Predators Among Us?

Wild animals who have knowledge of mankind have an instinctive recognition of man as predator and behave accordingly. Recently discovered species are often trusting or disinterested until they learn the truth about us. The information becomes operative over generations and we are accurately marked as dangerous.

Perhaps this same predator/prey sense clouds the relationship between men and women. Women as they mature seem to have an inborn sense over and above early childhood training that men can cause them harm. If other animals have this sound instinct should we not expect to find it amongst the ladies? Are they not as perceptive as say chipmunks or squirrels? Do we men think they don't know us for what we are?

Our society insists on clothing of some sort in public situations. Allegedly this is done to prevent distraction but is it not to protect females from predation as well? Throughout the western world in organizations and retreats people have for decades successfully met and socialized in clothing optional settings. Consider the behavior of our women and girls when in a safe environment which usually does not preclude the presence of men and boys. In such settings women and girls have been found to be relaxed and uninhibited in the presence of males even if everyone is unclad.

The presence of full nudity is accepted by the women as well as the men, girls of all ages seem to have no problem with it, nor do the young boys. Historically, what has been notably missing from these communities is the presence of teenage boys and younger men in significant numbers. The teen girls apparently have no problem with such arrangements and relax and enjoy the surroundings. Young males are a different story.

We can understand a tendency for shyness caused by raging hormones for this group but somehow even a benign setting is much more threatening to them than to females of any age. This inability to be comfortable in the presence of unadorned but comfortable peers presents a social and personal handicap of some considerable degree. If this failure is the result of a tendency toward predation that exists among young males then how can society ignore the consequences?

Without putting too fine a point to the incidence of violence, criminal activity and social delinquency of this group, should it not be considered? If young males are indeed afraid of unclad females and reports of similar reactions in Adult Clubs featuring female nudity are known. And since this group also seems prone to misadventure and tends to be warlike, what needs to be done? Such persons have a dual dilemma. On one hand they are fearful of their own mortality (females) and conversely, they have delusions of immortality (warfare)! Keeping in mind that every army in history was composed chiefly of young males.

One theory in anthropology predicates the collapse of Neanderthal society on evidence that the males did not cohabit with the females and offspring. Many reasons could have contributed to this if it is a correct hypothesis, but among them is the possibility of violent predation that rendered the male persona non gratis in the cave. Possibly male aggression led to the downfall of an entire species.

In summation consider that mature men and women along with young boys and girls of any age can find social accommodation with others even when unclothed and vulnerable, but a great many young males cannot. This would suggest the need for an immediate and far reaching effort among nations to determine how to tame our young males and also, how much protection from them is needed.