Why does this screenshot of a tweet need two boarders?
this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2025
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Witches VS Patriarchy
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For the triggered:
"Already admitting" -> "failing to recognize"
Any hierarchal structure of power that places one group of people over another based on characteristics like gender, race, or class is gonna have inherent issues. I think we should strive for a more egalitarian future, rather than hoping that positive discrimination will somehow solve our issues.
not to be rude, but how is this different than #AllLivesMatter or "I don't see color" kinds of statements? Egalitarian movements are also involved in movements of justice, it's not like racism or sexism will be eradicated without recognizing race and sex ...
I don't think this meme is suggesting matriarchy is the solution, but it is pointing out a way of thinking about matriarchy that is patriarchal. Responding to that in your way comes across as anti-egalitarian, or at the very least blind to the context.
The thing is, while the content of the message is fairly innocuous, it's still trying to push the message of "a matriarchy is better than a patriarchy." At the very least, it's meant to draw a clear, comparative distinction between the two to indicate that one is better than the other.
The problem I have with this is twofold. The first is that most matriarchal propoganda is a pretty clear example of positive discrimination. The second is that it still advocates for a hierarchal structure of society, which I feel like witches should be against.
yeah, I don't disagree that matriarchy is problematic (no idea if witches in particular should be against matriarchy, but feminists should be against it)
but I don't think the meme claims matriarchy is better than patriarchy, it just says the perceptions of matriarchy expose a patriarchal mindset, and implies the patriarchal mindset is problematic ... maybe that could be construed to be positive about matriarchy, but again the meme doesn't seem to defend matriarchy or imply it is superior, it's just not making that kind of comparison while clearly calling out "control" as a style of "leadership".
fair enough, I felt like it was pro-matriarchal and wanted to call it out.
Doesn't that - to some extend - match the official definition of the term?
Personally, when it comes to power and leadership, I think women are - on average - less toxic than men. But still I feel like power shouldn't be assigned based on gender or sex, but based on personal qualification. And in general, we shouldn't allow a single person to gain as much power as we see it with many state leaders or super wealthy.
Personally, when it comes to power and leadership, I think women are - on average - less toxic than men.
Do you have any data to back up this view?
That is literally the definition of matriarchy though, yeah. We should strive to replace patriarchy with a system in which power is derived from the respect and consenting cooperation of one's peers.
Overall, we demonstrated that where gender differences exist, ratings indicate that women (relative to men) are seen as engaging in more of the leadership behaviors that research suggests are more effective, including both communal and agentic behaviors.
from this meta-analysis of 50 years of research: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1048984324000511
I think the point is that matriarchy looks different than patriarchy, even our understanding of power is colored by the way men wield it. The claim is that matriarchy has qualitative differences with patriarchy. "Control" here is the central word: matriarchy is when women are in positions of power, but it sounds like the idea would be that power would be used in a more cooperative and communal fashion, and thinking of it as control implies a patriarchal approach.
I think matriarchy and patriarchy would only be different from each other if there were a difference between men and women.
I also think you're never gonna convince any anarchists to go along with archy just by promising it'll be better if we put the right people in charge
not just anarchists, feminists also should balk at sincere efforts at matriarchy, since gender equality is the goal of feminism, not gender supremacy
though I do think sometimes what is meant by matriarchy and what women dream of as matriarchy is more of a balancing away from patriarchy rather than recreating it with women at the helm (or even re-envisioning it if not recreating), that's just not my read of these kinds of memes
it's not really surprising lay people would have less literate and sophisticated articulations of their gender struggle - it's important to read the context carefully, women and men struggling under the conditions of patriarchy often look quite different than ideal and academic articulations of liberatory politics. The default seems to be reaction - e.g. some men unhappy with patriarchy blame women for the problems and fester into cultures like incels, pick up artists, and the rest of the diverse mannosphere. Are we really that surprised women struggling with patriarchy have imperfect articulations of that anger and victimization?
sometimes what is meant by matriarchy and what women dream of as matriarchy is more of a balancing away from patriarchy rather than recreating it with women at the helm
But then they should pick another term from my perspective. If you just swap the gender in the term, I'd expect that the gender is also the main thing changing in the concept.
I think the much better argument is that no society is known to have practiced matriarchy as strictly as is common in patriarchy. Iconic matriarchal societies leave men with plenty of freedom and areas of power that are respected by legitimate authorities.
Matriarchy in popular consciousness is often a geist. A threat of emasculation told to men whose power stems solely from their manhood and thus conflate the two.
Matriarchy as an inversion of patriarchy exists solely within the realms of speculative fiction and pornography.
This isn't to support matriarchy, I wish to abolish all expected roles based on gender, and I do think that if a matriarchy were to replicate patriarchy it would be founded by victims of patriarchy, but the nonexistance of such a system should be remembered
I'm only a matriarchist under the proper mood lighting. I'm an anarchist when I'm not turned on
Matriarchy hurts everyone
Matriarchy and patriarchy hurts everyone.
Let's not kid ourselves that either option is acceptable and focus on electing the best person as a leader and not limit ourselves to one specific gender.
Our daily dose of men evil brought to you by none other than butterfly bot. Posting scheduled inflammatory content every day 🤣.
When did she get booted from LW?
Dude you can dislike some of the things she posts, but this lady being one of the most prolific posters on lemmy is a good thing. She's single-handedly sparking a shit-ton of engagement across a variety of communities.
I don't think rage bait that divides progressives for the sake of content is good for the community 🤷♂️. Short term gains for long term losses.
I know several folks, moderate in most ways, all pretty socially liberal, turned off by aggressiveness against less progressive opinions. I regularly experience, this but I'm more interested in a more open platform and so I deal with it.
Butterfly drives a non trivial amount of that content.
Contributors could focus more on hobbies, even in the reposting niche news sense, but communities just repost politics and Linux news (another topic that becomes divisive) and this place becomes more and more an angry echo chamber.
I'm not sure I'm on board the "any engagement is good engagement" sentiment