females are easily capable of doing anything society may need done, thats been proven. Of course, the females have problems in pissing contests, but those contests have little overall value to societies real needs. Thus, the 1:6 ration works well here also, as we males can more or less just sit back and allow the females to do all the work, in addition to producing the children.

In the best of all possible worlds, the one to six ratio seems very good. But like I said, my view is hardly non-partisan.

[LWolf]

43. No, but

it's overloaded with patriotism and patriotic power structures which allow the unrestricted rampage of testosterone.

We need more women in positions of power; not women who are submitting to male patronizing, but women who can think and speak as matriots. We need enough of them to balance the power structures.

A quaker friend of mine, one of the first to begin nation-wide demonstrations over the IWR, put it this way. He said, "I'm not patriotic. I don't swear alliegance to my fatherland. I'm matriotic; I support my mother earth and all who live on her."

I think the pressures from overpopulation are real, but not necessarily the reasons for war. Behind the surface rhetoric, overpopulation is encouraged through organized religion and politics as a way of "outnumbering" opponents, imo.

[Nikia]

44. I generally avoid stereotypes but

men tend to be less violent, at least outside their household, if they are married, have children, and are contributing signifcantly to their household, ecconomically or work at home. Conservatives and misogynists blame women for taking men's jobs and not wanting to marry as early, divorcing men or not marrying at all, or wanting to marry each other instead. Perhaps, better jobs and encouraging men to act like decent human beings would help more though as well as not hurt women. I am not saying that most men don't act decently, but hypermasculinity doesn't exactly contribute to lasting marriages.