The matriarchal vs patriarchal views have seeming been a discussion since almost the beginning of time. I have just recently begun to learn about thinking of things from different points of view. Things are generally not the way that they are presented to you and so you MUST ask questions.
I was thinking the other day about no matter how they try to rationalize patriarchy in government or positions of power, it just doesn't prove true. I reading an African historical fiction set in a patriarchal society, and in one part of the book the people had a saying that "Mother is supreme". The character who has multiple wives and children was asked why he thought they had this saying in their village. Of course the character was clueless as most men even now would be. He was told that the reason was that when we are in need or in trouble we always return to mother. All that to say this, our lives begin and end with mother. Now, I will be honest with you, I am a woman that is extremely close to her mother. I will drop you where you stand if you mess with my Mama, but my dad...not so much. They are married and have been for about 34 years, but I have come to a realization lately. My father and I don't get along. I was a dawta when he wanted a sun and I have never thought he liked me. Well, the truth is it started when I was 11 or 12. He just wasn't there and didn't do the things a dad should do. Until recently I kept holding out thinking that God was going to fix all that was wrong with us. I hoped that my forgiving him, being nice and avoiding certain conversations would gradually help us overcome our disconnection, but NOPE! I have decided that our relationship will probably never be anything more than what it is and that's fine. I am my mother's child. I have always been closer to her, she raised me because emotionally my father was absent, and she taught me how to love others. Most people I know are closer to their mothers and their mother's family.
At the root of is all, we do live in a matriarchal society, but the matriarchs simply don't get the credit. Everyday fathers walk away and nobody says anything. If a mother walks away we all search our hearts and minds to figure out what was wrong with her. I'm not a feminist by any stretch of the imagination, because in my house I like to practice balance. My husband and I are different, but equal. We are sun and moon, because the earth (children) would perish if either was to get to far from them. That said, I enjoy the set up my husband and I have, but unfortunately everyone doesn't believe that way and so things remain imbalanced. I don't know why the sexes are so at odds. The truth is that without the other we are imbalanced and can't even survive as a race/culture. Peace. Love. Balance.
Why couldn't we just stick with the way our ancestors did things before colonization and indoctrination?
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