# Women-only world: Are there wars? How are they fought? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 11, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008 "2017-07-11T16:01:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/61 "2017-07-13T10:00:52Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > While I realize the last answer was tongue-in-cheek, I cannot recall any instance of a girl-on-girl fight in a school involving weapons. I cannot recall any instance of any fight in a school involving weapons… unless you count hitting someone with class materials, which did happen once or twice. The people involved were of both sexes, but they trended short (the ones most likely to hit were also the ones least likely to give a shit about gender yet). And if you’re including fights that make the newspapers there have been some where girls used weapons. The ones I’ve seen in the news tended to involve knives rather than guns but that’s due to location. ---
**Author:** ![Latro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a87d85/32.png) [@Latro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Latro)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/62 "2017-07-13T10:08:32Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Maybe an answer could be inferred from studying isolated, female-only populations in history? How about nunneries? ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/63 "2017-07-14T03:09:05Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > In general, males and females differ (behaviorally and in terms of personality characteristics etc) as populations but there’s more difference within each population than on average between the two populations, and there’s a whole lot of overlap between the two populations. . That’s great, but differences _among_ men, and _among_ women, _also_ frequently correlate with exposure to androgens during prenatal development, so this actually strengthens the case that things like aggression have a (partly) hormonal basis. Anyway, for a normally distributed variable small differences in means are magnified at the extremes, so it’s perfectly possible for the average man to be only a bit more aggressive than the average woman, but at the same time for men to be massively overrepresented among the population of _extremely_ aggressive people. There are reasons that murder is mostly a male endeavor. ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/64 "2017-07-14T03:11:21Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > While I realize the last answer was tongue-in-cheek, I cannot recall any instance of a girl-on-girl fight in a school involving weapons. > > I wonder if, rather than nation vs. nation wars in the Women World (i.e., Israel vs. Iran,) that instead we’d see numerous tiny civil wars within countries, of clique vs clique, political faction vs. political faction. None fought on a level greater than the weaponry available to a Crips or Bloods type of faction. Perhaps a lot more infiltration, sabotage, surreptitious action than male open-air warfare. IIRC (though I don’t remember where the citation was from), domestic violence is actually more common in lesbian relationships than in opposite sex or gay relationships, so it’s not that female violence is utterly unknown. My guess (no evidence though) would be that lesbian domestic violence is less likely to be seriously damaging / lethal than male on female violence however (that study ony looked at incidence not severity). ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/65 "2017-07-14T04:27:11Z")
Its difficult to answer the question, to be honest. Women and men are not identical biologically, and they are also not programmed with the same values and behavioral norms. In a world populated with only women, would values and behavioral norms associated with women remain exactly as they are now? Or would they shift so that a large percentage of women would fill the vacuum of traits and roles currently associated with men? I don’t think it’s inevitable that a female society would have as many wars as a male one. In my view, changing the demographic makeup of society so drastically means, in some sense, we might as well be talking about an imaginary race on an imaginary planet. To answer “yes” requires believing that war is some inherent, unassailable property of a functional civilization. But I don’t accept that assumption. The propensity for violence–whether on an individual level or a community level–depends on a lot of factors. Eliminating the Y chromosome from humanity–and the testosterone that comes with it–would be a factor too big to dismiss out of hand. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/66 "2017-07-14T05:57:04Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Its difficult to answer the question, to be honest. Women and men are not identical biologically, and they are also not programmed with the same values and behavioral norms. In a world populated with only women, would values and behavioral norms associated with women remain exactly as they are now? Or would they shift so that a large percentage of women would fill the vacuum of traits and roles currently associated with men? Well, for starters, I expect there might be less pink-coding. And none of that “girls don’t use tools!” unless you want houses to start falling down on your ears. Basques used to be accused of being a matriarchate by our more patriarchal neighbors. Basque women could inherit, enter contracts, be major of a town\*, trade real estate and other things which Castillian and/or French law banned. This was from our point of view mainly a matter of practicality: when a lot of the men spend weeks or months away from home, you simply can’t have the local economy grind to a stop every time the fleet leaves for the cod banks. The other areas in Spain where women had relatively more rights were areas whose men also traveled a lot: the merchant coasts of the East. And I’ve wrapped up a lot of discussions on genderized professions with two words: _hermano enfermero_. Nowadays many people think of nursing as a female profession, but in a male monastery, there is a position called Brother Nurse. Which were the exceptions to those Castillian laws about trades of real estate? Abbesses and titled ladies. The titled lady might have an equally-titled husband, but attempts at making abbesses have to depend on a man to manage the monastery’s lands didn’t go well. - Not between the early 19th century and the 2nd Republic, or under Franco. It’s one of the aspects in which the Enlightment wasn’t particularly enlightened, removing representational rights from women. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/67 "2017-07-14T09:22:35Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > In the modern world, the vast majority of soldiers fight because they believe it is their duty to do so, or because they are coerced into it via conscription. …or because it pays. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/68 "2017-07-14T11:09:43Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Bonobos, the closest genetic relative to humans, are a matriarchal society. Are they? Okay, but who does the fighting. My point was in primates its the males who often led and fight, but in insects its the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_lining](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Silver\_lining](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_lining)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/69 "2017-07-14T11:16:56Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > While I realize the last answer was tongue-in-cheek, I cannot recall any instance of a girl-on-girl fight in a school involving weapons. > > I wonder if, rather than nation vs. nation wars in the Women World (i.e., Israel vs. Iran,) that instead we’d see numerous tiny civil wars within countries, of clique vs clique, political faction vs. political faction. None fought on a level greater than the weaponry available to a Crips or Bloods type of faction. Perhaps a lot more infiltration, sabotage, surreptitious action than male open-air warfare. I think that has to do with fear ( the school fights ), Men invited just about every weapon, and many pre modern day guns were heavy and could be difficult for women to carry around for war and use. But I do think men are more likely to use war. If we look at jhiad bomber types, they can be women, but are usually male. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/70 "2017-07-14T13:59:57Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > To answer “yes” requires believing that war is some inherent, unassailable property of a functional civilization. But I don’t accept that assumption. You’re rather less cynical than me, then ;). I think struggle for resources and the creation of out groups is fundamental. Perhaps even necessary for the creation of civilization. Again, I think resorting violence is a _less_ likely outcome on average over competition of this sort in an all female society. But I don’t think _never_ resorting to violence is likely either. > [@](#): > > Eliminating the Y chromosome from humanity–and the testosterone that comes with it–would be a factor too big to dismiss out of hand. Just to clarify, I assume you are speaking metaphorically here. Because literally, it is inaccurate. You’re producing testosterone in your ovaries and adrenal glands this very instant - you just maintain much lower ambient levels than men. But among other things it helps in the production of new blood cells in your body. Similarly my male body is producing estrogen. Low testosterone in women and low estrogen in men both have adverse health effects( BOTH can cause loss of libido, interestingly enough - one needs all of their proper sex hormones ). ---
**Author:** ![Hector\_St\_Clare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5ac83/32.png) [@Hector\_St\_Clare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hector_St_Clare)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/71 "2017-07-14T14:26:25Z")
> [@Silver\_lining](#): > > This is the point where some may be upset with gender differences so I’ll start out with animals. > > For example in the insect world, it’s the females who often fight. The males in many cases are smaller, or in the case of social insects like Ants, Bees or Termites do zero fighting and little besides reproduction. > > If we shift toward primates, they are all dominated by males. The males make the decisions and do almost all of the fighting. > > Moving toward human females they can start wars ( Queens have in past history ) but are seldom seen fighting in them. I’d estimate 99% of all military inventions were by men. Women were just not equipped for the physical labors of war, but today that means a lot less as the equipment and machinery are very different. But what has not changed is female jealousy, emotional anger, and such among their own sex, which was probably an important part of our evolution long ago. > > There are one or two people I really don;t like, that I sometimes have to be in the same room with. Women if they really don;t like someone can’t seem to do this, especially if the other person is another women. If there were only women and this still existed, I think you have the same problem of war, but different reasons for them started Some primates are male dominated, not all by any means. Read, for example, Sarah Blaffer Hrdy and her survey of sexual dynamics among different primate species. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/72 "2017-07-14T15:55:24Z")
There were certainly fights involving women with knives at my high school over the eras. Most of the gun owners I know are female, but that could be about the restricted range of my acquaintances. > [@](#): > > A Cleveland woman retrieved a gun hidden under the floorboards of her home and started firing on a group of women who broke in to attack her, police say. > **[Cleveland woman fires on accused home invaders, shoots one](https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2017/04/cleveland_woman_pulls_gun_from.html)** > > Four women are charged in connection with a Sunday home invasion on the city's East Side that left one woman with gunshot wounds. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/73 "2017-07-14T18:31:16Z")
For those interested in exploring the idea of what happens to society when all the men (except 1) suddenly die, I recommend[Y the last man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y:_The_Last_Man). Then ending sucks but its an interesting read. Long story short according to this author the answer is yes, women can be just as ambitious aggressive as men. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/74 "2017-07-14T19:19:45Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > For those interested in exploring the idea of what happens to society when all the men (except 1) suddenly die, I recommend[Y the last man](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y:_The_Last_Man). Then ending sucks but its an interesting read. Long story short according to this author the answer is yes, women can be just as ambitious aggressive as men. Well sure women can be just as ambitious and aggressive as men. But the question of this thread is whether they’d get in a fight with Russia or just start spreading rumours that Russia is a total slut and has strange hygiene habits? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/75 "2017-07-14T21:05:18Z")
To paraphrase Rick James, testosterone is a hell of a drug. People who change from hormone levels typical for one sex to hormone levels typical for the other sex very frequently experience personality changes. Some of that could be the placebo effect–you expect to feel more masculine or more feminine, and so you experience feeling more masculine or feminine. ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/76 "2017-07-14T22:00:01Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > You’re rather less cynical than me, then ;). I think struggle for resources and the creation of out groups is fundamental. Perhaps even necessary for the creation of civilization. Again, I think resorting violence is a _less_ likely outcome on average over competition of this sort in an all female society. But I don’t think _never_ resorting to violence is likely either. A I wouldn’t say “never” either. That said, the “struggle for resources” doesn’t necessitate war (diplomacy has always been a thing), and resources that have spawned wars historically have not always been essential to community survival. Take the land wars resulting from European imperialism, for example. Expansion into the Americas was driven by monarchical greed and the pursuit of power. In a world where these interests are not valued or promoted, wars of this type very well might not occur. I doubt that a an all-women society would not value greed and power at all, but it’s seems a big assumption to assert that it would to the same degree that patriarchal societies have and currently do. > [@](#): > > Just to clarify, I assume you are speaking metaphorically here. Because literally, it is inaccurate. You’re producing testosterone in your ovaries and adrenal glands this very instant - you just maintain much lower ambient levels than men. My comment was not inaccurate, literally or figuratively. My point is that men have much more testosterone than women, courtesy of their y-chromosomes. Yes, women also produce the hormone to a lesser extent. What I said doesn’t negate that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/77 "2017-07-14T22:31:58Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > My comment was not inaccurate, literally or figuratively. My point is that men have much more testosterone than women, courtesy of their y-chromosomes. Yes, women also produce the hormone to a lesser extent. What I said doesn’t negate that. If we’re going that route, it seems someone should make a crack about how war would maybe only get waged once a month but there would be no survivors. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/78 "2017-07-14T22:43:12Z")
I dunno, monthly? There, satisfied? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/79 "2017-07-14T23:25:44Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > If we’re going that route, it seems someone should make a crack about how war would maybe only get waged once a month but there would be no survivors. Crack away, but I don’t know of any stats that show estrogen and progesterone fluxes track with violence and aggression anywhere to the extent that testosterone does, do you? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008/80 "2017-07-14T23:48:15Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Crack away, but I don’t know of any stats that show estrogen and progesterone fluxes track with violence and aggression anywhere to the extent that testosterone does, do you? Would you be amenable to stuff that links – oh, I dunno; let’s maybe call it a whole pre-menstrual _syndrome,_ I guess? – to irritability and mood swings? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/women-only-world-are-there-wars-how-are-they-fought/791008.md?page=5)