Why I don't blame the patriarchy

I've written before about the importance of the language we use. Words have direct meanings and they have resonances, and we need to make sure that these match what we're trying to say. In particular, I think the more precise our language is, the better we can communicate our ideas.

I try really hard not to use the word 'patriarchy' on this blog, because I don't know what it means. When a woman, or a man, talks about 'the patriarchy' it doesn't tell me anything about how they think the world works, or how men's power over women is maintained.

Instead of 'patriarchy' I tend to say 'sexist and misogynist society' - which isn't much more precise, but has the advantage of not sounding as though I'm describing a system that everyone understands how it's work. That's why I think 'patriarchy' is particularly difficult word - it sounds as if it's describing a quite precise system, but for all I know everyone who used the word could be meaning something slightly different.

This is of course part of a wider problem for feminism, I don't think any feminist, or feminist theory, has a complete and coherent explanation or how men's power over women is maintained. But I think the most important thing we can do is meet that problem head on, keep on thinking about, writing about, and analysing the world we live in. We need to find the precise words to describe all that, not rely on imprecise words to do our work for us.