Exploring Patriarchy in a Wounded and Wounding World

by Kayce Stevens Hughlett

excerpt from my full guest blog post for Rose Madrid Swetmen. Click here for full piece. 

These are the tactics of patriarchy—shame and fear, power over, toxic women supporting rule of the father, then claiming it can’t be discrimination because the supporter is female. Let’s not forget calling women crazy or saying they’re a witch for using intuition (like I received on the beach) or for practicing alternative healing methods—Reiki, artmaking as healing, understanding the cycles of the feminine moon. Remember those stern faces of my ancestors? I’m relatively certain they are the faces of angry women. Women tamped down, taught to be smaller, told to stand still and look pretty. We are told to stay in our place. That is the work of patriarchy. We are learning scientifically that that ‘work’ is genetically passed down.