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[Mister Apoc]

I have seen some criticism of this by people in the past. The Bene Gesserit are super powerful women, yet its the lone male Bene Gesserit that for some reason is able to surpass then in power. Why did the Kwisatz Haderach have to be male, did Frank ever give a detailed reason about this?

 

[Mister Apoc]

I'm curious

 

[DeepBreath87]

The patriarchy and toxic masculinity.

 

[QSD]

I have seen some criticism of this by people in the past. The Bene Gesserit are super powerful women, yet its the lone male Bene Gesserit that for some reason is able to surpass then in power. Why did the Kwisatz Haderach have to be male, did Frank ever give a detailed reason about this?

I think most 'conceptual' science fiction like Dune vaguely has the 'purpose' of making people reflect on current society by showing parallels as well as contrasts. Or at least that's one reason people find sci fi interesting to read, it reflects in some way on the human condition. I don't know what more specific reason you'll find, there may very well be none.

 

[Fbh]

From the Dune Wiki:
The term originated from the Bene Gesserit's prescient powers, and their inability to venture into a specific region of prescient knowledge. This region, though mysterious in nature, was known to be unattainable to females. Specifically, the spice melange allowed the Bene Gesserit to unlock genetic memory, but only on their maternal side. Female humans carry two X chromosomes, while males possess an X chromosome and a Y chromosome. A Kwisatz Haderach would be capable of accessing genetic memories stored within both chromosomes, while those memories were inaccessible to Bene Gesserit. Memories from male ancestors are still accessible to females with access to genetic memory (Alia is able to make contact with the ego memory of Vladimir Harkonnen for instance) but due to the lack of the Y chromosome, the memories were incomplete. Accessing the full paternal memories was impossible for the Bene Gesserit, and the very thought of trying was terrifying to them. Further, melange also exposed the Sisterhood (and others) to a limited form of prescience - thoughts, feelings, images into the near future, but no more.

 

[GeekyDad]

Been quite a long while since my last reading of the book, but it was a prophecy. I think perhaps the prophet could have been male or female.

 

[jason10mm]

That Y chromosome, yo.

 

[TyphoonStruggle]

Pretty sure he kwistatz haderach had to be male. It’s basically a male version of the reverend mothers.

 

[jason10mm]

I give that wiki entry about a week before it is radically altered

 

[ClanOfNone]

Pretty sure he kwistatz haderach had to be male. It’s basically a male version of the reverend mothers.

I could spend paragraphs writing an answer but this guy summed it up pretty succinctly.

 

[FunkMiller]

Because Kwisatz Haderach is Polish for ‘Big Swinging Dick’.

 

[QSD]

Because Kwisatz Haderach is Polish for ‘Big Swinging Dick’.

On GAF however, it translates as "micropenis"

 

[SireSmogMurk]

Yes, Frank did provide a detailed reason for the kwisatz haderach needing to be male.

Female bene geserit do not have prescience. They don't because the pathways to masculine inner memory are utterly terrifying to them. Like repulsive to the very inner core of their being. Like, horrified unto madness if they try, and their sisters would consider them possessed abominations and immediately kill them.

Not many bene geserit are actually able to commune with inner memory, and those that can do so to varying degrees. The most gifted bene geserit in this regard was anirul, "wife" to shaddam corrino, and she was selected and placed highly in the program and sisterhood specifically because she had such natural talent for inner memory... she herself succumbed to madness after delving too deeply in her inner awareness (another name for it)...

The kwisatz haderach program is all about manipulating male genetics to produce a male that can look down both the feminine and masculine paths of inner memory... and it is crucial to them that they, the female bene geserit, can control this individual. It had to be a male because only a male could look down both pathways of inner memory without being driven utterly insane... although I don't see that as a logical conclusion for them to come to. I mean, if females are repulsed by male inner memory, why wouldn't males be repulsed by female inner memory?