Toxic Patriarchy
Cultures begin with families
as individuals join forces with nuclear families that expand into the larger
communities. Bronfenbrenner proposed that we are all affected by the small
influences as well as the great, the microcosms of family to the large aggregate
‘community’ we call government. In America, The original Melting Pot of a conglomeration
of cultures from around the world, Patriarchal control was part of the settler’s
original structure. The Good Father, the Leader of a Family was the Head of the
family-the father. The word Patriarch means ‘Father,’ so it makes sense that
the family systems inculcated into the first ‘tribes’ established in The New
World were patriarchal in nature, from England to the European influences, and
all the smaller influxes in between, revered The Father as the Leader, both
literally and symbolically.
Patriarchy was
welcomed in an untamed new world in which bears had to be fought, and the wild
land tamed. Family structures were tight like that of a wolf pack, with
everyone staying close together for safety’s sake. Marriages usually lasted for
a lifetime and children remained on ‘the farm’ because there was not much else
to do-but farm and hunt on the abundant land. Women welcomed the patriarchal
presence as a safeguard, and the idea of Women’s Rights was a far fetched as
going to the moon at that time. Science was an infant, there were no modern
conveniences and life was all about staying home and working the land, because the
land supplied everything needed at that time. Patriarchy was not challenged,
and women and children had few ‘rights. Women had twelve or more children to work
the farm; and neighbors helped each other. It was a different world then.
Fast Forward two hundred plus years and going to the
moon had been accomplished, farm life was for professional farmers who were
capable of harvesting thousands of acres with a single machine. Women did not
stay home, in fact, no one was at home. The children were in school, men and women
at work, and grandparents were sometimes a thousand miles away. Farm Life as it
once was no longer existed. The metropolitan cities contained the masses and
women had become a huge part of the workforce; but that did not happen overnight
or come easily.
The patriarchal system was pleasing to males, because
they had all the rights and all the power, especially White Males with Privilege.
The Patriarchs Ruled like Kings, setting the laws and the limits imposed on everyone
else who was not Them: White Privileged Males. The rights of the many was sacrificed
through legislation which was controlled by the Privileged Few. The Few
controlled the Rights of the Many, which meant the multitude of Americans had few
rights; sometimes NO rights, as in the case of Slaves and Natives, The system
that was pleasing to the Privileged Few wreaked a savage toll on the many and
they did what the oppressed multitude always does-rebelled.
From the original Boston Tea Party to the Equal Rights
Movements and the Civil Rights Movement, they rebelled. The rebellion
erupted in violence in every case because the Kings of the Mountain did not
want to concede one tiny iota of power, so it had to be taken by force; by
protests, and even riots which is what people do when they are repeatedly
unheard. From the 1900’s to the 2000’s The People fought for Black Rights, Civil
Rights, Women’s Rights, ‘Gay’ Rights, and Religious Rights, all held tightly
under the control of the established ‘Patriarchy’ otherwise known as governmental
Legislators. The Law was the Gate that either allowed or prevented Freedoms for
the many, and The Law was controlled by the ‘Patriarchs’ whose appetite for Power
had grown as strong as their greed for money.
Regardless of the resistance by Toxic Patriarchy, the
Masses won out: in 1920 Women were finally given the right to vote, but
not before men beat their own White Women bloody on the public streets for even
‘asking’ for the vote. Black people were not allowed any real freedoms even
after they were legally incorporated into Law, during the same period as the Suffragette
Movement. Right were being held in lockdown by the ruling few.
IN the early
1900’s all Black people, both males and females did not even have the right to
exist as equals with White People, much less vote without being assaulted, ran
out of town or hung, ‘unofficially’ by lawyers and judges hiding behind white
sheets. It was as late as 1964 when Fannie Lou Hamer gave her earth-shaking
speech about rights and freedom that sill echoes today; but only thirty-five years
earlier Black people were being lynched all over the country for demanding
Rights. It was the same time White women were defying Patriarchal Rule by
demanding the Vote. The spirit of rebellion was strong with Black people who also
rose up and began to fight back. The history books had hidden much of the racial
and social drama from that era, but the Truth Always rises to the top.
The 1960’s was one of the bloodiest times
since the Civil War, and the entire decade was about fighting
for freedom for tyranny and suppression by, guess WHO-White Males in Power,
Toxic Patriarchy. Eventually the voters decided to vote in leaders whose eyes
were less on their pocketbook and more on the scales of justice; but the pendulum
swung backwards when the Republican Tea Party Movement took over in favor of
two extreme views: Pro Toxic Patriarchy and Pro Right-Wing Extremism; then
along came a spider Called Trump and the Rest went downhill from there. Trump,
who was the epitome of White Male Privilege and Toxic Patriarchy, emboldened
the extremists, polarizing the Toxic Atmosphere in the United States as ‘Us’
against ‘Them,’ which was the perfect smoke screen for the intensive damage he
wreaked.
The Supreme Court of the United States hold the power
to unravel unjust laws in favor of justice, or to do the opposite. Trump
appointed radical judges whose focus was skewed, and now we have a Landmark Law
that was ‘established Law’ that each judge vowed not to touch-but they lied.
Roe V Wade was established in 1973 ending the long history
of coat hanger deaths and throwaway children, giving women the right to control
what happens inside their own bodies. It was a major win for Women’s Rights and
a huge know against Toxic Patriarchy.
Toxic Patriarchy came back with a vengeance:
Roe V Wade was struck town by the SCOTUS, overturned TODAY June 24, 2022. Toxic
Fail.
