The patriarchy

[catgirl1976]

I saw a thread awhile ago along the lines of "Do you Believe in the Patriarchy?" but never posted.

Now a few other threads have got me wondering.

I accept that we live in a society which is, amongst other things, male-centric and that society as it stands offer certain groups advantages over others and that in general males would be one of the benefitting groups.

But sometimes I read posts that seem to suggest some people feel it is more than this, almost a concious entity that is designed and committed to a very clear purpose of oppressing women, rather than just the often subconcious continuation of embedded social norms

What am I missing?

[Alameda]

not sure what you're asking, is it: is the oppression a sort of accidental byproduct or a conscious, collective design type thing?

[thechairmanmeow]

i've said this before, men are , generaly speaking, physicaly stronger than women, men have opressed women throughout the millenia basicaly because they could, no great desighn, no conspiracy it was just to tempting to whield power when the oppertunity presents itself.

[Himalaya]

I think the summary was some people think it is design, - a choice by men to opress women with violence at it's root.

Some people think it is more the way society turned out on the basis of things that generations and generations of people did to survive and compete, and which then got formalised into laws and customs.

[glasgowwean]

Don't know if you are missing anything.

Mini posted on another thread about how the patriarchy came into being and there was nothing sinister or intentional about it initially.

It resonated with me that although men and women originally participated in society equally, the child bearing issues when combined with changes in society resulted in women slowly becoming marginalised. As the ones involved in outside life, men then came to focus more on their needs, desires etc. I think this was then compounded by being men's higher rights, needs whatever, being formally committed to legislation, religion etc until it became all encompassing. Men, as a collective, at some point began to abuse the power that they gave themselves.

I don't think it started with intent but some men have used the systems created to continue to abuse women and to retain their power.

[catgirl1976]

Thanks all

My question is I suppose, do people believe that the patriarchy is currently concious and deliberate

I feel sometimes it is being described as a living entity, or a malevolant group that meets weekly in a volcano and I wanted to get a feel for how people actually saw it.

When you hear of people wanting to tear it down (and yes folowing on from Hullys thread) I want to understand, tear down what? For me it is just society, so hard to tear down, but possible to change but was not sure if others felt it was something more

Does that make any sense?

[Alameda]

this is a cop out of course but it's a lot of each isn't it - there are clear, deliberate individual acts of malevolence aimed at reinforcing the imbalance of power generally

[catgirl1976]

For me, it is just the way society has turned out through the effects of millions of things, but probably largely the fact that women birth and feed children.

Whilst there are no doubt individuals who would activley seek to harm and oppress women, I do not feel there is a concious, collective, hive dedicated to that purpose but sometimes I feel like others posters feel that there is

Perhaps I have mis read / read too much into such posts.

[Alameda]

I think I know what you mean, perhaps it is a convenient shorthand way of identifying and describing the processes at work

[catgirl1976]

Thanks for that. I think I have been imaginging that some people believe in a sort of shadowy force and that has made me a bit about some posts

Understanding it is just shorthand for the male-centric society we live in makes in much easier.

[Alameda]

I don't actually know, only think about these things very intermittently.

[messyisthenewtidy]

I think we live in a fratriarchy. Society is built around male networks, from politics to sports, economics to law, anything in the public decision making domain is built around male bonds, whilst female bonds are discouraged and women more isolated.

I don't think there's a conspiracy behind it (except of course from certain individuals), it's just that men who benefit from it perpetuate it by failing to challenge it. Obviously some women too because values get internalized and it's easier to go along with the status quo than to challenge it.