The hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world

In a recent conversation with feminist atheists, I claimed that the reason that conquest-by-rape always fails is because, at least for the first two to three years of life, women have more influence on children's brains than men do. That isn't always true of course- there's always the stay-at-home-daddy type like myself, and I had an enormous amount of influence on Christopher before the age of six months; to the extent that at 11 years he still insists on "Daddy cuddle time". But in most cases, in patriarchal societies and especially in ones that are busy with conquest of new areas, Daddy's out either working or conquering new lands; he's left behind his genes, but he has no influence on how the child is raised. Nor does he care- for if he's trying the conquest-by-rape idea in the first place, he's got a very malformed view of the family and what it takes to raise well adjusted children. Which leaves Mom. Rocking the cradle. Reading stories or telling myths that fit HER values. So whose culture gets transmitted? Mom.

Oddly enough, there is recent evidence that for a patriarchal society to survive, Dad *must* be involved with his children before they are school age. What they see Dad do, they will also emulate- if he's around for them to see him do it. But that last is very key. Unless Dad is around, there is no way for Dad's culture to be transmitted to the children. And since conquest-by-rape dads never stick around, it still fails. So Catholic Dads, there is a lesson in that for you- Pope Francis is right. Stick around. You are the Shepherd of your family, you need the smell of the sheep on you.