Patriarchy is a Lie

Patriarchy was always a lie. It played us all for absolute fools. 

One thing that's always stuck out to me is the simple explanation of hunter vs. gatherer. It was always the women as gatherers and the men the hunters. It is too clean a division of labor to have lasted millions of years and doesn't hold up in primate and gorilla studies. New Atlas has a summary of a PLOS One paper on the evidence that hunter or gatherer is a role not determined by gender.  

Patriarchy is likely a fabrication and started 3,000 years ago. I'm reading Gerda Lerner's book on the history of patriarchy. It's a fascinating and detailed look at the topic, quoting original sources all the way back to the Sumerians.

It reminds me of the changes in ethology about re-interpreting animal behavior from the female perspective. In the 1970s and 1980s women started studying the same behaviors of animals and coming to very different conclusions. Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, and Biruté Galdikas were all influential reads for me when I found their books, and then their research. 

Gerda Lerner's book is nothing less than enlightening.