Recently, Saudi Arabia allowed women to drive cars. Feminists see this as a triumph over male oppression. They are partly correct. Historically, women’s rights movements have broken male monopoly in many areas: the right to vote; to get jobs and move to leadership positions; admission to institutes of education; sharing parenting responsibilities and so on. But advances in modern biology suggest this is a hollow victory. The dominance of men in positions of power and privilege has little to do with biology. It has long been known both genders have 32 teeth, 650 muscles and 206 bones.
We know the genetic difference between sexes is around one in 20,000. So, things other than biology must explain sexism: one factor could be how male specialisation in some activities gave them political power over women. We know chimps and bonobos share 99% of our genes. More startling is an even newer discovery: we share 99% of our DNA with lettuce.
This could have startling philosophical, scientific and medical implications. Vegans might have to, sheepishly, admit they’re consuming something closer to them than pigs —which share a bit less than 99% of our DNA; PETA might be replaced by People for Ethical Treatment of Salads (PETS).
Then, as we embrace the great unity of species, humanity might be forced to survive on love and fresh air.
