<html><div style='background-color:'><DIV class=RTE>My dictionary is Collins English Dictionary 21st Century Edition (published 2000). I can't remember the name of those Russian dolls (I think it's something like Matroika or something or other) which are wooden dolls which nest inside each other. I can't find it in the dictionary but whilst looking for the correct word I came across "matriarchy". As matriarchy came up in our LAF meeting yesterday afternoon on anarchism, anarcho-feminism and other strands of feminism, I thought it might be of interest to send out this definition.</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE><STRONG>matriarchy</STRONG> 1. a form of social organization in which a female is head of the family or society, and descent and kinship are traced through the female line. 2. any society dominated by women.</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>So I wondered if they define patriarchy. They do, as follows:</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE><STRONG>patriarchy</STRONG> 1. a form of social organization in which a male is the head of the family and descent, kinship and title are traced through the male line. 2. any society governed by such a system.</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>Hmmmm. I can't help noticing that definition number 2 of matriarchy is loaded, and definition number 2 of patriarchy is benign or at the very least neutral. So I get out my old dictionary, Collins Universal Dictionary (published 1972).</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE><STRONG>matriarchy</STRONG> government exercised by a mother; descent or inheritance in the female line.</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE><STRONG>patriarchy</STRONG> government by the head or father of a tribe; the community under the rule of a patriarch. [<STRONG>patriarch</STRONG> is defined in this dictionary as the father and ruler of a family.]</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>One part of me says "well at least they've updated the definition of matriarchy since 1972 and they now show that it would be a bad thing because it would entail domination," but then I get interrupted by another part of me which says, "well how come they didn't 'update' patriarchy, then? Look: in the 1970s, the definition of patriarchy and matriarchy differ only in that matriarchy doesn't include ruling a community or a tribe but by 2000, the definitions differ in that suddenly matriarchy does include being head of society, and definition 2 of matriarchy states that this would be domination; whereas although patriarchy as defined in point 1 of the 2000 definition differs by including 'title' <U>as well as</U> descent and kinship, in definition 2 this is not only <U>not</U> defined as domination BUT the whole of definition 2
is <U>benign</U>. It is impersonal and only mentions a 'system' whereas definition 2 of matriarchy is personal and says that it is domination by women," and I immediately find myself answering my other self: "well, because we're <EM>in</EM> a patriarchal society, naturally the compilers can see that matriarchy would be bad but they can't see patriarchy would be bad," and then comes the rebuttal, "oh come off it Joy, you can't have it both ways, either the dictionary compilers don't realise we're in a patriarchal system throughout most of the world at the moment so it wouldn't occur to them to give a different definition to matriarchy and patriarchy, OR they DO know and are deliberately skewing the definition. You can't see what's right in front of your face, Joy: in 1972 the dictionary had a pretty benign definition of both dominator forms of societal
organisation, but now in the 21st Century AFTER feminists pointed out that patriarchy is a dominator (rather than partnership) system of organising society the definition of patriarchy no longer includes the word 'rule' BUT, at the same time, definition 2 of matriarchy states, 'any society <U>dominated</U> by women.' Joy stop apologising for the creators of the dictionary, they're taking the piss: after the expose of patriarchy by 1970s feminists, the definitions of matriarchy and patriarchy are changed to show patriarchy as benign and matriarchy as malignant when they're both hierarchical power structures, whereas in the 1970s the definitions of the two words were similar except that patriarchy included the word 'rule'. If anything, this smacks of revisionism, AND the continued mis-representation of women, AND the leaving out of women's
history (in that feminists have shown patriarchy to promulgate inequality but the dictionary definition does not reflect that)."</DIV>
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<DIV class=RTE>So anyway, as you can see, I'm suffering from a bad bout of cognitive dissonance and I STILL don't have the correct word for those Russian dolls. Can anyone help? :)</DIV>
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