Updated: September 1, 2023 12:58 PM IST 
Yes, Greg Gutfeld, you are right – If all women went far away to Venus, the world would have no problems. During a show, Fox News anchor Gutfeld went on a rant against ‘home sapiens’ (women) and said all the problems in the world would cease to exist if they would leave. Expressing his opinion, Gutfeld stated, “What would happen if all the women took a ladies week off and they went to Venus…How many of these problems would still exist?”
By saying so, Gutfeld employed one of the oldest tricks in the books – dismiss all arguments about women on the basis of his prejudiced mind. Well, he is not wrong when he said that the problems would go away if women were to not exist. Because, why not? Your problems do not exist when you stop existing.
Greg Gutfled asks “how many of these problems would still exist” if all women just went away for a week, insisting that violent crime would be solved if women just let men handle it. pic.twitter.com/p8QF3aWRJe
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) August 14, 2023
Every second in a day, minor girls and women across the world are subjected to molestation, harassment, rape, and abuse. These heinous crimes are often committed by disturbed men – who never had the chance to understand the gender diversity paradigm. They righteously believe that they can and should commit such a crime against women because they deserve it. You see, if women don’t exist, these ‘poor men’ would not have to be burdened with making such a ‘tough choice’ against women.
They can safely tuck inside their jewels and walk around with no overloaded thoughts. If women didn’t exist, there would be no crime against women. If men don’t exist, there would be no crime against men. The case in point is not about any gender existing but why do these gendered crimes (the problems) exist? Where do these ‘criminals’ learn such things and why do they do what they do? The answer lies within.
In order to get a grip on the profundity of the proposition, one has to understand how implicit or culture-infused biases can permeate us from educating ourselves. The problem can be more insidious which has, on many occasions, provided irrefutable proof to the world of the inherent dangers of sexism. We often pick up cultural cues and get them grilled into our minds that becomes very difficult to detach. For example, toughness, assertiveness and dominance are considered as ‘male behaviour traits’ while calm, emotional, passiveness and subordination are often linked with ‘female behavioural traits’.
These gendered traits and roles are socially and culturally constructed and that is where the problem lies. We have already decided on what is culturally appropriate and expected from men and women. This is also what we understand to be our gendered identity or more specifically, masculinity and femininity. In simple terms, we are nurtured by our society to become the ‘appropriate man and women’.
The socialisation agents such as families, schools, workplaces, and social media work as the perfect emissary to champion such biasness. These agents further promote hierarchy between the sexes. Even if we may not have rigid or gendered-defined ideals, we still expect women to be gentle, caring, submissive, and sensitive. In the case of men, we expect them to be aggressive, responsible, competitive, independent, decisive, problem-solvers and show no sign of weakness.
We don’t need to always pit men against women or vice-versa to win a gender debate. We need to be able to see the best shreds of evidence that support gender ideals and gender itself is not biological but social and cultural. We don’t need one gender to triumph at the behest of another. We need to acknowledge the differences and identify the dynamics that serve as enabling conditions to achieve the desired aim of preventing or eradicating gender-based prejudices and violence.
(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of India.com.)
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