RECONSTRUCTING GENDER A Multicultural Anthology Fifth Edition Estelle Disch University of Massachusetts Boston McGraw-Hill Higher Education Boston Burr Ridge, IL Dubuque, IA New York San Francisco St. Louls Bangkok Bogoté Caracas Kuala Lumpur Lisbon London Madrid Mexig Milan Montreal New Delhi Santiago Seoul Singapore Sydney Taipei 798 It's Not Just about Gender 10 PATRIARCHY, THE SYSTEM An It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us ALLAN G. JOHNSON Allan G. Johnson, Pk, teaches sociology st Hartford College for Women His books include Poway Privlge and Difrence, 2nd ed. (2005), The Gender Kot 2rd ed 2005); Te Forest and he Tes: Soilgy a if Prt and Pro (1997; and he Bse Ditonary of Sostogy 200, eee cena ec iat ee ee eee ee ate eo er ermine eee tae ee ee fier hen foe Nenana ey he ee eee eee eee ee care aaa ee eer tae oto ee oer ea oa oe ae a nee Srbivecspaaloteea speak ave ry ee meee eee ee ae eas ete ee ees ee eae ce ae eae ee ee ae tee Seceeean av ee ae a oa ee eee ae ed et oo ag eee WS you say patriarchy,” a man complained from the rear of the ‘Allan G Johnson “Pavan the Sytem: An I Nota He, aThemy or an Us” fom ‘re Conder Raa Unvolng Or Purircha Laary. Copyght © 097 by Allan G Jobson Reprinted withthe permiston of Temple Unive Press. Patriarchy, the System 99) the sum of individual failings on the part of blacks, women, and the poor, who lack the right stuff to compete successfully with whites, men, and others who know how to make something of themselves, ‘What this kind of thinking ignores is that we are all participating in something larger than ourselves or any collection of us. On some level, most people are familiar with the idea that socal life involves us in something Jaxger than ourselves, but few seem to know what to do with that idea, When Sam Keen laments that “THE SYSTEMis running us all" he strikes a deep chord in many people. But he also touches on a basic misunderstanding of social life, because having blamed “the system” (presumably society) for our problems, he doesn’t take the next step to understand what that might mean, ‘What exactly isa system, for example, and how could it run us? Do we have anything to do with shaping it, and ifso, how? How, for example, do we par. ticipate in patriarchy, and how does that link us to the consequences it pro- uces? How is what we think of as “normal” life related to male dominasice, ‘women's oppression, and the hierarchical, control-obsessed world in which they, and our lives, are embedded? If we see patriarchy as nothing more than men’s and women’s indi- ‘vidual personalities, motivations, and behavior, for example, then it proba bly won't even occur to us to ask about larger contexts—such as institutions like the family, religion, and the economy—and how people's lives are shaped in relation to them, From this kind of individualistic perspective, we might ask why a particular man raped, harassed, or beat a woman. We ‘wouldn't ask, however, what kind of society would promote persistent patterns of such behavior in everyday life, from wife-beating jokes to the rou- ‘tne inclusion of sexual coercion and violence in mainstream movies, We are quick to explain rape and battery as the acts of sick or angry men; but we rarely take seriously the question of what kind of society would produce $0, much male anger and pathology or direct it toward sexual violence rather than something else. We rarely ask how gender violence might serve other ‘more “normalized” ends such as male control and domination. ... _ Ifthe goal is to change the world, this won't help us. We need to see and deal with the social zoots that generate and nurture the social problems that are reflected in the behavior of individuals. We can't do this without realizing that we all participate in something larger than ourselves, some- thing we didn’t create but that we have the power to affect through the choices we make about how to participate. ‘That something larger is patriarchy, which is more than a collection of f= dividuals (euch as “men”),Itis a system, which means it can’ be reduced to the people who participate in it. If you go to workin a corporation, for exain. pple, you know the minute you walk in the door that you've entezed "some- thing” that shapes your experience ard behavior, something that isn’t just you and the other people you work with. You can feel yourself stepping into 4 set of relationships and shared understandings about who's who and ‘what's supposed to happen and why, and all ofthis limits you in many ways.100 1&5 Not Just about Gender svhenyouleaveat then ofthe day youcan el yourself lessed fom {he consuals imposed by your parcipadon in haeyeem you ca fel he exenmondopavny nflonoi eipe aal erlpshowta ha ae your ope nit wos Tou decides crn ne ares okt tn pope like you, because all of you aren't the corporation, even though you mae uni te corporat here ut calc of oops hen anaes hap Ped crn od ean aes apn em on ‘esr but sce 'so,Acerperation can go bericupt for ecmpl or ese hogar st my Whe pain hg coiruptor dsp earng Convey evryane aha waster the cosore Enso betula sey mat of cone Sony hail of eo of rete We cr ures corfratn te, ut by lockagat th people who palate ai er ts senting lage nd tote cadestood auch ‘ ot th pty kind of sot that more than 3 leon ofoen an onan ened sng edetning than Mee nol parc no moze than people who bole lah Islam or Canadians ave Canada, Patriarchy is a kind of society organized tround certain Hinds afsocal ators and dens nde we partipate ini Pardee pepaon So tapes ou ie aed Bjees tthe opperty to be para changing erent Be shin nag poco men igo Freja” or elspa oe wer ale pifioge To demonstrate set gender oppression xt ore don Ie fs tt ene any omer oe oo rl tin ‘Siren det urate inom apes or Omen ee onpowt tse saponin opto pow wpa tent SHE end to acepe duty wit and pascpate “normal” en Uiemurkabe We Thats patnofleat settee nay sytem, ard not io alo given how wt depend on sont and la severe an pore iShment at hingeon gong lone with thes que, When oporeson Sop tase ferent aso gul ou Woy ie vey onesie efor a ope cm to Pedut pressive consaqunees. Ae the saying ge what ci agus sy ee ornay people do nating Patriarchy ‘The key to understanding any system is to identify its various parts and how they’ze arranged to forma whole. To understand a language, for example, we have to leam its alphabet, vocabulary, andl rules for combining words into ‘esningf phase and sentences, With soil astm such patriarchy, it’s more complicated because there are many different kinds of parts, and it Patriarchy, the System — 101 5s often difficult to ee just how they're connected, Patiarchy’s defining ele- ‘ments are its male-dominated, male-identified, and male-certered character, Dut this is just the beginning. Atits core, patsiacchy is a set of symbols and ‘ideas that make up a culture embodied by everything from the content of everyday conversation to literature and film, Patriarchal culture includes ideas about the nature of things, including men, women, and humanity, with manhood and masculinity most closely associated with being human and womanhood and femininity relegated to the marginal position of “ether” I&s about how social life is and how it’s supposed to be; about what's ex pected of people and about how they feel, It’s about standards of feminine beauty and masculine toughness, images of feminine vulnerability and mas, culine protectiveness, of older men coupled with young women, of elderly Women alone, Its about defining women and men as opposites, about the {Raturalness” of male aggression, competition, and dominance and of female caring, cooperation, and subordination. IV's about the valuing of mas- sclinity and maleness and the devaluing of femininity and femalenese. It’s about the primary importance of a husband’s career and the secondary star tus of a wife's about child care as a priority in women’s lives and its sesond. any importance in men’s. I’s about the social acceptability of anger, rage, and toughness in men but not in women, and of caring, tenderness, and velnera- bility in women but not in men. Above all, patriarchal culture is about the core value of control and dom= ination in almost every area of human existence, From the expression of emo. tion to economics to the natural environment, gaining and exercising control 4s a continuing goal of great importance, Because of this, the concept of Power takes on a narrow definition in terms of “power over’—the ability to control others, events, resources, or oneself in spite of resistance —rather than alternatives such as the ability to cooperate with others, o give fecly of one. self or to feel and actin harmony with nature To have power over and to be ‘Prepared to use it are defined culturally as good and desirable (and chara, ‘eristically “masculine”), and to lack such power or to be reluctant to use itis seen as weak i not contemptible (and characteristically feminine”) ‘The main use of any culture is to provide symbols and ideas out of which, people construct their sense of what is real. As such, language mirrors sovial reality in sometimes starting ways. In contemporary usage, for example, the ‘words “crone,” “witch,” “bitch,” and “virgin” describe women as theater, ‘ng evil orheterosexually inexperienced and thus incomplete. In prepattiar. chal times, however, these words evoked far different images The crone was the old woman whose life experience gave her insight, wisdom, respect, and the power to enrich people's lives. The witch was the wise-weman healer, the knower of herbs, the midwife, the link joining body, spin and Earth. The bitch was Artemis-Diana, gaddess of the hunt, most often assoc’. ated with the dogs who accompanied her. And the virgin was merely a Woman who was unattached, unclaimed, and unowned by any man and therefore independent and autonomous. Notice how each word has been,