An article in the Boston Globe points to “Stone Age feminism” as a possible cause of the demise of the Neanderthals. The article cites evidence that females hunted alongside males, meaning there was equal opportunity stomping and goring by big beasts. This high rate of mortality among fertile women “could well have mean demographic disaster” and caused the Neanderthal extinction 30,000 years ago.
“Stone Age feminism?” It makes Neanderthal female sound like a strident crusader, asserting her right to hunt because she wants to be liberated from the cave. But she just couldn’t maintain that delicate work/life balance, bringing her society to total annihilation.
What mammothshit. The article’s writer ignores the logical conclusion that could be made from the evidence of female hunting: That the Neanderthals were increasingly stressed from the appearance of Homo sapiens in Europe 45,000 years ago. The species was struggling to compete for food, and the females had no choice but to join the hunt.
That’s not “Stone Age feminism.” That’s our civilization’s notions falsely applied to an alien society for a catchy headline. That’s drawing a parallel between modern women who are fighting for equal pay, equal opportunity, and affordable child care, and Neanderthal females who were fighting for the survival of their species by hunting elk and reindeer. That’s suggesting that the Neanderthal females serve as warning to humanity, that feminism is degenerative.
