ABSTRACT
Men, in their concern to be top dogs, have subjugated women by muscle power, denigration and denying them education, property or position. But most of all the timeless tyranny of childbearing hampered women – until the 1960s when Pincus developed the completely effective, simple contraceptive pill. Before that only rare women like Elizabeth I and Florence Nightingale retained control of their lives, at the sacrifice of their sexuality. Despite Cato's fears and improved female status, the main danger to psychological well-being and self-esteem for the human male does not come from women but from the inexorable advance of civilized living and domestication. As with the domestic dog, flabby muscles, sagging skin and hanging stomach, are now quite consistent with comfortable, 'successful' life. The releasing factors for eating and sex have hypertrophied while basic instincts about protecting the young and their mothers have atrophied.
