Do We Still Need Women?

In this thought-provoking discussion, we explore whether advances like artificial wombs fundamentally threaten the necessity of women in society. We analyze how the maternal instinct shapes female psychology evolutionarily.

We also cover the interplay of sexuality, submission rituals in both secular and religious spheres, the plausibility of multi-gender futures, and whether tension between genders creates cultural dynamism. Ultimately we contend traditional pair bonds seem deeply embedded in human drives. Losing women would sacrifice aspects of the human experience.

Malcolm: [00:00:00] these submission rituals that you see within these you know, BDSM communities and stuff like that, Very similar rituals sort of co evolved in many religious communities.

Hmm. Whether you're talking about, you know, ultra

Orthodox Jewish Teflon, Catholic Opus Dei, like whipping thing and stuff like that.

And I don't think that any of this is because these cultures have been influenced by sexual cultures. I think it's that both represent extreme forms of submission and that extreme forms of submission, whether they be to masturbate a feeling instinct or to show supplication to... a genuine great power are going to have some degree of co evolution,

Would you like to know more?

Malcolm: So, you guys might know this from our other content. I'll talk while you're getting ready. But that we don't use heating in our house in the winter because we believe in extreme frugality.

Like, suffering edifies the spirit, everything like that, you know? But! Last year when she wasn't pregnant, she was wearing a [00:01:00] Russian that she bought from, like, somewhere in Siberia where she could get cheap.

You know what I'm going to do? I am going to, I'm going to share a picture with our audience because this is just too much. But what she has done and you can talk a bit, how you came to this, you know, we're talking about pragmaxing in life. What you did is you said, okay, so first.

You know, where do people live in really cold environments? And then you got these, these, these sew suits that make you look like a, somebody who should be called Natasha. Like a James Bond villain or something. And now because you're pregnant, you can't wear them anymore. And so she's like, okay, when did people have to deal with pregnancy and cold environments without heating?

And so she went back and took inspiration from medieval outfits. And I'd love it if you could talk a bit about how your layering process works with this.

Simone: Yeah it's, it's brilliant. I, I think this is much better maternity wear. One, because actually when you go back to, I mean, before the industrial revolution, everyone just kind of wore the same outfit all the time.

So your outfit had to grow with you. If you got fatter, if you got thinner, it would have to grow with you or shrink with you. If you got pregnant, it would have to grow [00:02:00] or shrink with you. So I was like, Oh yeah. then probably the best clothing I should wear for changing sizes is clothing from a different age.

And so, for the winter to stay warm, I'm basically wearing like thermal underwear and over that I'm wearing a chemise. And I have a, like, I guess you could say it's kind of like a a corset or stays and then a long skirt and then a really heavy wool coat. And it just feels great. So, I think.

Much better maternity wear than the gross stuff that most women are forcing themselves to wear while they get

Malcolm: larger. And a great thing about this is you can wear it pregnancy after pregnancy and year after year and day after day because this is a type of clothing that's designed to be worn almost every day.

Yeah,

Simone: it's super durable, it's very practical, and it's extremely comfortable. So, highly recommend it.

Malcolm: With just changing out the underlayer, obviously. But, okay, so... I am going to prime you with something that happened to me at this art conference we went to, which is like a conservative [00:03:00] Davos thing that was hosted by like Jordan Peterson and Louise Perry.

Anyway, in the UK, the conservatives are quite different than the conservatives in the US. They are more like small C conservatives and the feminist side of the movement is much, much bigger there because turfs make up a big part of the conservative movement out there. Anyway, so I was talking to them about, oh, you know, the.

IVF, artificial wombs, stuff like that. And this one woman just lost it. She goes, what? Artificial wombs are the most evil thing ever. If we have artificial wombs, what's even the point of women? Nothing could be more anti feminist than an artificial womb.

Simone: Hold on. Wait. A feminist woman. Thought that the only point of women was gestation.

Malcolm: Well, keep in mind, and this is actually really interesting, so these women in this conservative movement, they have a very conservative view of what a woman's role is. Have kids, care for the home, care for the kids, right? Is that feminist? Well, it's not. This is [00:04:00] TERF feminism. It's a little different from what we think.

It's a female focused agenda, but, and, and, and, excuse me, Simone, this is a good win for women. Women really talk themselves out of a pretty good position. Today, we're like, oh, it's so anti feminist to say women shouldn't have to work and just stay at home all day with modern appliances caring for like two measly

Simone: kids.

In a modern age, in a modern age, the idea of, of women as gestational managers and parents is actually pretty cush. I mean, in the, in the old age, like in, in the ages of the clothing that I'm like mocking, you know, women died at childbirth at really high rates. It was actually a pretty risky profession.

Malcolm: We've repeatedly seen this from women in this, this aspect of the conservative movement. You know, just horrified by, by artificial wombs, making women less. Necessary in the way that they define what womanhood is. And this moment was really interesting to me. Because what it demonstrated to me, like, I was just trying to, like, think [00:05:00] about actually what her mindset must be to be worried about this.

Yeah. Which is to say, Yeah, we could, with artificial wombs, create a society in which you don't need women at all. But why is that a bad thing? Like, you, woman, you can have boys. You know that, right? Like, and these boys are part you, right? It showed to me that she identified more with her gender than with her culture, or family line, or even own children.

Simone: Well, but it also demonstrates a pretty significant amount of hatred towards women, because if you think that the only reason women are kept relevant in society is because they have gestational gatekeeping ability, that, and then when that goes away, when, when basically men no longer have to depend on women for wombs, the assumption is that like women will completely lose their position in society implies that she doesn't think women have.

[00:06:00] Any other value that, like, they don't contribute these ideas.

Malcolm: That On. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hit you with something that you have told me before, uhoh because you have said something that counteracted this before. Okay. You agreed with a friend of ours who said this Okay. Where she was like, you know, with trans people sometimes being able to do femininity much better than women.

Yeah. What's even the point of women anymore? Yeah. And this was the context of like, okay, if you, and this is true, like when I hear that somebody, a woman in Silicon Valley is running a successful