Patriarchy is not just something external. It also resides in our minds. Once the patriarchy gets into our heads, it affects the way we perceive and judge ourselves, our relationships and the world we live in. It causes many men to experience their vulnerability as weak and shameful. Furthermore, society consists of a male dominated power structure throughout organized society and in individual relationships. Power is related to privilege, in which men have more power than women, men have some level of privilege to which women are not entitled.
Let’s just imagine a person named Michael who lives in a rundown apartment and works hard at a tedious and poorly paid job. Michael is not a socio-economic winner in his community, but that community can still be institutionally structured so that Michael is at liberty in a variety of ways that his wife Rachael is not. Michael works and may not have to worry about who has to clean up after him. When he gets home, he has the right to just sit down and relax after a hard day at work, he always gets the last word when him and his wife converse, not realizing that his wife also works hard at work cleaning trash, picks up the kids, goes grocery shopping and cooks. Everything in society is repetitious. Although men and women often share the same labor. I created this to show there is no guide.
Hi I’tanisha!, I completely agree with you about how patriarchy is not only something external, but has also been in our minds. Since, Johnson explains to us about how the system is also part of ourselves, we may have had a time when we attributed what the system wants us to think and how we grew up with that thought. Also, I really like how you explain what patriarchy really is and how even though a man feels bad about being a patriarchy, he has had so many things put into his head about how patriarchy works and how he should feel ashamed if he shows weakness, who is only afraid to face this. Which is completely wrong, since he himself is living a life where he would only hold back. They may feel that by being like society, they can have more privileges when in truth they are only repressing their true desires. Yes, this would always happen in the day to day of each person, I even remember when the man was humiliated just because he is the one who keeps the house in order, cleaning and cooking, while the woman worked.
Hey, I’tanisha I love the example you used with Michael and Rachael. He may not be wealthy, but he is privileged in ways that his wife is not. This proves how oppressed people can be privileged and be unaware of it.
Hello I’tanisha, you used a great example of the Michael and Rachael life. This is so true in life, there is no guide in life. Some of these things were shown in some house holds and it keeps going except i see more women working now, so it seems like its more work on the women.