Every year my wife and I like to go the Sydney Opera House where the House hosts the ‘Festival of Dangerous Ideas.’ It is gathering of Thought Leaders who present on various topics that many people find challenging, provocative and dangerous. Ideas in politics, economics and ecology and the list goes on.
This year we chose to attend three presentations. Michael Wesley asking the question ‘ARE WE HEADING TOWARDS A WORLD MADE UP OF A SERIES OF FEUDAL FIEFDOMS?’ in his talk Feudal World; A C Grayling on ‘WILL IT TAKE A REVOLUTION TO ENABLE US TO REALLY EDUCATE?’ in Bad Education; while Laurie Penny wondered ‘CAN THE LIBERATION OF WOMEN FREE MEN FROM THE STRAIGHTJACKET OF MASCULINITY?’ in her presentation Lost Boys.
Needless to say, all three of the presenters are highly qualified and experienced in their respective fields.
Now you might wonder how these topics hang together and why I’m bringing them up in blog about masculinity and men? Because when I sat back and reflected on the three presentations, I realised that they had a connecting theme. Patriarchy.

Patriarchy is killing globalism.

Feudalism is the political manifestation of patriarchy. The current geo-political and economic tensions that are applying pressure on globalism are fundamentally a consequence of the driving characteristics of traditional masculinity; patriarchy. Globalism inherently stemmed from the idea that we are better off being inclusive and co-operative as opposed to exclusive and competitive.
The economic situation is further complicated by religious ideologies, most of which are also patriarchal. You can see this in the refusal by many to accept marriage equality, the ordination of women. Rather than relating to women as people sharing an equal position, women as treated as possessions, subject to the whims of men, who enforce economic, political and social restriction such as wage inequity, reproductive restrictions, dress codes and, in more extreme places their complete restriction in education and commercial and political life.
It is an irony that patriarchy is pushing to regain dominance again within Western societies as well as in the Middle East. It is in this context that pressure to deconstruct globalism towards establish Feudal holdings needs to be seen. The individual in the Feudal system no longer has the rights and responsibilities afforded to him/her that comes with democracy and therefor he/she is disempowered through the structure of an exploitive and repressive system.

Patriarchy is deconstructing education in favour of skills training.

A C Grayling eloquently established a case that education is being discriminated against in the push for more and more skills training. We can see this in the on-going and persistent de-valuing of the humanities in favour of skills oriented training.
The purpose for education is to firstly foster a desire in the learner to continue with their education as a lifelong pursuit as a opposed to some task that finishes either in year twelve or at the end of their degree. Secondly education is providing a foundation to take data and shape it into information, then to transform information into knowledge and then to apply that knowledge wisely. Skills without the framework of education does not enable us to do this adequately. Hence we continue to struggle with issues of ethics, morality and actions. See Political and Corporate corruption, racism, sexism and exploitation.
Finally, education provides the individual with the necessary building blocks to create and maintain cultures that are just and equitable, respecting the relationship between the needs of the one and the needs of the many.

Patriarchy needs to be dismantled by men.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed Laurie Penny’s talk titled ‘Lost Boys’, it was clear by the end of the Q & A that although she had a good handle on feminism and its role to assist women in their quest for equality, she was not able to clearly articulate what to do about the lost boys and the patriarchy within which they are raised.
Given that patriarchy is what men constructed to maintain and expand power, it is up to us as men to take leadership in this and not simply as a reaction to women’s demands. We need to educate boys and men about the difference between patriarchy and a masculinity that is inclusive of fifty percent of the population and not make them fight for it. Men need to set the agenda for a new masculinity. Why? Because we are being exploited by it as well.

Here’s a challenge
Laurie threw down a challenge to the men in the audience. Have a conversation at least once a day with another male about patriarchy. Now she didn’t give a how. So here is the HOW:

Being patriarchal is when you’re being:
territorial,
hierarchical
acquisitional and
competitive.

The challenge is this; ask yourself ‘Can I change that to be’:
inclusive,
democratic,
distributive and
cooperative in my actions.

If you need to get some information on the challenge contact me. gunter@goodmengreat.com

So, if you are interested to end patriarchy, talk to me. Come and visit www.goodmengreat.com and become part of the solution.

To set up an exploratory conversation with me, contact rebecca@goodmengreat.com.