Part I
Whether we want to be or not, we are raised by the patriarchy. Patriarchy is in front of our eyes as children as we are passed on rigid gender roles from birth. From the toys we play with to the way we dress, into adulthood to deeply ingrained social and economic structures. My meme relates to bell hooks's Understanding Patriarchy because her argument is that patriarchy survives because it is treated as inevitable, but also too overwhelming to confront directly.
Memes work as resistance and protest because they make serious problems easier to see and talk about. They use humor and familiar images to point out things that feel unfair or frustrating in everyday life. Topics like power, inequality, or social pressure can easily sneak their way into a meme help people realize they aren’t alone in how they feel. This is especially because a meme is easy to share. Even when they’re funny, memes can quietly challenge complicity and push back against ideas we’re expected to accept.
Part II
Patriarchy:
Patriarchy is the single most life-threatening social disease assaulting the male body and spirit in our nation (bell hooks).
Social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line (Merriam-Webster).
Interlinked systems of power like white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy influence our lives by deciding who has power and who doesn’t. They shape so much of or lives; what is seen as normal and valuable, how we work, how we present ourselves, behave, and so on. This is demonstrated in schools, home lives, media; everywhere in every day culture. As a result, this quietly affects the trajectory of our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment