Do we live in a Patriarchy? What is that?

[PhantomWolf]

Why would I want to do that?

Ha ha! Just kidding.

Now, I did recently watch an amusing video on a British politics show in which a gay man was arguing that men have too much power and that maybe women should get the chance for a change...

Another guest on the programme was Michael Portillo who pointed out that he was a member of the British cabinet who had to give full support to his leader, Margaret Thatcher, who was Prime Minister at the time, and that the current Prime Minister is also a woman, and that she is in a coalition government with a party whose leader is also a woman, and that in Scotland, the First Minister is also a woman, and the leaders of the two main parties in opposition to her are also women. And that furthermore, the head of state in the United Kingdom is also a woman - the Queen.

During this listing of the most powerful people in British politics and how all of them are women, the guy who had started this off was rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

It was funny!

What is interesting though is that the person at the top is just one person, saying "But we have a woman party leader" doesn't really show the entire picture. If you look at the British Cabinet, then out of 23 people, just 6 are women, and only one of the 23 is a non-white. So 16 of the 23 positions (70%) are filled by white males.

Now that is a lot better than in Margaret Thatcher's time in office. While she was PM, she appointed 59 cabinet ministers to various posts (some held a number of different posts over the time due to reshuffles but they are counted just once) and in the eleven years she was in office she appointed a grand total of one other woman to her cabinets, the Baroness Janet Young. That means that the overall composition of Maggie's Cabinets were 97% male.

The current Scottish Cabinet does much, much better with 12 of the 25 positions (48%) being filled by women, but both the Scottish and British Parliaments (both have just 32% women) and especially the British Cabinet has a long way to go before it can be said that women have equality in running the UK.

 

[johnny karate]

Hard to say.

Then how can you be sure it happened?

 

[johnny karate]

I still feel the need to nitpick, sorry. What does "power is held by men" mean? Does it mean that men make up the majority of power-wielding positions or that as a whole men have more power in most/every sphere or something else? I mostly accept the former and mostly reject the latter.

In case the distinction is clear, one does not need to "be in as position of power" necessarily (I mean like government positions and stuff like that) to wield a great deal of power over a group of people under certain circumstances.

Yeah okay, this went the way I pretty much thought it would.

Good luck with your quest for truth and knowledge. I’m sure this road of semantic nitpickery will lead you right to it.

 

[pharphis]

Then how can you be sure it happened?

at what precise moment did X become Y?

Where Y is life, X is "chemicals".
Where Y is "a hard science" and X is "physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, etc."

 

[pharphis]

Yeah okay, this went the way I pretty much thought it would.

Good luck with your quest for truth and knowledge. I’m sure this road of semantic nitpickery will lead you right to it.

The labels aren't the most important part of this. What is the most important part of this is what you mean by the terms used in the definition you are using. As I pointed out, they can mean multiple different things. I've more or less outlined my position in my lengthier reply to you so if you consider that patriarchy or not then you have the answer. If you're asking for my interpretation of whether i'd call that patriarchy or not, I need to know precisely what you mean.

 

[johnny karate]

at what precise moment did X become Y?

Where Y is life, X is "chemicals".

Kind of hard to make that call for something that took place approximately four billion years before anyone was around to document it.

Where Y is "a hard science" and X is "physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, etc."

This is gibberish.

If society was one thing and then at some point stopped being that thing, that’s a historical, documented event to which people making this claim can point.

 

[johnny karate]

The labels aren't the most important part of this. What is the most important part of this is what you mean by the terms used in the definition you are using. As I pointed out, they can mean multiple different things. I've more or less outlined my position in my lengthier reply to you so if you consider that patriarchy or not then you have the answer. If you're asking for my interpretation of whether i'd call that patriarchy or not, I need to know precisely what you mean.

That’s fine, but first, I need to know precisely what you mean by every word in this post.

 

[pharphis]

Kind of hard to make that call for something that took place approximately four billion years before anyone was around to document it.



This is gibberish.

If society was one thing and then at some point stopped being that thing, that’s a historical, documented event to which people making this claim can point.

"If sciences were not hard sciences and then began being that thing, then that's a historical, documented event to which people making this claim can point."

People develop consciousness and self-reflection. Can you point to when a baby first thinks? Self-reflects? To when a child first becomes fluent in a language?

That’s fine, but first, I need to know precisely what you mean by every word in this post.

Look, I gave you two reasonable explanations for the phrase I was asking for an explanation of. I even told you my position on each of those explanations. I did the work for you. You can tell me which one it is, or if it is indeed something different (and I think a reasonable person would very likely pick one of the two options I outlined) then you can explain exactly what YOU mean.

 

[Tony]

A patriarchy is just a typical conspiracy theory. It claims that the presence of men in power means that all men work together to rule and oppress all women. No, we don't live in such a society.

 

[Tony]

... then you can explain exactly what YOU mean.

She is never going to do that. Doing so would open up her claims to scrutiny.

 

[Garb]

A patriarchy is just a typical conspiracy theory. It claims that the presence of men in power means that all men work together to rule and oppress all women. No, we don't live in such a society.

You able to provide a citation or something that shows this is what people are asserting?

 

[johnny karate]

She is never going to do that. Doing so would open up her claims to scrutiny.

I already provided the requested definition. Also, what claims?

Honesty Tony, I’m a little disappointed to see you attack me like this. Us girls have got to stick together.

 

[johnny karate]

You able to provide a citation or something that shows this is what people are asserting?

She is never going to do that. Doing so would open up her claims to scrutiny.

 

[fuelair]

Yeah okay, this went the way I pretty much thought it would.

Good luck with your quest for truth and knowledge. I’m sure this road of semantic nitpickery will lead you right to it.

Always does for some!!!!!

 

[Tony]

Honesty Tony, I’m a little disappointed to see you attack me like this. Us girls have got to stick together.

I stick by all my bitches.

 

[Emily's Cat]

I have been in sales for 20 years, and it sounds like maybe I should try my hand at auto sales. Clearly they are overrun with lousy salespeople. My training and experience has always been to primarily address the woman (with exceptions, of course, based on the dynamic). Once the woman is sold- leave the couple alone for a bit and she will sell the man for you.

... Because it's ultimate the man that makes the decisions, I guess?

 

[Emily's Cat]

Exactly. Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

I'm just glad us men could get together and decide that there's not a problem.

Next topic: Is racism still a thing? Our panel of white people doesn't seem to think so.

I love this post.

 

[Emily's Cat]

Of course being out of the work force for years will have an adverse effect on a career. In this case, it's a choice.

It's a choice... sure... but it's not exactly the woman's choice alone. Unless you somehow are under the impression that men don't want to procreate?

 

[Emily's Cat]

When did it stop being one?

I'd like to know this too... seeing as I apparently was absent that day.

 

[sadhatter]

I love this post.

I find its garbage fan fiction in the same vein as those "here is a story about an atheist professor who gets theologically owned by an eigth grader".

If you set up a scenario and it plays out to your advantage in a hypothetical that isn't proving a point, that is really half assed writing a skit.