On Patriarchy. We have to make two forms of historical distinctions here: patriarchy as a "father's/paternal right", patriarchy as a "parental right". both are male dominated, yet the latter refers to a specifically "modern form of patriarchy", which has its origins in the "bourgeois marriage contract"-- the "sexual contract" in Patamen's words. Marriage contract establishes men's rights over women and explains why the exercise of this right is "legitimate". that is why it is different from traditional (old fashioned) form of patriarchy. marriage contract "conceals" women's subordination, just like "labor contract" conceals power inequalities between capitalist and worker. Men's patriarchal right over women is presented as reflecting the "order of nature", and embodying sexual differences as "quintessentially" natural differences. For this reason, the construction of sexual difference, that is, what it means to be a man or woman, is central to understanding women's subordination in private and public domains of life. obviously, capitalism plays a big role in "normalizing" this subordination.
Regarding capitalism's relation to sexism, we have
to realize the fact that family is the not only place of women subordination
because capitalism reinforces sexism in other domains as well. for example,
men claim right of sexual access to women's bodies not only in private
but also in public life. so, heterosexual relations are not confined
to family. The most obvious example of the public aspect of capitalist
patriarchy is "commodified sex". Men demand that women's bodies are
for sale as commodities in the capitalist market. Professionalized prostitution
and porno are part of the capitalist industry. This is how capitalism produces
and reproduces sexism. isn't is so obvious?
Mine Aysen Doyran
PhD Student
Department of Political Science
SUNY at Albany
Nelson A. Rockefeller College
135 Western Ave.; Milne 102
Albany, NY 12222