Commentary on Article 6 "Patriarchy"

Before I read Allan Johnson's article, I had never considered the type of male dominated society we live in. It is easy to see the little things in society such a terminology (i.e. mailman, fireman) as things that just happen to be that way. I agree with Peggy McIntosh that male privilege and white privilege are one in the same. They are ingrained so much into the system that we consider them to be the "norm" and therefore ignore these issues and go about or daily lives. Most times those of us (everyone who is not male and or white) who are affected by this do not even realize that it is going on.

Consider these two similar but different examples. A white female obtains a high position of power within a law firm. If a man looks at her and considers her attractive the first thing the assumes is that she "slept her way to the top". This type of generalization is formed by a patriarchal society that assumes any woman that is worth looking at is not capable of hard work and having intelligence, therefore her only option is to use her physical attributes. Now, let us consider a black man receives a high position of power in that same firm. The society that we live in will encourage other members of the firm that he is only there because of affirmative action and he also does not qualify for the position. For both the white female and black male their success is attributed to some other factor besides their hard work and intelligence and in order to prove that they are qualified for and capable of completing the duties required of them they must work extra hard to produce flawless work while other members of the firm have the comfort of working to the extent of their capabilities and no more.

Overall the type of society that we are born into tells us that only a certain type of people are capable of success without any type of help. This idea is the reason why women and people of color feel that when they obtain a position of power they have to work ten times in order to be seen as equal with other members of the same career. I might be making a broad generalization, but i feel in a system like this, women and minorities are severely disadvantaged.

Amani Johnson