The patriarchy is a word we hear often. It echoes through marches, debates, social media, and uncomfortable conversations. It is central to feminist discourse, yet it is also caricatured, dismissed, or trivialized by those who claim that it “no longer exists” or that it is merely an ideological exaggeration.
Before going any further, it is worth pausing to ask a simple yet profoundly political question: What is the patriarchy, really?
Broadly speaking, the patriarchy is a social, cultural, economic, and symbolic system that grants power, authority, and privilege to men particularly cisgender, heterosexual, white men at the expense of women and everyone whose identity falls outside that model. It is not simply a matter of individual attitudes or “bad people.” The patriarchy is a structure, and as such it permeates every dimension of life: work, family, language, sexuality, desire, politics, the justice system, our bodies, violence, and even love.