The Reality of Patriarchy

When people don't know what a word means, usually, they look it up in a trusted dictionary such as Merriam-Webster or Oxford. Even Dictionary.com, if they're feeling desperate. Except, of course, with feminism. Then, people feel free to define feminism as all sorts of crazy things. As the belief that society should be matriarchal instead of patriarchal. As an avenue for "ugly" women to complain about men. As witchcraft, husband-killing, and infanticide.

If feminism is a dirty word, you have every right to call me unclean. I believe in the basic definition that Webster, Oxford, and Dictionary.com all seem to agree on: "The belief that women should be equal to men." It's extremely simple.

And yet, it isn't. Patriarchy has been so deeply rooted in society for so long that we can't even recognize inequality until it's staring us in the face. It's my mother, telling me that I can't go to college until I learn basic martial arts. It's the guys at the next lunch table over, saying that a friend's bisexual identity isn't real, that she'll realize she's actually straight in a matter of time. It's the people at the debate tournament not noticing what I say, but what I wear. It's my science experiment, where the guys at my table didn't listen to me even though I was quoting our teacher.

People who say that patriarchy doesn't exist need only look to a list of American presidents. In 2016, two hundred and forty years after "liberty and justice for ALL", we haven't had a female president. We've walked on the moon, explored 97% of the oceans, created this awesome thing called the Internet that spits out answers to any question we'd like, and yet, we haven't had a female president. Our country, for these two hundred and forty years, has been led primarily by white men.

There is a problem here. And it's certainly not a problem that can be fixed with baseless stereotypes and pure ignorance.