Women, Images & Realities Lecture 9/15
Challenging Patriarchal Families
patrilineal: a system of society or gov. in which the father or eldest male is head of the family + descent is traced through the family line
patriarchy: “a social system in which males hold primary power, predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege + control of property; in the domain of the family, father-figures hold authority over women + children”
-patriarchy depends on the gender binary to thrive - also using heteronormativity, race + class
19th Century Southern Patriarchy
had to be white upper class men
your property included land, women, objects, animals, slaves, etc.
-enslaved people wanted their families after emancipation more than anything else - to find their family that had been sold off, to have family that wouldn't be split apart (in this case patriarchy was wanted for black people in the sense of family)
Cherokee North America is not patriarchal nor matriarchal:
-the communities being big families w/o much hierarchy
-no capitalism or communication w/ patriarchal/materialistic societies
-nature was worshipped as a woman (mother nature)
-the food was believed to be given by women spirits
-marriage was easy to get into and leave (people weren't property)
-no sex taboos or values based on virginity
-the community raised children more than the nuclear family model
-every task was valued (farming, weaving, hunting, cooking)
-in America, the children aren't required to take the fathers last name at birth but rather a choice given to the parents
(you could take the 1st part of the woman’s last name + the last part of the man’s last name to create a new + equal last name)
