RE: Digest Number 239

From: A. K. Berner <open_micro_at_...>
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 00:03:42 -0500


Jim wrote:

"Have matriarchies ever existed in the real world? A lot of course depends on
the definition you use, but if we take 'matriarchy' to mean complete control of a society by women (in the manner of certain patriarchal societies) then the anthropological answer, on contemporary evidence, is a definite 'NO."

Indeed, and if you define patriarchy to mean men having *complete* control of a society there is no anthropological evidence of this either. Mating, creating and nourishing new life, and sustaining a household are normally cooperative behaviors. Women are not and never have been a minority. The entire concept that political power is *the* power in a society is highly flawed: unless the myriad other forms of power are given proper weighting the discussion becomes almost meaningless. It is a common error to confuse current cultural bias with the perception of the people in other cultures' view of themselves; just as it is a common error to anthropomorphize not only 'god', but also the concept of beings from other planets, insect behaviors, and many other things. This sort of projection is lazy and usually wrong.

There are many, many examples of cultures where women have a vast amount of power around the home area. Many of these same cultures are very much rooted in the home camp and this, therefore is a kind of power that could reasonably been seen as far more important than deciding where to hunt. I think it is an artifact of the tendency of certain prominent feminists who have a complete disregard for any need for objective analysis that women are sometimes portrayed as *powerless* in some modern political circles. This combined with our recent focus on women's political rights (which is a simply part of *our* culture) has lead to some bizarre theories about other cultures. Only this flawed basis allows the discussion of matriarchy in the sense that you are implying. Is this misconception popular in our modern culture? Yes it is. Does that make it any more applicable to the thousands of other cultures in history? Nope. To a large extent it must always be true that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. The fact that men are doing a bit more rocking these days in our culture only tells me that they are finally allowing themselves a bit of real power for the first time =)

A.K. Berner

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