Scaffolding of Patriarchy
I was asked recently by a wise friend what I’m currently curious about. I love this question. It’s one that we rarely stop to ask ourselves or others. My answer was scaffolding. Not as it pertains to it’s typical use of building or renovating a building, but as a metaphor for patriarchy, specifically hetero-patriarchy.
In the past year I’ve used the phrase “scaffolding of patriarchy” because I like its imagery. I used it in the essay “Trump’s Gender Theater” and then again recently in an essay I’m in the midst of writing for a friend’s art show catalog. It’s a phrase that just keeps rattling around in my brain and now I’m digging deeper. I’m inviting you to go along with me.
Scaffolding, by its very definition, is intended to be temporary. It’s constructed to build or reinforce a permanent structure. As a result it is not meant to withstand repeated extremes. Wind, rain, snow, heat. These powerful forces will eventually wear down the screws, nuts, bolts and wood. Maybe it would take years, but eventually the temporary nature of the scaffolding would give way to sustained pressure.
Patriarchy isn’t a building. It’s a system and its scaffolding isn’t made of nuts and bolts. It’s made out of thoughts and ideas. Specifically ideas about who is deemed worthy, capable and valuable. In the process of taking a deeper dive into my curiosity I’ve come across the term “phallocentrism”. This term concisely sums up how the system of patriarchy has continued to dominate beginning in ancient Greece.
During this time in human evolution Grecian society began to shift from an economy based on living off what the earth provides, when it provides it, to agricultural production which required intentional planning and cultivation of crops. This ultimately led to competition, brutality and an over-reliance on brute force to gain territorial dominance. As a result, over time, political power became synonymous with physical prowess and the assumption and use of male superiority.
UCLA Law Professor, Christine Littleton discussed ‘phallocentrism’ in her 1987 article titled “Reconstructing Sexual Equality”. She makes it clear that this term is not about male biology, as the word may lead you to believe, but instead it is about recognizing that the…“history of almost exclusive male occupation of dominant cultural discourse has left us with more than incompleteness and bias.” (Littleton, 1987).
As someone who has observed my own muscle structure transform into our culture’s definition of ‘masculine’ after 14 years of more testosterone into my body, it is far easier now for me to consider how cisgender men in ancient Greece were able to convince themselves and others that they were more capable and worthy of dominance in the face of violent intruders. Thus, the scaffolding of physical dominance equals political power was constructed and patriarchy was propped up.
That scaffolding is literally ancient. It has endured thousands of years and thousands of attempts to tear it down, proverbial bolt by bolt. Yet it has continued to remain standing. Unlike steel and wood, ideas are not worn down by physical elements and in this case the steel beams of patriarchal ideas have just gained strength through what Littleton refers to as “a self-referencing system by which those things culturally identified as “male” are more highly valued than those identified as “female,” even when they appear to have little or nothing to do with either biological sex.” (Littleton, 1987).
In order to bring down the scaffolding, once and for all, the “self-referencing” system must be interrupted. This can only be done by those who have taken up residence on the scaffolding platforms. They must take a 180 degree turn, step to the outer edge of their personal platform of male privilege and step off into the unknown expanse that has been created by every person who has not benefited from the safety of that platform.
As the platforms begin to empty, the cacophony of reinforcing phallocentric beliefs will slowly diminish and the sound waves from the spectrum of gender experience will fill the void. The scaffolding will tremble and shake in the sonic-level vibrations. Those who choose to remain in its shaky, and ultimately final state, will find themselves with a choice. Stay and perish or jump and…
Kaig Lightner is a queer, transgender person with a Masters in Social Work degree from Portland State University, where he is also a former adjunct professor. He started the gender diversity consulting agency Quantum Gender in 2017 and founded Portland Community FC in 2013, a nonprofit competitive soccer club for low-income, immigrant, refugee and LGBTQ+ youth in Portland, OR.