"Control of female
sexuality is fundamental to the patriarchal system. This explains why
there is so much controversy about the “simple matter” of access to
birth control and abortion and so much anger directed at single
mothers. " ~Carol Christ
I never cease to be amazed that, in spite of the looming catastrophe of over population, and the immediate evidence of misery and violence engendered by unwanted pregnancies, single mothers, often children themselves, struggling to care for children in an increasingly shrinking welfare system...........I never cease to be amazed that the contemporary versions of Biblical Patriarchs continue to fight for the right to control the bodies of the female population. Here's a brilliant article I felt like reprinting by Carol Crist that takes a long look at the issue, so deeply embedded in our world today, and so very crucial to change.
Patriarchy as a System of Male Dominance Created at the Intersection of the Control of Women, Private Property, and War
(Part 2), February 25, 2013
by Carol P. Christ
Patriarchy is a system of male dominance, rooted in the ethos of
war which legitimates violence, sanctified by religious symbols, in
which men dominate women through the control of female sexuality, with
the intent of passing property to male heirs, and in which men who are
heroes of war are told to kill men, and are permitted to rape women, to
seize land and treasures, to exploit resources, and to own or otherwise
dominate conquered people.*
In
last week’s blog, I explained patriarchy as a system in which men
dominate women through the control of female sexuality with the intent
of passing property to male heirs.
How did a system that identifies a
man’s essence with his property and the ability to pass it on to sons
come about? I suggest that the answer to this question is war and the
confiscation of “property” by warriors in war.
Patriarchy is
rooted in the ethos of war which legitimates violence, and in which men
who are heroes of war are told to kill men, and are permitted to rape
women, seize land and treasures, to exploit resources, and to own or
otherwise dominate conquered people.
My argument is that the origin of “private” property, defined as
property owned by a single (male) individual, and as that which defines
the “essence” of that individual, is the “spoils” of war, which are
divided up by victorious warriors. The “spoils” of war are the tangible
treasures “looted” or taken by the victors from the conquered, such as
jewelry and sacred objects. The “spoils” of war include land “taken” as
the result of warfare, along with the right to exploit resources,
directly or through taxes and levies. The “spoils” of war also includes
the right to “take” the women of the defeated enemy and to
confirm ownership of them (and humiliate their fathers or husbands) by
raping them. The “spoils” of war also include the right to “take” these
raped women and their young children home to serve as slaves and
concubines.
Though many people were surprised when the rape victims of the recent
war in Bosnia began to speak out about the use of rape as a tool of war
by Serbian soldiers, in fact, rape has always been an “ordinary” part
of war. In the “great” epic known as
The Iliad which is said to
be the foundation of western culture, Achilles and Agamemnon are
fighting over which of them has the right to rape a “captured” woman
named Briseis. The term “spear captive” is used to mask the reality
that Briseis and other women like her were “rape victims” and that the
“heroes” being celebrated were their “rapists” and “jailers.” I believe
that the institution of rape and the (twisted) notion that men have a
right to rape (certain kinds or types of) women originated with war.
The institution of slavery also originated in war. Both the Bible and
the Greek epics testify to the ancient custom of enslaving the women
and children of the enemy. Slave women in every culture, like the slave
women on plantations in the Americas, are at the mercy of their owners
and his sons, who can rape them if they felt like it. The “custom” of
taking slaves from the enemy and the “custom” of also taking enemy women
sexually, is deeply intertwined with the history of war. The Africans
who sold other Africans into slavery in the Americas were selling
Africans they had taken as the spoils of war.
If we entertain the hypothesis that earlier matriarchal clan systems existed, then we can see that the notion of individual powerful men’s
peri-ousia
being defined as the treasures, land, and people they property they
“stole” and then claimed to “own” would have involved a massive cultural
shift. The shift to defining men by the property they owned required
that men would also ”own” and absolutely control their wives and
daughters, who had previously been free. Such a cultural shift could
only have been instituted and maintained through violence.
Patriarchy is a system of male domination, rooted in the ethos of war which legitimates violence. Warriors
who have learned the methods of violent domination of other human
beings—not only other soldiers, but also the women and children of the
people they conquer—bring the methods of violence home. Violence and
the threat of violence can then be used to control “one’s” wife or
wives, in order to ensure that “one’s” children really are “one’s” own.
Violence and the threat of violence can be used to ensure that “one’s”
daughters are virgins who can be “given” to other men to perpetuate the
system of patriarchal inheritance. Violence and the threat of violence
can be used to hold enslaved people “in line.” In addition, violence
and the threat of violence can be used to subdue those within one’s own
culture who are unwilling to go along with the new system. Women who
refuse to let men control their sexuality can be killed with impunity by
their male relatives or stoned by communities as a whole.
How does such a violent system legitimate itself? By religious
symbols. In Greece, warriors were “in the image” of the “warrior God”
Zeus whose rape of Goddesses and nymphs was celebrated. In Israel, the
power of warriors is mirrored in a male God who is called “Lord” and
“King” and who achieves his will through violence and destruction.
Sadly, this is not an exclusively western problem. In all of the
so-called “highly developed” cultures defined by patriarchy and war,
symbols of divine warriors justify the violence of men. Laws said to
have a divine source enshrine men’s control the sexuality of their
wives, permit some men to rape some women, and allow some people to own
other people as slaves.
Patriarchy is not simply the domination of women by men. Patriarchy
is an integral system in which men’s control of women’s sexuality,
private property, violence, war, and the institutions of conquest, rape,
slavery arise and thrive together. The different elements are so
intertwined that it is impossible to separate one as the cause of the
others. Patriarchy is an integral system of interlocking oppressions,
enforced through violence. The whole of the patriarchal system is
legitimated by patriarchal religions. This is why changing religious
symbols is necessary if we hope to create alternatives to patriarchal
systems.
The model of patriarchy I have proposed argues that control of female
sexuality is fundamental to the patriarchal system. This explains why
there is so much controversy about the “simple matter” of access to
birth control and abortion and so much anger directed at single
mothers. The model of patriarchy as an intergral system can help us to
see that in order to end male domination we must also end war–and
violence, rape, conquest, and slavery which are sanctioned as part
of war. We must also end the unequal distribution of wealth inherent in
the notion of ”private” property, much of it the “spoils” of war, which
led to the concept of patriarchal inheritance, which in turn required
the control of female sexuality. As feminists in religion we must
identify and challenge the complex interlocking set of religious symbols
which have sanctified the integral system of patriarchy–these include
but are not limited to the image of God as male. Ending patriarchy is
no small task!
*I am offering a functional definition of patriarchy that does not
address the separate question of why it originated. I will be
publishing an expanded version of this dicussion in the future.
This Article is from
Feminism and Religion, February, 2013
Carol P. Christ will be leading life-transforming Goddess Pilgrimages to Crete through Ariadne Institute this spring and fall. Join her and learn more about prepatriarchal woman-honoring Goddess cultures. She spoke on a WATER Teleconference recently which you can listen to now if you missed it. Her books include She Who Changes and Rebirth of the Goddess and the widely used anthologies Womanspirit Rising and Weaving the Visions.
