Kyriarchy is
a neologism coined by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza and derived from the Greek words for ‘lord’ or ‘master’ (kyrios) and ‘to rule or dominate’ (archein)
(from Feminist Philosophers, quoting from Glossary, Wisdom Ways, Orbis Books New York 2001)
While “patriarchy” places man (literally “father”) as the ruler/dominator, “kyriarchy” emphasizes that it is the very concept of “master” that rules us; it is the act of creating hierarchies on which we are all placed “higher” or “lower” that oppresses and damages us.
The schema of “kyriarchy” succeeds where the schema of “patriarchy” fails by acknowledging the wide variety of dominations/oppressions that humans suffer under: not just women-under-men, but queer-under-straight, trans-under-cis, PWD-under-TAB, POC-under-white, poor-under-rich, fat-under-thin, and so on. The masculinity-femininity axis is but one among many ways that humans exist with either privilege or oppression, and most of us exist with a complex array of privilege in some areas and oppression in others.
In the schema of “kyriarchy”, we are able to understand that it is not enough for (straight, thin, rich, white, cis) women to achieve equality with (straight, thin, rich, white, cis) men; we must dismantle every aspect of the system which privileges any state of being over any other, in order for all humans to achieve full personhood.
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For further discussion of the concept of kyriarchy, I highly recommend reading Accepting Kyriarchy, Not Apologies by Sady at My Ecdysis, to whom I offer my sincere thanks for introducing me to the word, if not the concept. My thinking and writing are far clearer due to that post.
Arwyn
In my bathroom hangs a plaque with a picture of a yin yang and the word BALANCE. I can never get it to hang straight. This probably says something deep and meaningful about my life.
Followed you over from the PHD in Parenting website. Your writing called to me.
Nice post.
[...] What attributes go towards forming an Australian national identity? Somewhere in there is some notion of larrikinism and mateship. Those light hearted aspects are what Australians want to see as the foundation of their temperament, but they are balanced with serious things like loyalty, the Anzacs and hard (generally physical) work. What they don’t mention is how fundamental xenophobia is to Australia, how the hatred of Aboriginal Australians dates back hundreds of years. Rather than being held up as an example of some mythical ideal Australian, this real cultural hatred of anyone without visible while, European ancestry is played out in the streets every day. It is why refugees are treated as a “security risk”. Mateship is all well and good, but they don’t mention the specific characteristics of a “mate” include being the same race, speaking the same language and holding the same values that uphold the status quo of the kyriarchy. [...]
[...] miserable, sick, taunted, shunned, hated, and ignored. (Are we those things? Yes, in this fucked up kyriarchy, we are. But we’re also joyful, healthy, embraced, befriended, loved, and celebrated, and we [...]
[...] and oppression in others” (see her complex and highly informative perspective on kyriarchy here). These include, but are not limited to: age, race, gender, gender expression, nationality, [...]
[...] is kyriarchy that makes me feel this way, of course. It is the colorless, contextless definition of racism [...]
[...] which probably explains why I hadn’t previously heard of it! – and I encountered it in this post by Arwyn at Raising Boychick. Arwyn quotes a definition of “kyriarchy” which describes it as: a neologism coined by [...]
[...] (especially in this universal-diapering culture), but what I want to talk about is its role in kyriarchy. For to be sure, it does have (a highly complicated) one: while it’s not true that only [...]
[...] To look at choosing formula as only an individual choice is to ignore all other sources of the problem: media (advertising), health care system (cut backs and lack of breastfeeding education), economy (need to return to work early to make ends meet), social pressure (family, friends, society), the current conservative politics that drive all of the above and of course the invisible walls of patriarchy, and where applicable, ableism, racism and sexism. Or should I just say kyriarchy? [...]
[...] um, rather a lot. And so I often find myself tweeting about Doctor Who — and, being the kyriarchy-butt-kicker I like to think I am, I find myself tweeting about when Doctor Who fails. And oh, does [...]
[...] cases already have. They have proven that they want to do this. Speaking up for equality under a kyriarchy is something that we all have to do eventually, if we want to consider ourselves [...]
[...] child is this? Kyriarchy, privilege, and motherhood Y’all know that I blame the kyriarchy — to talk only of patriarchy is to whitewash (ha ha) the myriad ways that people, including [...]
Thank you for this useful definition. Being one of these straight, thin (ish), rich (well not desititute), white, cis women, this is something I hadn’t really thought about much before. Thank you, a lot of food for thought, I shall go and investigate the other post you linked to.