Unique disclaimer
Herein, I intend on discussing females. Regarding this term, one source states, “An organism’s sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction.”
As “sex” refers to females, the common gender-related term concerning this category of human is “girl” or “woman.” Whereas a girl is a non-adult human female, a woman is an adult human female.
Additionally, rather than committing the irrational belief-influenced error of global evaluation—overgeneralizing by ascribing traits or behavior to an entire swath of people—critiques herein are meant to serve as abstraction regarding similarities. As such, I don’t maintain that all females are the exact same.
Moreover, sentiment reflected herein isn’t based on moral or ethical judgements concerning females. I don’t think all females are bad, wrong, evil, or otherwise, nor do I dislike or hate all females.
Finally, each individual referenced herein is presumed innocent until or unless found guilty in a court of law. Moreover, nothing stated herein is intended to defame the name or character of people in this blogpost.
Isn’t it just time for women to run the planet?
At The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment 2023 gala, actor Will Ferrell gave a speech in which he stated:
This is such a wonderful event where we honor and support and continue to fight for women in all facets of the entertainment world. But you know what? Forget about the entertainment world. Isn’t it just time for women to run the planet?
I’m not just trying to placate you, I swear. But I don’t know what else to do because we, men, we’ve been running the show since, what, 10,000 B.C.? Something like that? And we’re not doing so good. So please, can you guys just take over? Can you? I think it’s time.
Feminist talking points may very well be something the speaker and his audience value. Nevertheless, one will refrain from committing the irrational error of mindreading in regards to Ferrell’s intentions when having given his speech.
Instead, I will address the erroneous belief I’ve heard from many people throughout my life, as it relates to female superiority—the characteristic of being superior or of higher rank, quality, or importance. For example, I often heard the following nursery rhyme in childhood:
What are little boys made of?
What are little boys made of?
Snips, snails
And puppy-dogs’ tails
That’s what little boys are made of
What are little girls made of?
What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice
And everything nice [or “all things nice”]
That’s what little girls are made of
This alliteration represents female superiority, because it devalues boys. Whether or not one classifies this sentiment as stereotypical or sexist is of little importance to me.
Personally, I’m more interested in the logic and reason underlying the rhyme. Using syllogisms (basis for sound logic), let’s extract the inferred premise related to the rhyme. Then, we can ascertain whether or not Ferrell’s expressed sentiment reflects a similar female superiority trope.
Major premise: People made of sugar, spice, and everything nice are better than individuals made of snips, snails, and puppy-dogs’ tails.
Minor premise: Girls are made of sugar, spice, and everything nice.
Conclusion: Therefore, girls are better than individuals made of snips, snails, and puppy-dogs’ tails.
Although the logic is consistent, it’s based on a false premise. A categorical class of people isn’t necessarily better than another category of people by bent of genetic qualities.
While it may be true that on average group W may be better at basketball than group X, or that group Y may be overrepresented in the practice of law than group Z, statistical subsets aren’t entirely representative of one’s group functioning in all other categories of life.
To test my proposal, substitute “white people” for “girls” in the aforementioned syllogism and replace “boys” with “black people” in the corresponding nursery rhyme. Would you then agree that white people are—by the sheer nature of their existence—better than black people?
Building upon this contextual framing, I now turn to Ferrell’s proclamation—all while not ascribing what I perceive are his intentions with having expressed his proposal.
Major premise: Men, who’ve been in charge since 10,000 B.C., aren’t performing well.
Minor premise: If men aren’t performing well, the world is doomed.
Conclusion: Consequently, the world is doomed if men are in charge.
Here, the major premise is flawed, because it makes an unfalsifiable feminist claim relating to the patriarchy—a system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.
If the span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, it would be impossible to disprove Ferrell’s claim regarding male leadership. Still, for the sake of discussion, I’ll be charitable to his claim by granting the notion that men have routinely wielded more authority than women.
The assertion is that because of the quality related to males, boys, or men—masculinity, something about the male species is uniquely flawed. As evidenced by the conclusion of the aforementioned syllogism, the world is supposedly doomed if men are in charge.
The inverse of this proposition is that there’s something uniquely good, better, or superior in regards to the experience of females, girls, or women—femininity, and that superiority of their nature makes them self-evidently exceptional rulers. If you believe such a proposal, would you be willing to make the same claim regarding race?
Irrational beliefs underlying principles of this nature may be addressed by observable evidence to the contrary. It’s my stance that females are fallible human beings, just as males so obviously are. Herein, I’ll cite a number of sources to support by position.
Females are fallible, too
By no means is the information contained herein meant to be exhaustive. Rather, I’ll reference specific cases of presumed female incompetence, malice, imperfection, and otherwise, as these matters relate to the United States (U.S.). To keep this relatively short, I’ll reference females in relation to recent activity.
A Pennsylvania woman pled guilty to shooting and killing both of her sons, aged nine- and thirteen-years-old, while apparently also attempting to shoot a neighbor. Is this apparent murderous female better than males?
A Florida woman has reportedly been charged with raping her autistic brother-in-law over the course of a decade and giving birth to his child. Does this alleged sexually aggressive predator strike you as being better than males?
An Idaho woman was reportedly found guilty of murdering of her two children, ages seven- and sixteen-years-old, and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of her husband’s first wife. Perhaps this presumed homicidal female is better than males?
A Virginia woman has reportedly been accused of having met an undercover federal agent she allegedly believed was a father requesting to have group sex with his eight-year-old daughter. Is this the superior woman one has in mind when comparing females to males?
A female Utah mental health counselor was reportedly arrested alongside a female parenting advice blogger and pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse for physically and emotionally abusing children. Are these the sort of females who are superior to males?
Setting aside examples of social imperfection, I now turn toward the political fallibility of females. Per one female contributor to Psychology Today, “If we had more women in leadership positions in the world, there might be less strife, inequity, and war.”
U.S. presidential candidate Nikki Haley recently stated of Israel, “This is not just an attack on Israel; this is an attack on America, because they hate us just as much,” as she called for Benjamin Netanyahu to “finish them [Hamas]!” Is this a peaceful female who would bring less war to the nation?
On the topic of peace, one 2018 source bragged that four of the top five U.S. defense firms were to be led by women. Are the deaths caused by the military industrial complex somehow more virtuous when females lead warmongering efforts than when males are in charge of these firms?
Regarding this matter, one could ask a male senior research fellow for African Diplomacy and Leadership at the University of Johannesburg, who in July 2023 stated:
“A series of devious stratagems’ is the name of an artwork, but is this what infamous warmonger, US under secretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, has in mind when she visits our beloved country next month?
Nuland’s name isn’t exactly synonymous with “less strife, inequality, and war.” Per one source, “If feminists remain silent or support this Bush-era neocon simply because she is a woman, Victoria Nuland might just burn down the world in a nuclear fire.”
Ferrell’s notion of women running the planet flies in the face of what one source suggests, “Throughout history, queens were more likely to wage war than kings.” This isn’t because females are particularly immoral, though due to the fact that females are fallible, too.
Fabricated perfection
Whether regarding a dated nursery rhyme that purports to explain how boys are yucky and girls are pleasing, or an actor who implores women to run the planet—presumably aligned with the premise of female superiority, I maintain that females are fallible just like males.
The word “fabricate” means to invent or concoct (something), typically with deceitful intent. Concerning the feminine superiority trope, I think of artificial intelligence—the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, especially computer systems.
However, rather than informing people of truth, the lie of female superiority is more akin to artificial disinformation—false information which is intended to mislead, or “A.D.” for short. Imagine simulated A.D. proposing that females are infallible, relating instead to perfection.
The word “perfection” means the condition, state, or quality of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects. To be a valid claim regarding A.D. infallibility, there could be no examples of females assaulting, raping, murdering, or promoting war.
However, herein I’ve clearly highlighted a number of examples of females committing these specific acts. Consequently, claiming that females are anything other than—at the bare minimum—fallible like males, is spurious in nature.
Girls, women, females, and femininity aren’t goddess-like representations of superiority. Not only do propositions to the contrary suggest sexism, they place undue burdens upon non-males to live up to unachievable standards.
Therefore, I invite people to disregard absurd notions of fabricated perfection of human beings—regardless of whether or not you have an innie or an outtie. We are all flawed individuals and none of us are superior to anyone else based solely on our immutable characteristics.
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Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
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