When Hormones Take the Lead

In sexual maturity, the sexes differentiate in the formation of a different body structure and sexual characteristics, but also in terms of behaviors and levels of meaning. This process happens under the influence of different hormones: While estrogen predominates in women after this developmental phase, the testosterone level in men’s blood is higher (sometimes multiple times higher).

Evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven (Hooven 2021) found in her studies that testosterone is a driving force in conditioning men for competition, increasing their propensity for violence and their hunger for status and for sexual partners. Testosterone, in combination with genes and culture, shapes men and influences their aggressive behavior.

However, the data does not provide a sufficient explanation for the emergence of patriarchal societies. Since the testosterone level in women is significantly lower, it can be concluded that women behave more adaptively and that their level of aggression and propensity for violence are significantly lower. This influences how they live in partnerships or how and with what means they pursue or enforce career paths.

Role Models 2.0

With the formation of female sexual organs, a woman’s body is conditioned for reproduction. Puberty lays the foundations for the continuation of humanity. The behavior of young girls is initially aimed at finding role models. No, it is not managers or politicians that girls today look up to but influencers and protagonists of the glamour world, showing them how they should look: slim, made up, in the right clothing, with appropriate poses and pouting lips. The goal is not to convince a company in a job interview; for some girls, this is about upgrading their own person to eventually attract a male counterpart for mating.

Insecure adolescent girls seek support and orientation in social networks. They seek answers to the question: What do I have to do as a girl to be trendy, to be liked by others, to get attention—in short: to get value?

The Insignificance of Motherhood

The underlying evolutionary motive in the search for orientation and identification is to build an identity as a future woman in order to reproduce and ensure the survival of one's offspring before one passes away. In between, humanity is busy securing its own life. The original biological “mission” is overlaid by a cultural development that no longer pays real attention to motherhood.

In my view, this is one reason why mothers are even lower in the social hierarchy than women in general—the act of conception, pregnancy, and upbringing is seen as redundant in an affluent society. No importance is attributed to a mother—unless it comes to the discussion about pensions and the shortage of skilled workers.

Suitable Gene Pool More Important than Suitable Mindset

Young women, driven by hormones and programs millions of years old, look for men with whom they can reproduce—but not men who support them in their professional development. The search for a suitable gene pool is more important than the search for a mindset suitable to their own career aspirations.

The topic of partnership and career development for women becomes important when it comes to choosing a profession. The choice must be family-compatible especially when it turns out that the partner has a different idea of life together or sticks to certain role assignments. Although studies show that women are better educated and have better degrees, a different film is running subliminally in women's minds. And this film begins with the conscious or unconscious search for a suitable man.

The Power of the Myth Disempowers Self-Efficacy

In the decision for a partner and the subsequent founding of a family, many women lose power over their own lives. All that they have acquired in terms of self-esteem, competence, and qualification becomes fragile. They give in, especially on an emotional level.

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This is where the image of the prince on the white horse, leading them to the wedding altar as the crowning glory of their lives, is created. This image is then surpassed by the myth of the completeness of a family, which is established only through children. In the emotional space of women, these ideas offer security and a sense of well-being, a kind of state of happiness that gives their life meaning. The myth is maintained—through fairy tales, stories, books, social media, societal values, the family environment, and through a certain hormonal state that occurs in the phase of falling in love or, later, at the birth of a child. In many women, hormones now take the lead and largely determine their emotional life.

Glorification Ensures Continuity

What sounds like a shortcoming of women actually ensures the existence of humanity. If young women were to view partnership and motherhood from a ruthlessly realistic perspective and not succumb to the glorification of this state, the desire for reproduction would remain in only a few women. Glorification is a necessary prerequisite for humanity to continue to reproduce.

Even if it may sound like women are subject to their hormonal fluctuations, it should be noted that they are not. Women just need to be aware that a different cocktail of hormones influences their behaviors—and develop alternative strategies for this.

Just because I know that love can blind, because during the phase of infatuation there is indeed a lack of critical view of the partner, I do not have to surrender to this feeling. I can make a completely realistic assessment of my partner at any time—if I want to.