Reply #248: The difference is in the kind of power

[Tansy_Gold]

And really, folks, I am too tired and too far behind in my real life work to spend much more time on this issue, but there really is a difference between the "power" generally spoken of when feminists refer to "female power" and the "power" usually understood from a patriarchal context.

Not all, but most feminists speak of a "power-to" which is shared, not hoarded, and that enables each and every individual to achieve all he or she can be. (with apologies to the U.S. military, of course). It's not the traditional "power-over" that is embodied in traditional patriarchal cultures.

So it's really wrong to speak of a "power grab" in this sense, although I suppose that the members of the "powerful" strata look upon it as such because some of their "power-over" is being taken away and turned into "power-to" for everyone. But what the elites (and in our particular brand of patriarchy, that's the white heterosexual males; sorry, guys) fear from the possibility of a "matriarchal" coup is really unlikely. Matriarchy is not -- by feminist definition -- a patriarchy with vaginas. It's a whole different concept of power.

But of course the current white hetero male hegemony doesn't want anyone to know that, so they keep throwing out words like "power-grab" to keep their legionnaires in line. And since feminists -- of all genders -- don't have access to the same distribution of knowledge, the "power-to" folks don't get heard.

Or, sometimes, they just don't get listened to.


Tansy Gold