Original Production: Dallas Austin
Arrangement and Additional Production: The Author (Blackbird Productions)
You know, coming into this post I wasn't quite sure how to approach this topic, or even if I really wanted to - I believe the content of the track speaks for itself. Still, posting just a song with absolutely no explanation at all felt a little lazy, and so I decided to see how different dictionaries defined the term "patriarchy". Most had your standard run of the mill definition: "A system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line."
As I scrolled through the results, the top definition on urban dictionary caught my eye (if you don't know what urban dictionary is, well damn, catch up homie), and ultimately made me realize that if I'm going to release a song called patriarchy, I should probably approach the subject at least a little bit. The reason for this is that the top definition on Urban dictionary is this: "A term used by feminists, to blame men for all their problems."
Okay, let's look at the second: "The bogeyman that feminists blame for women's problems or under-achievements because their big-girl pants apparently don't fit."
I won't bother posting the rest of the definitions since they're all along the same lines. But I mean, holy shit. Is this really how ignorant some people are? Let's ignore all the political rhetoric attached to the word for just a moment. Even ignoring that, to pretend that this construct (that was and most definitely is a thing) is something that feminists made up, or something that only affects women - well, it's really an incredibly stupid thing to do; Especially if you live in the United States. Sure, we've had a decent (even decent might be a little too generous) amount of social progress in the last one hundred years, but let's not forget that it wasn't until 1920 that women were allowed to vote nationally, and that most certainly wasn't due to a lack of trying to gain support. After all, the women's suffrage movement started in 1848, and getting women the right to vote was something they were trying to achieve from the get go. I choose voting as the example here because it represents the mindset at the time: Women's opinions are not valuable.
Of course, things have changed, and now we're seeing the effect of the vestiges of such a mindset. There's a lot of internalized misogyny in our society, and it doesn't only affect women either. Just think about how hard it can be to be a male child caregiver or pre-school teacher, or how even something like dating is something the man is supposed to initiate, regardless of who feels what. Not to mention the fact that for some reason having emotions apparently became a feminine trait, and I've heard that sentiment spouted from girls and guys alike. I'm not saying everyone out there thinks this way, I think a good amount don't actually - but at least enough do that you can still write shitty sitcoms using these notions as premises and still get good ratings. Two and a Half men is still a thing after all.
Again, this is something I wasn't trying to get into, but I can't just look at blatant ignorance and prejudice and ignore it completely. Maybe someone reading this really had no clue, and if that's you, I highly recommend just learning about how early civilizations in different places came about. Alright, mini-history lesson over. Hope ya'll enjoy the track, until next time my peoples.
(Lyrics)
(Dennisaurus Rex)
Through these two eyes every woman is a Goddess.
But we live inside a world that fights, calculates and can't be honest.
And it gets hard to separate worship from objectification,
But some clear lines can be drawn with some respectful hesitation, like:
Style, class, and self respect - cause for proper introduction or a tip of the hat.
But cat calling motherfuckers just be holding us back,
and these girls who eat it up just make the whole game wack.
and it's a madmen meat market managing to maintain a relationship,
human connection with an erection, mental projection, machismo dictatorship.
(breath)
Are they people or potato chips?
Machismo dictatorships, it's a patriarchy.
(The Author)
In my opinion:
The problem starts when you're just a kid.
Disney taught us princesses will need a prince,
happy single? God forbid.
Stay with a dick just cause Belle did.
Friends are looking sideways, but deep inside she thinks her love will change him.
On the other side we've got motherfuckers like Eric.
Fall in love with a girl when she's never even said shit.
Personality don't seem to matter a bit,
How is it after one or two dances a dude will think a chick is perfect?
Well if the shoe fits, right?
Ain't that how it goes?
A dude will keep searching for that perfect girl while sleeping with hos.
Probably not something he'll mention,
following social convention,
but to keep it safe he'll go for ones that are gullible.
The type that wouldn't only take, but eat fruit from a stranger.
Too young to know that a 25-year old shouldn't be dating teenagers.
But I would wager that they think it's mature behavior,
it seems the worst attract the most naive. I guess it's human nature.
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