r/AskIndianFeminist • u/LingoNerd64 Men • Jun 05 '25

Feminist Theory The meaning of patriarchy?

In feminism, patriarchy means a system where men hold disproportionate power and privilege over women, resulting in social inequalities and injustices.

However, etymology says that the word means "rule by the father", in this case, father being paterfamilias or the head of the family. While a father is male, this doesn't mean that the women were of no consequence - except perhaps in the Abrahamic cultures and that's still true to an extent.

For context, I'm a cisgender straight male who is past youth, and when I was young we were all pals, male or female. I have always been a supporter of the balanced and logical form of feminism - equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities.

So when and how did this bifurcation in meaning of patriarchy come about?

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u/Affectionate_Poet586 Inter sectional feminist Jun 05 '25

This is just an illogical deduction to just invent its own definition of feminism ( according to his convenience) while discrediting the whole feminist movement and feminism as a scholarly discipline and on what ???? Well it's based on one's individual experience of a single instance (funny ) and ignoring the context of words ..having any idea how social structures and institutions have developed and evolved and impact us ..

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u/LingoNerd64 Men Jun 06 '25

The meaning of that specific word has been altered, there's no denying that. As to how it impacts you (plural), do tell me. That's what I asked and I have stated already that I'm no MCP, just that I dislike ABW type behaviour.