Africa Speaks Reasoning Forum

Does patriarchy hurt men? 

Though the primary beneficiaries of patriarchy are males, I still think males are affected and perhaps hurt by patriarchy. I base that on the performance and set of rules a male has to follow to be perceived as a "real man", accepted by females and males alike, under patriarchy.

So conformity to a stereotype or ideal can be harmful or suppresive...I understand though I wish you'd elaborate a bit more.  However, is there any aspect of patriarchy that offers more tangible harm to men?

How do you understand patriarchy Kairi? What do you understand it to be?

I think patriarchy is a system which is structured to allow the male gender to have dominant/primary control over general policy governing the society in a way that is calculated to uphold/enforce its influence and authority along gender lines.  I also believe it’s about male control with a view to excluding female authority excepting when it allows.

I agree to some extent with you Kiwumulo. I think this system facilitates male access to power and privilege and it reinforces a "positive" self image in the context of the patriarchal system. Indeed it offers an ideal of what is masculine which can impact males who do not fit that ideal but it simply means that these males may be privileged less or in different ways than the males who fit the ideal and follow different dynamics in accessing such privilege or acting out these notions of masculinity.

Patriarchy generally gives males a distorted idea of themselves and the world and creates an insecurity with aspects of reality that challenge this narrow view of self and world. Males cannot really develop without becoming more aware of our place within patriarchy and how we are privileged within it.

Of course it is kept in place in a wide range of ways...values, assumptions, laws, religious beliefs etc...ideas of family, society, sex, morality etc...