Q&A Forum - Best of Elise

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The flip side of the male protective nature is the negative male trait of being overly possessive of a woman. If a man feels it is his duty to protect a woman, he can begin to view her as being his possession. An interesting characteristic about the male nature is when you see a man picking a fight with another man over a woman. That is a definite sign of being possessive of the female but is it driven by the male need to protect or the male ego? Is the male being overly possessive due to his desire to protect a woman or is he flexing his masculinity by taking a stand that the woman is his woman (i.e. his possession)?

I do not mean to downplay the wonderful male trait of protecting his loved-ones but I am simply pointing out that this is more complex than just a broad generalization. And that brings me to your analysis that the protective nature of man is where the submissive顺从 — willing to obey nature of man arises. I disagree with that. In fact, I would argue that it is the opposite. The protective nature of man is what caused women to surrender their power and allowed a patriarchal system to rule society. Women have sacrificed liberty for security. When society is unable to protect its citizens, and the last line of defense is the man of the house, the intelligent female will do what is necessary to ensure the protection of her children, and if that means to allow the man to dominate, so be it. That was the mindset of many females for many centuries. Thankfully that is changing.