Whilst reading through poetry books recently, I happened across Rudyard Kipling's "Female of the species". The title intrigued me enough to read on, and I followed this up with personal research into the writer. I was surprised by his attitudes towards women as he realised that perhaps women are not so weak after all. Born in India to English Parents, when this country was still regarded as "primitive". Kipling was raised in an era with a traditional culture, which viewed women as "second class" citizens. He respected the role and duty of women in nature rather than society.
             I was inspired, feeling that my own survival instincts were no different from the animals of Kipling's poem. Being a mother, I understand survival of the fittest. We have no choice - basic instinct is still alive and well in women. Survival in the concrete jungle is just as dangerous as that in the living Jungle. These instincts remain constant whether it be mating with the strongest male for a better gene pool or defending your young. "As the mother of the infant and the mistress of the mate" writes Kipling and: these are titles shared by all women.
             In this text, Kipling reveals a great respect for the female of any species, yet his focus is on women. "Unprovoked and awful charges - even the she-bear fights, Speech that drips, corrodes, and poisons - even the Cobra bites..." Here Kipling uses a powerful analogy showing how a woman can manifest the ferocity of the bear and cobra when her young are threatened. He reinforces this with "Scientific vivisection of one nerve till it is raw"
             "And the victim writhes in anguish - like the Jesuit with the squaw!" Women do not necessarily need to be physical to be dangerous.
             In the last stanza, Kipling makes his point; that any female will succumb to basic survival instinct. He recognizes that the "weaker sex", in reality, is the deadlier whether they are women or bears, cobras or squ
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