General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Battle of the Sexists [View all]H2O Man
(73,506 posts)The OP/thread that I participated on was specifically about matriarchal versus patriarchal societies. Despite one DUers' insisting that OP/thread did not exist, it did. My interest in it in no way is to suggest that I agreed with the person who posted it. While its author claimed to cite historic examples, it was way, way wrong.
Likewise, the claim that "no one" favors the influence of matriarchal structures in society is way wrong. If one is opposed to the negative features of patriarchal society -- and I assume that all thinking people do -- then the obvious dynamic to create a level and just society would be matriarchal influences.
This obviously meets with some resistance here. For example, one person stated that no such society has ever existed. This, of course, ignores Haudenosaunee society. And that's a shame, for Haudenosaunne thought influenced this nation's Founding Fathers, and their social-political structure sparked the concept of the League of Nations. More, the Iroquois concepts on family structure were a major influence on Engels' classic, "Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State." I think that had potential, but I'm confident that some others here could counter that belief -- especially those who are totally unfamiliar with it.
About half of my life has been spent in that context. And it has influenced my thinking and actions in the other half -- no where more so than as the father of two sons and two daughters. They would find the negative comments on this thread amusing.
In the past year, I've conducted an epidemiological study of a small town in upstate New York. If there is one group that has been hit the hardest by the rates of disease associated with gross environmental destruction, care of industrial toxic waste dumps, it would be the female population, ages 50 to 69. More, they are the most well-informed. They also have another curious status: they have had almost zero representation in the town's political life for the past 200 years. So I am working, slowly but steadily, to introduce Haudenosaunee thought thought in that community.