I sent you this in a PM ealier.
http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2...farrow-sexual-abuse-secret-report-exonerated/
Strangely enough, I think the rape culture you're speaking of is actually driven more bu bureaucracy than anything. Like a school that has a vested interest in a sports program that favors the accused (and exacerbates the situation) regardless of evidence, or a military culture that is very pro "keep it in the unit".
All of that shit comes from the patriarchy.
The US is about as much a patriarchy as it is a direct democracy.
Or maybe we do understand it and disagree with your assessment of its meaning.
Oh, I'm fully aware that "the patriarchy" means whatever the hell is most convenient for the politically correct argument of the week. It's like blaming something on "the weather". It's a generic enough term that it's all encompassing. Crops not doing well? It's "the weather". New restaurant went under? It's "the weather". Electricity bill higher this month? Must be "the weather". It's enough of the truth in so many cases that people don't stop to think that there are many other factors, and even if "the weather" is the sole cause of something, it's such a non-specific concept that it doesn't mean crap. Anything and everything gets blamed on "the patriarchy" and it means even less than blaming stuff on "the weather".
You have no idea what you're talking about. I regret not ignoring this post the second I saw the word "politically correct". I am dumber for having read it all. I award you no points, and may god have mercy on your soul.
White, straight, cis men absolutely cannot stand the idea that they have privilege.
Because far too many people believe that "an individual male = the patriarchy", and, like I said, so many things get blamed on it in such a generic way that it doesn't actually mean much to say it. Acknowledging that there are patriarchal elements in our society is different than people raving about "the patriarchy" like they protested against "the man" back in the 60s. "The patriarchy" is often treated as if it's an Illuminati type organization, and not a system of interacting social trends.
Yes, because an illiterate, short, disfigured, in-debt-up-to-his-eyeballs, West Virginia coal miner with no clean water to drink is inherently more privileged than any woman, simply because he's a white, straight, cis-gendered male. Obviously he has much more political sway and control over his life than say, Michelle Obama, who is so inherently disadvantaged by being a minority female that she couldn't possibly get anyone to listen to her, or exercise power in any way. No privilege to be found in her life.
And some of them feel a deep guilt over this, and thus flagellate themselves (and others) in order to atone for their perceived transgression(s) which are nothing more than an accident of birth.
My experience says that it's a very true thing, but I think a big part of the reason it's true isn't just because it's hard to come to terms with the fact that one is privileged but because the people often telling them that do it like assholes.
Although mentions to the patriarchy could be read with this 'organization' interpretation, as far as I know I have never seen it used in a way that was inequivocably this and as far as I've been able to understand what people meant, I've always seen it used as something like 'the social and psychological mechanisms that establish and maintain societal power of males over females'. I mean, phrases like 'we are all the patriarchy' or 'it's in all of us' are not unusual (maybe my wording is bc I'm falling asleep but you get the gist of it).
I can't speak for Charlie (nor am I interested in doing so) but I can't disagree more that there isn't a basic definition and that it's a big part of our cultural and social heritage (but certainly not an "illuminati" type thing). I think dismissing it is far to similar to the textbooks I had to read as a kid in religious private school that basically said that women preferred life in the 40's and 50's or the Duck Dynasty guy saying that black people loved living under Jim Crow. I'm not saying lay all of our societal faults on it, but it's hard to deny we are a country steeped in patriarchal thinking, or at least we used to be.
Thats not really how the idea of privilege works, but I think you know that.
This is also true not helpful at all in the fight for equality in our society.
While there is a lot of grey area, I'm trying to draw a distinction between people who talk about "patriarchy" and those who talk about "The Patriarchy", because in my experience there is a marked difference. I mean, when people who talk about "the patriarchy" also say stuff like "The only way to make men equal to women is to bring them down," (source), yeah, I feel justified in thinking that there are a lot of people with a fucked up view of the concept.
Okay, but is that basic definition, and acknowledgement that we do have a history of predominantly male power in our society the same thing as saying "All of that shit comes from the patriarchy." Because that's a pretty big leap, and why I have reacted as strongly as I did. There are a lot of social systems that have little or nothing to do with men being in power that play into sweeping sexual assault under the rug in various settings. Now, if Charlie had said all that stuff was related to the patriarchal elements in our society, I'd have been far more willing to listen, but you know damn well that there are a lot of people out there who want to pretend that men are the sole cause of sexual violence, and men being in power is the reason that sexual violence is prevalent.
a) I think it's, uh, a little weird to not see how sexual violence perpetrated by men isn't on some level tied into the concepts of male privilege and patriarchal systems. I can't figure out how to NOT connect them. Of course it's never as easy as blaming 1 sociological idea, we all know that theres far more factors than that. But a connection? Of course.
Well, I've often found myself using 'the patriarchy' in the same way the image uses 'patriarchy' (expressing the same idea even), but not in the way the comment does. So that's a data point in the other direction
