5. Misogyny
Fuck, Fuck, Fuck the Patriarchy.
Really you can track back a great deal of the world’s problems to the perpetual cultivation of the patriarchy. This ‘patriarchy’ manifests itself in denying women the right to drive in Saudi Arabia, the inability for a woman to act as a religious leader in many sects, and that ‘bro’ who verbally and physically oppresses his girlfriend. We can find links to the subjugation of women in almost every facet of history: in religion, in politics, and in social environments. The hate I have for individuals who oppress women in anyway isn’t the type of hate I have for Hitler or Kim Jung Il… or even Tiger Woods. It’s a type of hatred that angers me in the most simple of ways, it surrounds me in everything I do and inundates me with a guilt I can’t avoid.
Even in a society such as mine where equal rights are protected under the law, there is an undeniable darkness that continues to cloud equality within our society. First and likely most visible is the conscious (and unconscious) objectification of women. I want to grind up the balls of those old money prep school guys who refer to sexual intercourse as ‘getting the kill,’ ‘owning her,’ or ‘pounding her.’ The humanity of the woman has been completely vanquished in these instances and her genitals are left as something that is conquered or dominated. Perhaps it’s just guys joking around, however, if you are comfortable enough to be overheard at a bar spitting sexist tripe, I can’t help but imagine what is going on in your fucked up head.
I mentioned several times throughout this blog the alarming marketing techniques for certain products, where clothing isn’t what is being sold, it’s the rail thin model sampling the product. The sexualization of our culture in terms of negative imagery is devastating. I support open sexual choices, but not when the images or mindset remains inherently slanted towards one sex.
The historical claims for women being inferior are archaic to say the least, despite this, we (men) have somehow been socialized to believe that we are the better sex. One major reason for this overwhelming inaccuracy stems from institutions, still prevalent in our society, that have historically oppressed women. One massive movement that destroyed the ‘human’ aspect of a woman was the early Christ movement. Many Church leaders in the 1st-3rd century CE cited the temptress Eve as ruining mankind’s chance for eternal bliss by ‘tricking’ Adam into eating the fruit. The thoughts of the early Church fathers on the status of women were far from flattering. Tertullian in the 2nd-3rd century wrote this on the role of women, “Do you not know that you are Eve? The judgment of God upon this sex lives on in this age; therefore, necessarily the guilt should live on also. You are the gateway of the devil; you are the one who unseals the curse of that tree, and you are the first one to turn your back on the divine law; you are the one who persuaded him whom the devil was not capable of corrupting; you easily destroyed the image of God, Adam. Because of what you deserve, that is, death, even the Son of God had to die.” Rough. Although most of us (hopefully) find this absurd today, this damaging mindset has percolated down throughout the centuries. Women remain unable to obtain ordination in the Catholic Church, whether or not a Priest would cite the works of Tertullian as justification for this travesty is irrelevant, the fact is that women are still seen as inferior as leaders by one of the most powerful institutions in the world.
“But Luke, religious institutions have no effect on me whatsoever, I don’t even believe in God.” Legit, but you still live in a society that was founded on Christian values, a society where 100 years ago, everyone was Christian. You are a byproduct of everything that stems from a once powerful force. Generation after generation this force becomes more diluted as increasing secularization and pluralization takes hold, however this does not eliminate the patriarchy. We see a saturated pop culture universe where children are indirectly told that sex sells, when you have Miley Cyrus as the most visible ‘role model’ for young girls or Paris Hilton essentially resigning to the fact she is a product, is change really possible?
I can point fingers all I want but this will only turn into a rant that gets nowhere. I, as a male, have to absorb my blame, as does every other man living in a society still controlled by the patriarchy. By absorbing the blame you are at least acknowledging that in some way you are part of the problem and are aware of the problem. This isn’t something we can fix overnight as men have been conditioned to be the head of the household, head of the office, and head of the government. Change will not be easy because this is the only role we know and understand. I can only hope change does happen though, because misogyny is destructive to women and I am incredibly embarrassed that men remain a force in the oppression of the other sex.
To any bro who talks about wanting to get the kill at the bar again, I won’t kill you there, I’ll listen to what your name is during the conversation and I’ll kill you in your sleep. Trust.
One thing you have to remember though is that Women allow this to happen. Men can try and stop beein douches all they want but if womeen don’t stand up for thesmselves things will never change.
Haha. That sounds simple enough, but imagine growing up in a society that socializes you to be passive and not always stand up for yourself. Some men in today’s society will scoff at a women if she vocalizes any inequalities that she may have witnessed/experienced. Many men, and sadly some women feel that the sexes are “equal enough” at this point and that nothing more needs to change. Some of those people may feel that anyone who beleives otherwise is being overly concerned or are making problems out of nothing. The concerned individual may feel pressured to not say anything and simply continue to go along with what the majority beleives.