Patriarchy is good for you.
Why is it good for you? Because it is how God has established the world.
He created Adam first, then Eve. He placed the first husband as the head of the first wife and in doing so established the order of rule, rippling throughout the rest of society. Husbands become Fathers who are the heads of their families. Fathers become Elders who become heads of their communities. Adam is the head of all mankind and therefore represents all of us. Christ came as the New Adam and is the head of the Church. Throughout the Scriptures God has established this pattern. Husbands have authority. Fathers rule. Men lead. Men lead their families. Men lead worship. Men lead nations.
To rebel against God-designed patriarchy is the same as rebelling against God-designed oxygen. You can be mad all the live long day that God designed us to breathe oxygen but it doesn’t change a thing that oxygen is good for you. If you want to believe that oxygen is oppressive and mean then go stick yer head in a water bucket. If you want to remain living you’ll come back up for air, but if that doesn’t learn you and you insist on having your own way you’ll just be a sopping miserable mess. There’s a reason why feminists are always so pissed.
Feminists, Intersectionalists, Critical Theorists, and Lispy Protestants all want to define Patriarchy as a system of oppression because the lot of ‘em have daddy issues. I’m not speaking of their disappointed earthly fathers, but of the divine Father. When they screech about dismantling the Patriarchy, what they are really doing is seeking to dismantle the authority that God has established for their own good. Rebellion against established authority is ultimately rebellion against the One who established it.
This is not a question of ability but of design. The question isn’t whether a woman can lead, but whether a woman should lead. Just because you can eat a wet book or swallow driveway gravel doesn’t entail that you should. You must eat food. Anything else will cause major problems. Like it or not, that’s how God designed the body. Even poor food—crusty bread with maggots, say—is better for you than a stomach full of gravel. And so it is with patriarchy. Even stumbling men are to lead otherwise capable women. It’s how God designed humanity to function.
“But what about the men who use that authority for evil,” you say moving your Queen, looking to checkmate me. “The corrupt leaders, the woman beaters, the child abusers, the gaslighters, the sexual predators. Men using their patriarchal authority in truly sinful ways. Are you saying God designed that, you disgusting pig!?”
Well, no, says I, moving my Pawn to block your Queen. That men are sinners and have abused their God given authority doesn’t negate God’s design. Martin Luther mansplains:
“Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object that is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we prohibit wine and abolish women? The sun, the moon, the stars have been worshipped. Shall we pluck them out of the sky? Such haste and violence betray a lack of confidence in God.”
Men can go wrong with their authority. Shall we prohibit patriarchy? Such haste and violence betray a lack of confidence, not in men, not in the patriarchy, but in God. The one who eats rocks doesn’t negate God’s design that eating food is good for you. The answer isn’t to replace bad men with good women, but to replace bad men with good men.
Looking at it this way, the problem begins to be less about the rebellion and complaints from the women, and more about the men who are happy to comply. Happy to let the ladies lead. Effeminate slackness is also a misuse of authority. Men abdicating their God-given patriarchal authority is uglier than a Gender Studies professor with short bangs.
If sin is found within an institution designed by God, you don’t fix it by scrapping His design. That’s called rebellion. And to be clear, you don’t fix it either. God does. Through Christ, God redeems sinful humanity. And so God’s plan for wicked patriarchy is not to dismantle the patriarchy, but to redeem it. The thing dismantled is the wickedness. And so what we need is a healthy dose of repentance. Men are called to repent of the abuse and misuse of their authority and women are called to repent of their rebellion and attempted usurpation.
Repent and dismantle the Effeminarchy!
Patriarchy good for you because God designed it that way.
Wow. This is just amazing and I totally agree! I like where you said that it isn’t a question of whether women can lead, but should they?
Also, the chess game metaphor works brilliantly.
My question is HOW will we repair the damage already done by the lies, obfuscation, literal evil, etc., to bring our world back to center...a center where the Trinity reigns and women embrace the beautiful & unique difference?
I wrote about the patriarchy here awhile back, but not nearly a well as you have:
https://dulciusexasperis.substack.com/p/why-i-love-the-patriarchy?utm_source=profile&utm_medium=reader2