Community Conscience

This will be a thoroughly speculative piece. I am wondering about the behavior of the men I am working with here. We live segregated from women 24/7; we teach only male students; and generally, we socially interact with men only, except in privileged circumstances some expats enjoy on the compounds.



No female influence here either

I wonder if the combination of the isolation from women with the stress and anxiety of this controlling environment creates a loss of community conscience? Do women provide a sort of social conscience that is absent when men are put together? That some other type of social order assumes command in its place? That social order is one of “survival of the fittest”: who is the loudest, strongest, smartest vie for social prominence in a way that is more pronounced when women are not present to act as moderators? I have found that a lot of men I am working with have grown less able to control their normally operating social inhibitions. There is a greater frequency of lost tempers, abusive language treatment, carelessness with customary social obligations.

This could be due to simply accumulated stress. It could be just that people are always this way, and their true nature is becoming manifest. Or, it could be that a moderating influence of women on social behavior acts as a brake on male excesses. I have heard that having women drive in KSA would probably do more to improve the quality of driving on Riyadh highways than any speed bumps or added law enforcement could ever accomplish. Is this the case for social settings as well?

In any case, I am sensing a growing amount of tension and “extreme” behavior in people I have come across. It is approaching the end of the year, people want to go back home and re-connect during the vacation period, and relieve some stress. It is also getting hotter; the temperatures are rising, the rain makes everything muggier and more humid. All things put together, this makes for a wild ride in the last month before vacation, so seat-belts are not optional.