patriarchy

"At the time, it was better to be a man than to be a woman, because women were on the same level as animals" explains Pashe Keqi in a recent article in La Stampa about an old Albanian custom (original article on page 17 of La Stampa from June 29th, 2008). What Pashe means is the history of the "sworn virgins", woman who vowed to essentially become men. The tradition first started about 500 years ago, and today there are still 40 women living who went through their whole lives with all the rights and duties of a man.

In a country rife with conflicts and wars, families were often left without a male to fend for them. But since the women had no rights and thus could not take on the jobs needed to sustain a family, a man was needed as the head of family.

The conversation went something like this:

Some convoluted discussion about, human nature and socialism…

Kampire: Yeah, but the thing with “the system” is…

T: Wait, what do you mean by “the system”? What are we talking about here, are we talking about the government?

Kampire:… you don’t know what I mean, by “the system”? I don’t mean to be rude but I hang out with a lot of dirty Commies [laughter] so it’s been a while since I’ve had to explain this. “The system” is the capitalist patriarchal system that suppresses and co-opts minorities through a belief system that stretches back as far as history does and is wide enough to encompass our attitudes about immigration, sexuality, religion, education, etc, etc. The system means that you and I live in a completely different world because you are white and male.