do you believe in the patriarchy?

Believe it exists? Yes. But I might not have the same definition as you.

I agree with ecclesvet that we live in a society that encourages gender roles and punishes those who don't conform. I don't believe that anyone in particular comes up with the rules, I don't believe that many people consciously choose to follow or enforce the rules, and I don't believe that most individual men benefit from it.

I don't 'believe' in the patriarchy.

I see it, experience it, observe it and am part of it.

I don't agree with everything in this link, and it is a bit long-winded, but I think it is a helpful explanation.

I particularly agree with this bit from the comments;

So "patriarchy" refers to all of us. It's not a group of people. It's not men. It's a bunch of ideological underpinnings. You have them. I have them. We all have them. It's not a group of white males. It's not a single white male. It's not an organization. It's a whole, deeply entrenched system that informs and shapes how we think, how we interact, how we see each other.

I think it depends what you mean by patriarchy. The feminist definition has shifted over time to mean the system that enforces gender roles, and I don't think anyone could disagree with that. I don't believe in groups of rich, old, white men deciding on rules; not anymore.

well, the way it was explained is that it's a matriachal society, but yeah, i soppose thats the same as a matriachy, anyway, their words not mine.

Surely at the core of feminism is the liberation from systematic oppression of men. I suppose you could believe that individual women are oppressed by individual men but IMO that is an odd way of looking at things and doesn't explain many aspects of the inequalities experienced by women.

And The Gambia isn't a matriarchy. All the power and wealth is owned by men.

It's a peculiar belief system, much like God, or Santa, or the tooth fairy. It's a convenient cop out, an excuse for women to believe that nothing is ever their fault as everything we do or say is controlled by patriarchy (including this post, no doubt).

The idea that all men conspire to oppress all women here in the West is ludicrous. I think if you substituted class or wealth for patriarchy, you'd have a far more accurate view of society.

Women are scuppered in life regarding making wealth/career choices because they physically give birth to children, and are more inclined than men to nuture them. Until we can grow our progeny in a plastic womb fertilized by laboratory grown sperm, we need to get over it and stop blaming men for not giving birth to children.

I do not see patriarchy in the west, it simply does not reflect the realities of most people I know, only the ones who have been culturally brainwashed to emotionally invest in the notion of patriarchy. They spend too much time with their noses pressed within the pages of Dworkin or Daly literature, or flitting from one feminist blog/forum to another, and not enough time just living their lives and stopping to smell the roses, rather than analysing them.

i accept that we live in a patriachy, i dont see it as glaringly as some here but i accept it excists, i'm confused to exactly what it means though, or how it would be overthrown or indeed what would replace it?

when i was on holiday in the gambia it was said oftern that it was a matriachal society, to be quite honest, i diddnt realy understand what that mean either, apart from all the young men calling my wife 'bosslady'.

presumably the patriachy of, for example, the 1930's has been eroded considerably compared to today, can this erosion lead to a state where the patriach doesnt excist any more?

if there isnt a patriachy, and it isnt replaced with a matriachy, is there a word for the state of nutral affairs inbetween?

It exists

I very much believe in it- don't understand how you wouldn't!