Force vs. Fraud

Thomas Hobbes once pointed out that "force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues". This is true for competition in general, after all what is war but a competition with the highest stakes. Human beings are constantly competing against one another for resource and recognition and we compete in teams as well as individually, that is mono e mono. Competition seems an obvious consequence of inherently selfish creatures and if we look closely enough we can see degrees of competition everywhere. Competition happens from two different angles. There is force and then there is fraud. Force is the ability to physically overcome your competitors and fraud is the ability to outsmart them. To possess them both is to have quite the team.

Competition in the human universe is extremely complex. It goes from Wrigley Field to Wall Street to your local bar. Sexual competition is particularly interesting and has some interesting patterns to note. Scientifically speaking, men are on average physically stronger than women, it's a matter of genetics and it is obvious. What may have been overlooked, ironically though, is that in the competition between the sexes if the men had a monopoly on force wouldn't the women find some way to make up for this deficit? Of course, they had to adapt to utilize fraud.

Think about this. Men compete as body builders and women compete as pageant queens. The body builder goes for muscle definition and nobody cares about his personality or his mental agility. The pageant queen is a different beast however. She must possess both good looks and charm. The pageant queen must prove herself as a mental force, so to speak. She must speak eloquently, carry herself well, be charming, possess good social skills, etc. Keeping this in mind we can examine other notions we have about women in general. Stereotypically, they are known for their gossiping qualities, that is the passing on of social information and often the manipulation of such "information" in a way that is beneficial to them. Manipulation is the key to understanding fraud and there is an entire history of contraptions meant to manipulate the woman's figure to make her look, smell, feel, and even taste more attractive. There are push-up bras that make their breasts seem fuller and more desirable, gut tuckers that hide flab, cosmetics which enhance features and cover up blemishes, perfumes that smell pleasant, even lotion to keep the skin feeling smooth to the touch. It is safe to say that for all of the 5 senses women have a multitude of products to manipulate them.

It is true that men have also learned to manipulate the sensory perceptions we all share but comparatively the industries for each sex don't even compare. However, just as women have become very well suited to manipulate their environment through fraud the men had done very well to manipulate the environment through physical force, or even the mere threat of force. Countless statistics on the general behavior of males outright labels us the aggressive counterpart to the human species. Testosterone is a naturally occurring chemicals in our bodies however men have far more of it than women do and through scientific research we have determined that it plays a key role in male social habits. It makes us more competitive, more likely to take risks, and more aggressive. Far more men are charged with crimes related to physical violence than women. In men their is an inherent drive toward physical dominance, so it has been force from which we have gained our historial standing.

Since man has gone through the process of self domestication we can look at the rest of the animal kingdom for a quick case study on male social interaction. The male beasts of the jungle and of the Serengeti still battle for physical dominance. In the proverbial animal kingdom it really pays to be big and strong. To this end the male who comes out on top is first to feast and first to mate thereby securing his genetic future.