This post is the culmination of 3 Questions' of the Week and a month long journey into patriarchy and matriarchy. Together the @ecoTrain passengers have unearthed so many truths, and discovered so much history that has led us to where we are today. We live in a dualistic world, and we are bound by the to's and fro's of four ages. When we think about a matriarchy, and what a matriarchic world would look like, we have to open our eyes and see the real potential of a true matriarchy. In today's paradigm a matriarchy looks like a women ruling much like a man does, through domination, control, and greed. What I would like to share with you is that this is not how matriarchy has to be. If you consider a mother, would she feed her daughters but not her sons, Or would she nurture them all because she loves them? Would a mother raise a child and then demand 50% of their income through their adult life, or would she care for them and expect nothing back? So when we look at matriarchy, we must look through the lens of a mother figure to understand what a matriarchy in the Golden Age of Aquarius looks like!
These posts are each a gem within themselves, and together provide a wonderful and illuminating look at a very intriguing question. Many thanks to @clara-andriessen for proposing this triad of questions, from which I think its safe to safe that we have ALL thoroughly got stuck into!
@sharoonyasir
Honestly speaking, I am a little too confused about what an ideal society would look like. To get a better perspective of things, I decided to start off by reading the posts by other @ecotrain passengers on the topic so began with the one by @eco-alex. His post was brilliant and I really liked his idea of an ideal society not having any structure in particular because having a form and a structure is a more masculine thing and when we start following that, we experience a need to conform to a certain things and that then brings up issues.
I then read @mountainjewel's post on the topic and honestly I was blown away by it. Their research was brilliant and the idea of 'bioregionalism' that they put forward is fantastic because if you follow that, you create a place based society and focus on creating decisions keeping in mind the region you are placed in. This too sounded quite rational and sensible to me since all of us are based in different regions and one particular system would not suit all of us so yeah having a bioregional society does make a lot of sense to me.
@mountainjewel
Beyond Dichotomies & Hierarchies: Vision For a Healthier World | What is the Ideal Societal Structure?
Being a part of the awesome group of souls called#ecotrain, we answer a Question of the Week (QOTW) intermittently. The past two questions have been some incredibly astute reflections on the difficult to answer:
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What is Patriarchy? (Click here to read @eco-alex's compilation post of all of our answers- really good stuff!)
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What is Matriarchy? (Click here " ")
I highly recommend taking a look at these posts and giving the articles you feel attracted to a read!
This week's question seeks to go beyond this dichotomy and really allows us to use our imaginations.
Now that we have a better understanding of patriarchy and matriarchy, what is your ideal societal structure?
What is your ideal societal structure?
@clara-andriessen
It's the 'good week', this week, which means it's easter weekend, preceded by 'white Thursday' and 'good Friday'.
On white Thursday we remember the last supper Jesus had with his apostles before being arrested, judged and crusified the next day, which we remember on good Friday.
Yesterday evening, on white Thursday, before bed, with no other light then the candles and a cup of tea by my side, I felt inspired to read about 'The last supper'.
'Jesus Washes the Disciple's Feet'
John 13:1-16
Verse 1: "Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
@celestialcow
I am passenger of an amazing group here on Steemit called Ecotrain each week a question is proposed for us all to consider and answer.
This week 's is what our ideal society would be like?
We looked at what patriarchy and matriarchy are and how that effects us all as a human race today, we need to consider these terms to understand the system in which we live, there have been some very interesting articles and I have learnt a lot from reading everyone's point of view. I didn't get a chance to answer the previous questions so will touch upon that first.
I have been talking about this word Patriarchy with friends particularly around 2013/2014 the conclusion of all these conversations was unless you are male, white and straight you don't have a hope in hell in our modern word which is set up particularly for this group. At the time I was living in a dusty flat next to a main road just outside Oxford city center, in middle England. I had good friends who went to the famous university there, who were interesting counter culture types unlike the average joe / normative ones, who were next inline to inherit large trust funds and exclusive jobs. Working as a waitress in one of the biggest university towns with one of the top universities in the world , I would over hear some of the conversations from the students that horrified me, it was no surprise though how mindless their thought patterns were. Education is clearly just indoctrination, lots of young people in this situation are just sheep who follow in the foots steps of their brainwashed peers regurgitating clever dick answers they memorized out of a text book, of course they all ended up sounding the same. The exceptions are those individuals who decide to go against the grain, who are normally the types who don't or can't fit in to the normative categories.
@solarsupermama
This is the #ecotrain question of the week, and it's a doozy, isn't it? It's almost overwhelming. It has been incredibly beneficial to explore all of these avenues, and I continue to believe that we are doing world-changing work here on the @ecotrain by digging deeper and getting clearer in our definitions of how we want the world to unfold. This is how change can actually take place. For example, I was a Women's Studies minor in college, and I have been a proud feminist my whole life. I have always known that patriarchy (my article on patriarchy ) is definitely not where it's at. However, not until we did these posts, did I really gain even the beginnings of understanding what matriarchy (my post on matriarchy) is. To be fair, the field of anthropology is not even really clear on what matriarchy is, but at least I now have a clue what the conversation is.
@trucklife-family
Now that we have a better understanding of patriarchy and matriarchy, what is your ideal societal structure?
In my past 2 EcoTrain question of the week posts I discussed what my understanding of Patriarchy and Matriarchy are.
https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@trucklife-family/ecotrain-question-of-the-week-what-is-matriarchy-what-do-you-think-a-matriarchal-society-would-look-like
https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@trucklife-family/ecotrain-question-of-the-week-what-is-patriarchy-is-a-patriarchy-the-same-as-a-society-led-by-men-or-is-it-more-a-society-led-by
We are currently living in a Patriarchy society. A society that rules by fear and dominance. That from a very young age promotes gender roles, that have divided and segregated us all.We must be seen to act and live in a certain way if we wish to be accepted and included. A dominant rule that continues to oppress women, destroy the planet and disrespect our children.
A Matriarchy society has many definitions, everyone seems to have their idea about what they were or are. Indeed there are some modern societies that are called Matriarchy, and they are usually defined as such because the women are the ones who inherit land and carry the family name, however this is not really my understanding but rather one I believe that is put forward by the Patriarch.
@eco-alex
This three part question on Patriarchy and Matriarchy has been enlightening! I had no problem answering the first question:
What is Patriarchy: a society led by men or a society led by fear and a feeling of scarcity which happens to be an environment in which the masculine takes charge?
We live, and have lived under a patriarchal regime as far our recorded history goes back. The ideas and values of a patriarchal system are SO ingrained in our being, that most people cannot even comprehend anything else! Because of this, I also had it all wrong in my mind when I started to ponder on the second question of the week:
What is matriarchy? What do you think a matriarchal society would look like?
To understand what matriarchy is, you are going to have to rely on the @ecoTrain, because I've done a fair amount of looking on YouTube and Google, and let me tell you that the truth is not out there! Just about every video i have looked at has it all wrong. They are not talking about a real matriarchy, but instead an overlay of women over the current patriarch paradigm. The way to understand what a matriarchy is, is to understand that we are NOT just swapping the men our for the women! Matriarchy does not mean a world ruled by women! What I came to learn from some amazing posts by just about all @ecoTrain passengers, is that we have to understand what Matriarchy actually means before we can understand what a world led by the sacred feminine qualities would look like. In a matriarchal society, things would be the opposite of a patriarchy, but in EVERY sense of the word!
@stillwatersart
After reading everyone's responses about matriarchy and patriarchy I have been pondering the question of what would make the best kind of society. I discussed the topic with my husband and he is of the opinion that war and strife have been the way of humankind from the beginning and it is just a fact of life. I stubbornly maintained that if everyone thinks that way then there is no hope. One has to believe that something is possible in order to make the changes to bring it about.
In my last post on the topic, I found evidence that there were peaceful societies in the past.
https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@stillwatersart/late-post-to-answer-the-question-what-is-matriarchy-what-do-you-think-a-matriarchal-society-would-look-like-ecotrain-question-of
I was then curious as to whether there are modern societies that are peaceful. A google search led me to this list of societies that seem to have a handle on peaceful living. https://cas.uab.edu/peacefulsocieties/
**List of peaceful societies is never completely finished or accurate. However, social scientists have convincingly described at least 25 societies around the world in which there is very little internal violence or external warfare. Generalizations are difficult to make accurately, except that most of the time these peaceful societies successfully promote harmony, gentleness, and kindness toward others as much as they devalue conflict, aggressiveness, and violence.
@likedeeler
The German Anarchist "Bible"
When General Westmoreland, commander of the US troops in Vietnam, threatened to bomb the Vietcong back to stone-age, he had no idea that, if he was actually able to do so, he might do them a favor.
Archaeology has shown that life in some stone-age settlements was not exactly The Flintstones.
Excavations in Catal Hüyük, Turkey provide evidence of a neolithical society which was prosperous, without state and government but egalitarian, without poor and rich but with wealth for everybody, no social distinction and discrimination based on gender; and suddenly the term stone-age communism doesn´t sound so unattractive any more! 😘
While the original excavator, James Mellaart, became kind of infatuated with the idea of a matriarchy in Catal Hüyük, claiming that finds of female figurines representing the Mother Goddess were proof of his theory, scientists recently dispelled that as a myth and claimed that Catal Hüyük was a truely egalitarian society on all levels, no social classes, no clerics, no gender discrimination, no rulers, no ruled.
Of course Heide Göttner-Abendroth, the grand old lady of matriarchy research, became also involved in this clash of scientific egos, and she and her tribe started to create an 'alternative scientific community'.
@hopehuggs
https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://ipfs.io/ipfs/Qma6m4VaxJeHPsTQkp4NzS63pLyrQtyaJApUHboz5eG5c6
Now that we have a better understanding of patriarchy and matriarchy, what is your ideal societal structure?
So, I want to get more talkative and get what is in my head out my mouth and not necessarily by writing!
My answer is set to myself this challenge where I have 2 Talk for 3 Minutes or more in 1 Take, with 0 Script.
Who knows what will come out my mouth haha!
Okay, I have to agree with @likedeeler and @solarsupermama, a patriarchal or matriarchal society won't do, there needs to be a balance, so we need anarchy and clans!
A clan could be set up as somewhere that has one leader, or group of advisors, however, is agreed, but somewhere where everyone has a role to play and they know what that role is.
The groups could be set up around religions, beliefs or ideals. I think that there is scope for everyone to find a group of like-minded people.
I see self-sufficient off-the-grid groups as the ideal answer, who once they have got themselves formed and grounded and where they need to be, then they can reach out to other groups to help them too, should that be the decision of the group.
@sagescrub
In the past two weeks #ecoTrain passengers were asked to answer What is a Patriarchy? and What is a Matriarchy?
This week @clara-andriessen poses the question: Now that we have a better understanding of patriarchy and matriarchy, what is your ideal societal structure?
I am glad that this question is prompting me to think about my ideal societal structure because it allows me to tap into my own personal idealism.
It seems to me that feminine and masculine energies are always pushing and pulling each other.
Like spinning magnets that can attract and then push, attract and repel. If the feminine and masculine were always pulling each other together they would get stuck and never be able to separate. If they were always pushing each other further apart they could never come together.
I've noticed some talk lately on steemit about embracing and accepting our shadows. I think I am noticing it out of synchronicity and because it is a recurring theme in my thoughts and life lately. But I also think its a greater trend because our culture has not been taught to embrace our shadow selves and there is a growing realization that embracing our shadows are important in accepting the whole.
Read Our Linkup Post On The Previous Two Questions Here:
What is Patriarchy: a society led by men or a society led by fear and a feeling of scarcity which happens to be an environment in which the masculine takes charge?
What Is Matriarchy? What do you think a matriarchal society would look like? @ecoTrain question of the week. Read some amazing answers all tied up in this post.
Thanks to @clara-andriessen for proposing this question of the week!
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The deep painful questions need to be asked and the balance needs to be redressed. I already tend to think well beyond patriarchy and matriarchy - both are old paradigm thinking. You don't fix a pendulum swinging overly hard one way by forcing it to swing even harder in the opposite direction.
Exactly, a lot of the responses talk about this in fact. Perhaps you’d find a lot of similarities in the articles presented above. If you do read them, I’d be curious to hear your thoughts.
yes you said it,, its all About balance!
Fantastic! Thanks for compiling 😊
I’ve read all but @stillwatersart & @hopehuggs (going to read after this comment) and I can just say you all are amazing! Love being a part of this group.
Request:
Please let’s keep this theme going of asking deep, nitty gritty QOTWs. This is such awesome, challenging, and thought provoking stuff!! Let’s keep rolling! ✨✨✨💙❤️💚💖🖤!!!
will DO! Nitty gritty it is!
😁
Why don't we think about a human society.We specially the men have to change our mentality and every thing will be fine.We just have to forget this patriarchy and matriarchy society.Then the world will be a beautiful place to live on.Thanks for the post @eco-alex.
What a simple and smart response. I agree 100%! Now to get everyone else onboard :)
If you ask me then I would everybody should be equal in the family.No matriarchy no patriarchy everybody equal.That will be the best thing to bring happiness in society.
yes.. i agree!
Thank's for the reply.
Very elegant way to present you, The truth is in all your words.
It is possible to get many useful examples from your writing.Really i appreciate you.
excllent post
Happy easter
And, in the same breath, this is not how a patriarchy has to be.
Further, i am sure that everyone here is aware that women have many more rights and privileges than men do. If men were really in charge, why would men decide that in all cases of (domestic) abuse is the man always at fault? When ALL of the data shows that women are much more likely to emotionally and physically attack.
"In a society, in order to find who rules you, find who you cannot question."
Men are the laugh stock in all sitcoms. And you cannot even crack a feminist joke without being banned from social media.
So, if you are going to redefine matriarchy as all that is good... because we (obviously) have patriarchy now, need to really learn that our current govern-cemental structure is kakistocracy.
And we will not get out of it simply by just putting women in positions of power.
And, to that quip about would a mother do X.
A feminist mother threw her sons out of the house when they were 15, "because they were part of the patriarchy".
Epic compilation!
Ain´t we great? 😘
gracias senor for putting this together. resteemed @the-hearth for more eyes to see the wonder of these posts <3 !
Wow...wonderful post@eco-alex
Wow, I love the ecotrain! So great to see this collection of thoughtful and thought-provoking answers on societal structure. The act of reflection itself is so powerful. It is as if the ecotrain is helping people to pause and see more the different options of how we might structure ourselves. One meta-question it brings up for me: How do we define ideal? So grateful that @drkent suggested I check out @eco-alex!
Hey Alex, I love all the entries. have to read a few of them yet but this has been so so incredibly. You made a little mistake though. You hyperlinked Clara's article to the description under @celestialcow so each time I click on the read more hyperlink under her name, Clara's article opens up. Plz do fix that.