Kyriarchy not patriarchy?
Is the concept of patriarchy too limited? Sudy at A Womyn’s Ecdysis explains why she talks about “kyriarchy”, not patriarchy.
So, what does kyriarchy mean? (Any how do you pronounce it?!)
Let me break this down for you. When people talk about patriarchy and then it divulges into a complex conversation about the shifting circles of privilege, power, and domination — they’re talking about kyriarchy. When you talk about power assertion of a White woman over a Brown man, that’s kyriarchy. When you talk about a Black man dominating a Brown womyn, that’s kyriarchy. It’s about the human tendency for everyone trying to take the role of lord/master within a pyramid. At it best heights, studying kyriarchy displays that it’s more than just rich, white Christian men at the tip top and, personally, they’re not the ones I find most dangerous. There’s a helluva lot more people a few levels down the pyramid who are more interested in keeping their place in the structure than to turning the pyramid upside down.Who’s at the bottom of the pyramid? Who do you think are at the bottom of the pyramid who are less likely to scheme and spend extravagant resources to further perpetuate oppression? I think of poor children with no roads out of hell, the mentally ill who are never “credible,” un-gendered or non-gender identified people, farm workers, modern day slaves…But, the pyramid stratifies itself from top to bottom. And before you start making a checklist of who is at the top and bottom - here’s my advice: don’t bother. The pyramid shifts with context. The point is not to rank. The point is to learn.
Posted by Jess McCabe on 28 April 2008, at 11:47 AM | Comments (6)
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Anne Onne said:
OOh I know! Kyriarchy uses the word 'kyrios/kyria' from the Greek for 'Lord', a title I was taught would have been applied to the master/mistress of the house in Ancient Greek households. It can probably be pronounced kiri-archy (or if you're being extra-Greek geeky and incorporating the proper way they used to pronounce Y, KUri-archy, with the 'ku' like in 'courier'. That's my experience, at least!), but the pronunciation is secondary to it's meaning. :)
Actually, I really like the concept. It brings into play the fact that misogyny, racism and anti-LTBTQ senitment all work together. I still think 'patriarchy' has its uses, but it looks like that when we're talking about how it all intermingles, kyriarchy may be the way to go.
Posted on 28 April 2008 at 1:46 PM
Jess McCabe said:
Indeed, pronounciation is not *that* important, except that it's useful to know because otherwise people will be reluctant to use the term!
Posted on April 28, 2008 2:41 PM
ss said:
Yes this is spot on. At the bottom are the Atlasses, the strong in the guise of the weak and vulnerable, supporting the rest of us on their shoulders. To level the playing field, we the privileged have but to hold hands and jump!
Posted on 28 April 2008 at 9:05 PM
Shea said:
Now I wish I had read this prior to making the other comment. Kyriarchy- shifting circles of privilege, power and domination---exactly!
Posted on 29 April 2008 at 1:04 AM
Feminist Avatar said:
To me, the definition of kyriarchy is very similar to definitions of patriarchy as it is used in most of the feminist theory I use (and write).
Posted on 29 April 2008 at 12:54 PM
Elaine Vigneault said:
"the definition of kyriarchy is very similar to definitions of patriarchy as it is used in most of the feminist theory I use (and write)."
Agreed. But isn't it interesting that when there's a label or a word then something becomes more real? A lot of people can't think about something until there's a label for it.
Besides, a lot of people get tripped up by the word patriarchy and think it's all about sex and gender, when it's not, it's about power.
Posted on 01 May 2008 at 10:45 PM