An Enquiry into the Duties of the Male Gender — Pt. 6

Power

“The wisest man would be the one richest in contradictions” — Will to Power, Nietzsche

After all the examples discussed in previous essays, it becomes clear that the concept of ‘power’ is intrinsically bound to the concept of traditional masculinity. All aspects of traditional masculinity lead to, or are born out of, the domination of and power over something. Whether that is an instrument, a car, or a woman, this form of masculinity demands complete control over it. Anything less than that makes you weak, unmanly or changes your gender entirely to be a woman.

We have explored the reason why this is the case in previous essays but what is troubling about this desire for domination from so many men, even in smaller, non-misogynistic ways, is that it is believed that this desire for power is somehow innate in men, that this is just our nature from birth, but this is a result of confusion over ‘need’ and ‘want’.

There are many things humans need, expertly presented in Maslow’s famous ‘Hierarchy of Needs’ table. This says that the most basic human needs are air, water, food, shelter, sleep, clothing, etc things without which we would likely die. This then progresses to needs for safety like maintenance of health…