Down With the Patriarchy

This past weekend I was with my roommates from college and their husbands for our yearly gathering at the beach. We always have laughter and great conversations even if we don’t see eye-to-eye on everything. This year I received their gentle ribbing as I continued to point out the ways the patriarchy causes harm. It came up a few times in conversation, and I’m not sorry, y’all, I’m woke like that. So naturally, the call of “Down with the Patriarchy” began, lol.

While our interactions were all in good fun, it got me thinking about how some people don’t really understand patriarchy vs. matriarchy. It’s a subject dear to my heart, and one I can more succinctly explain in an article than I can over cocktails poolside. So, here goes:

First, when we are talking about patriarchy vs. matriarchy, we are talking about how we organize power and societal structures, not who holds power based on sex. In fact, it has nothing to do with biological sex. Rather the difference stems from masculine and feminine energies. These energies are more like the yin/yang symbol than bathroom symbols. We all have both masculine and feminine energies within us, and these energies have nothing to do with our gender preferences or sexuality.

Generally, masculine energy is strong, fiery, structured, hard, disciplined, assertive, independent, and competitive. Feminine energy is quiet, soft, nurturing, sensitive, empathetic, intuitive, community-focused, and compassionate.

For thousands of years, we have been operating under a patriarchal system, which means it is so ingrained in our minds that it’s difficult to imagine any other way of being. Many mistakenly think the matriarchy is just replacing men with women, or patriarchy flipped, and that women would have all the power. Domination is the only system we know and understand, so of course this is how some view matriarchy.

Patriarchy is a hierarchal system, like a pyramid with men on top, followed by women, then children, then nature. On the other hand, matriarchy is more like a circle with nature in the center, and women, children, and men all facing inwards toward nature. We are all protecting each other and nature, not ruling or dominating.

Matriarchy relies on equality, respect, and mutual admiration. We all have our place, and we are all appreciative of each other. The power gets shared, not stacked. Oppression is unnecessary and therefore eliminated.

I can hear the doubters and naysayers thinking this sounds too good to be true. I say that the biggest obstacle is getting the vast majority of people to believe that it IS possible to be in this kind of “utopia,” and that will take some time for our minds to break free of the deeply ingrained views of current societal structures. When Utopia happens, we won’t call it utopia. It will simply be. So, my question to the naysayers is, “Why are you continuing to uphold a system that enforces and rewards oppression?”

We all deserve to be free.

This is where your personal deconstruction can begin. Just because things have always been this way doesn’t mean things have to continue this way. We are all craving change. We are craving a new way of being in this world. Certainly, women are rising up and making it be known that we aren’t just going to cower as our rights are being stripped away. So now is a really great time to get onboard the matriarchy train. The change has already begun.