George Orwell: Why is it worse to kill a woman than a man?

kanuk876 · 2010-08-06T04:45:27+00:00

FTA:

Why is it worse to kill a woman than a man? The argument usually advanced is that in killing women you are killing the breeders, whereas men can be more easily spared. But this is a fallacy based on the notion that human beings can be bred like animals. The idea behind it is that since one man is capable of fertilizing a very large number of women, just as a prize ram fertilizes thousands of ewes, the loss of male lives is comparatively unimportant. Human beings, however, are not cattle. When the slaughter caused by a war leaves a surplus of women, the enormous majority of those women bear no children. Male lives are very nearly as important, biologically, as female ones.

Godspiral · 2010-08-06T05:09:25+00:00

[permanently deleted]

Feckless · 2010-08-06T06:04:54+00:00

He has a way with words. Maybe that guy should write a book or something.

Father_Ted_Crilly · 2010-08-06T11:59:46+00:00

This gets to be a real problem when countries do not diversify their military units: whole villages in Scotland were abandoned because there were no men coming home. The reason why France capitulated early in the second world war was because of repopulation problems. Orwell's exactly right.

antihostile · 2010-08-06T15:22:52+00:00

Is it just me, or is Orwell pretty much always right? Even Hitchens couldn't really find anything on him.

wdonnell · 2010-08-06T12:53:43+00:00

If this is still true today then the source of such a sentiment probably dates back several thousand years.

Men have always been protecting women against other men and this would have to be an idea incepted upon the masses to ensure survival of future families... at least from a socio-humanist standpoint it makes some sense.

Altazar · 2010-08-06T06:21:29+00:00

'normal' or 'legitimate' warfare picks out and slaughters all the healthiest and bravest of the young male population.

liberal_texan · 2010-08-06T16:24:43+00:00

Breeding is only one side of the issue.

It is worse because killing a young, healthy man is attacking the enemy's war machine, where the only practical effect of killing women at the time was to lower the enemy's political drive to fight, i.e. terrorism.

It is different today. With women in the workforce and armed forces they are part of the war machine as well, and as fair a target as the men.

menareangrynow · 2010-08-06T06:59:52+00:00

Great find there. This was a very interesting and important link.

Kaluthir · 2010-08-06T13:56:17+00:00

Generally, women are viewed as weaker. If a MMA fighter beats the living shit out of a random weak guy on the street, he would get the same kind of (although less) contempt as a random guy punching a random woman.

etherspirit · 2010-08-07T06:44:06+00:00

His reasoning is a bit off. Back in the day when kings and the rich had wives and concubines, it was affordable to send men to their deaths, raise them as eunuchs, etc. Now that monogamous relationships are the societal norm, his point is entirely valid.

JLPrant · 2010-08-06T13:04:57+00:00

Was that website created in 1998?

2010-08-06T10:44:04+00:00

Because men you have to barefist wrestle like a grizzly bear then you can mount them over the fireplace and tell hunting stories. Killing women is ez mode.

2010-08-06T09:23:07+00:00

[permanently deleted]

2010-08-06T08:39:22+00:00

George Orwell is dead, you might want to ask somebody else.

Title	George Orwell: Why is it worse to kill a woman than a man?
Author	[deleted]
Upvotes	76
Comments	34
Date	August 6, 2010 4:35 AM UTC (15 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/cxzlr/george_orwell_why_is_it_worse_to_kill_a_woman/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/george-orwell-why-is-it-worse-to-kill-a-woman-than.1048266 https://theredarchive.com/post/1048266

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