Womenzwerk at the Zoo

Something tells me it's all happening at the zoo...
Is Womenzwerk a primal instinct?

I think Simon and Garfunkel had it right in the sixties with their song about the zoo, quoted above. On a family trip to the zoo, I looked in the mirror of women's existence and it wasn't pretty.

It was one of the first warmish days of Spring so the animals were all very active and outdoors. The otters were entertaining the crowd, the tiger was pacing and making eye contact and the monkeys were fighting over cauliflower in between rounds of "tag" around their space. But it was the bears that told the real story of life at the zoo. When we arrived the female brown bear was lounging on a log, soaking up the sun and looking very content. No doubt she had just put the kids to bed, finished catching dinner for her family and was finally getting some must needed moments to herself. As we watched, the male bear came up and booted her off the log with his paw, forcing her to move to another part of their area. She looked at him with what was certainly a bear glare and started to move away. Then, just to add insult to injury, he hoisted his right leg up in the air while seated and proceeded to fondle his bear man parts while God and all the visitors watched him. The female, now truly disgusted, moved down into a completely different area as far from him as she could get. This hit way too close to home.

I ask you, is this not typical of what we human animals go through on a regular basis? Which just leads me to wonder if the relationship between men and women, and the itch to be in charge and do all of the things we do as women is really a primal instinct. Maybe we just know in our bones that men will push their weight around but in the end, they will simply sit and scratch themselves while we take care of all the little things that need doing each day. Now, nothing against the men of this world, but clearly the Womenzwerk we do is holding society together and it seems we are hardwired to do it.

I have to say, later in the day the lions seemed to echo the lesson. The zoo volunteer told us that the females were really in charge of everything, but they let the male think he was king and let him sleep in the prime spot in the enclosure. If we are really hardwired to do it all and men are really hardwired to do what comes naturally, it puts Womenzwerk in a whole new light somehow. Is it somehow better to know that we might be doing this because we simply can't biologically function any differently? Or does it mean we're really living in our lowest, basic natures when we play these roles? Can we change? Do we want to?

So what do you think? Is Womenzwerk primal instinct or environmental pressure?