Devil's Footnote: Same Word, Different War
How "Patriarchy’s” Meaning Depends On Which Side You're Standing On
I published an essay last week about why Gen Z stopped having sex. Two emails came in that same day.
A close friend wrote about the word “patriarchy.” How it feels like it blames every man in the room regardless of who he is and where he came from. How when we were kids we used to say “the Man” pointing up at power. But how this new word points sideways at men like him.
The other email was from a female friend. Hers was about what women carry. The guy at the bar who calls you a name when you say no thanks. Boys raised on “ewww a girl” who are somehow supposed to revere women by twenty-five. One in three women sexually assaulted.
Here were two people who probably agree on most things. Reading the same words and seeing completely different issues.
I’ve been sitting with this. Neither is wrong, but the word “patriarchy” might not even mean the same thing to each of them. He hears an accusation. She hears a lifetime. Same word, but with completely different weight on it.
I don’t have answer yet, but I’m brewing my way towards one.
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Thanks for being here. Stay Curious. Question Everything.
–Luis