"How Patriarchy Damages Women and Girls"

I would like to thank Karlie Hustle for her contribution to humanity. I appreciate anytime I can find such an astounding, mouth dropping essay posted on Facebook and obviously had to re-post here in my blog. I hope it touches you and provokes thought and understanding the same way it did for me today. Thanks Karlie Hustle

"How Patriarchy Damages Women and Girls"

by Karlie Hustle

What is patriarchy?

Patriarchy is the social system which places men as authority figures over women and children. The notion that "the man is the head of the house" sets up a hierarchy whereby one member of a family is considered superior to the others.

Institutionalized entitlement on behalf of men combined with fear on behalf of women is what sets the patriarchy ship to sail. Unfortunately, without equality, no household (and no nation, for that matter) can flourish in a healthy manner.

The United States is a country systematically run by way of patriarchal norms. Little girls are socialized from infancy that being married and having babies is what "good women" do. "Find yourself a man" is the task we are given almost immediately. The construct that we are nothing without a man is so ingrained into our psychology that we will often compromise ourselves and the lives of our children just to hang on to one.

I walk down these Brooklyn streets and see female toddlers, barely able to walk themselves, pushing dolls in strollers. We are sending these children the wrong message. At three years old, isn't it a bit perverse to insinuate that baby girls have nothing other to prepare for than eventual motherhood?

Naively, we all seem so boggled as to why teen pregnancy is such an issue. Aside from the lack of education on how to protect oneself from unwanted pregnancy and STIs, the idea of getting knocked up is somewhat attractive to young girls. And why wouldn't it be? Moms and dads, can you really be mad when your 14-year-old daughter announces her pregnancy after encouraging her to be a caretaker for doll babies her entire childhood?

The first step is owning up to our own neurosis. The sickening mind games we play with ourselves and then pile on top of our young girls are centuries in the making, but at some point we must step back and look at the damage we are causing to future generations.

To insist that having a man and being a mother are the only two truly acceptable options for women and girls is as unfair as it is damaging. To infuse young female minds with the idea that they are nothing without the validation from a male counterpart is to continue a very damaging cycle. This hamster wheel includes (but is not limited to) domestic violence, child abuse, teen pregnancy and the spread of STIs and STDs.

Patriarchy silences women and children. Until the girls are safe, none of us are safe.

We have got to do a better job of giving women options beyond the hetero-normative, patriarchal mainstays. We are losing our girls left and right, both in mind and in physical body.

I have nothing against marriage nor motherhood. At 34-years-old, I still haven't deemed myself ready for either, but that doesn't mean I won't do both at some point. I am not here to be subversive to the idea of families and children. All I'm asking is for us to consider giving our girls a shot at other identities.

I implore you--if your daughter insists on pushing something on wheels down the street--get her a little cart of books instead.