When is the patriarchy smashed? And by what metric is 'smashing' measured? I suppose we should also ask – what is the patriarchy? Whenever I ask that question, the response is almost always, ‘there are more men in positions of political power’. And there certainly are. But that doesn’t mean we’re living in a patriarchy – a monolithic tyrannical oppressor class of men, as those 'men in power' were put there through voting (ironically, the majority of who are women). So too they represent a vanishingly small minority of 'men', and just one form of power. I have more questions too; if modern America is ruled by a such a force of ubiquitous male privilege, then why do men have such poor health outcomes, across all groups? Why are they so far behind in every stage of education, and left to wallow by the Government? Why do so many men die on the streets? Why do so many take their lives? Why are abused men ignored? If men truly rule the country – then why aren’t we sending women to war, or signing them up for the draft? To me, 'patriarchy theory' makes the fatal error of assuming that just because laws are written *by* men, then they are surely written *for* men too. For there are no laws written for men, and in fact, many are written exclusively for women. There are also many tax funded organisations – such as the Offices for Women’s Health, the Women's Bureau, and the Office on Violence Against Women that exist just for women, and not for men. There are no Governmental commissions working on behalf of boys and men, but more for women and girls than I can count. There are even rights, written in law, that men don’t have. Fathers rights for example, or the right to bodily autonomy, violated on millions of baby boys through infant circumcision every year. And of course Selective Service, which violates the Right to Equal Protection for every male living in the US. I am increasingly convinced that ‘the patriarchy’ is just a ghoul to keep women terrified, and men misunderstood. A broad brush stroke that is accepted as indisputable fact, with any challenge resulting in cries of ‘misogyny’. So I ask - is the patriarchy smashed yet? And if not now, when?

2023-04-22