It is quite baffling to me how patriarchy can be a polarizing topic. With some people saying it doesn’t exist and some arguing it’s an efficient system that doesn’t need any changes, it’s like they can’t see how damaging it is. One only has to understand the meaning of the term and then look at the demographic of the people in power throughout history to know why patriarchy does harm to all members of the society.

When we criticize the patriarchy, we’re not saying that all men everywhere have no hindrances. What we’re saying is that the issues they face rarely has anything to do with their gender, the intersectionality of race, social class, sexuality may are more likely to be the reason for any discriminations they face. This in no way means that one kind of oppression is more devastating than the other. However, it does mean that we ought to recognize the privileges we may have in a system that’s oppressive to someone else.