What Is Patriarchy Really?
Because if we don’t understand all the components we can’t combat the ways it harms us all
I’ve had more than one man ask me in the comments section of my stories on the dominance-based hierarchy, “Why do we have to bring patriarchy into the equation? Isn’t that a separate thing?” The short answer to that is No, patriarchy is the exact right term. In fact, I only add dominance hierarchy to help diffuse some of the knee-jerk reactions that people often have to a term that they think they already know the meaning of. Patriarchy isn’t a synonym for men, and it’s not only about male primacy.
Patriarchy is a dominance-based hierarchy system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it. Up until about 50 years ago in this country, there were laws and overt social mores that upheld exactly this. But, some have said, “We don’t have that now.” It’s true that the US no longer has laws that afford different rights to men than to women, but aside from the fact that the legacy of those laws and mores lives on in our cultural subconscious, there is more to patriarchy than just a gendered power differential. We absolutely are still living in a patriarchy.
When group stability is important for individual advantage, selection…
