Comments on Deeply Problematic: Why I use that word that I use: Kyriarchy, kyriarc...

Natalia said... "... The etymology you cite- ...

2011-02-25T21:56:22.538-05:00

Natalia said...
"... The etymology you cite- and I've not made any study I'm relying on your comments- the word is from 'lord' or 'master'...both words implying (institutionalized) gendered hierarchies."

This is not actually correct. The word -- actually κύριος, "kyrios", not "kyrie", which is the vocative -- is translated as "lord" or "master", but the feminine form κυρία "kyria" is just as valid, and the root κυρι- "kyri-" is gender-neutral. The first definition in Liddell and Scott's Greek-English Lexicon is adjectival:

I. of persons, having power or authority over

which certainly fits the way I see it being used here.

Sincerely,
Dr. Whom: Consulting Linguist, Grammarian, Orthoëpist, and Philological Busybody

My goodness! This was simply lovely. I think I ma...

2010-10-04T12:26:30.721-04:00

My goodness! This was simply lovely.
I think I may have heard this word in passing in some intro to gender studies course, but this was a great in depth analysis of the word.
Thank you! :)

I have a blog... it's not completely relevant to what you write about... it's more of a travel blog, however, I am in Ghana interning at a women's empowerment NGO - here's a little snippet on what I'm doing if you're curious.

http://ginasperspective.blogspot.com/2010/09/global-giving_08.html

Interesting article, I actually hadn't stumble...

2010-10-01T18:48:22.757-04:00

Interesting article, I actually hadn't stumbled across this word, but I like it. Etymological issues aside, it's a lot less sexist than the word patriarchy, and much more useful in a broader context.

Also, I think whatever "sting" might me taken from it by using a more neutral-sounding word is actually a blessing, since words with a "sting" attached to them quickly start sounding more like name calling than an intellectual examination of a complex system. Ethics inflecting social criticism is nice and all, but some words just feel less objective as a result.

@Natalia The "sting" of calling a sexist...

2010-09-06T09:33:43.892-04:00

@Natalia
The "sting" of calling a sexist a sexist shouldn't be lost, just as calling a racist, homophobe, cissexist/transphobe, etc should all retain their respective stings!

You make a good point that the original root word implies male institutions (although only because those words have come to be sex-differentiated [lord/lady, master/mistress] - there are definitely scenarios in which women would have been landowners and rulers of that nature].

Possibly the originator of the term should have chosen a better root word, but unfortunately men dominate language as well!

However, the vagueness is intentional, as I see it. "Rule by those with power" is vague, but it is accurate...because it may be white cisgendered women, black wealthy straight men, or any permutation of factors depending on context that has the advantage in a situation.

So to sum up, you're right that it disembodies women to some degree, but I think to some degree that's the intent - it's a broad term.
The individual problems, however, aren't rendered insignificant just because there's a larger term for their interactions.

A problem with this word, and the etymology you ci...

2010-09-06T06:47:13.964-04:00

A problem with this word, and the etymology you cite shows it...it loses any 'sting' of calling a sexist a sexist; abstracts it instead with neologistical non-gendered concepts. They etymology you cite- and I've not made any study I'm relying on your comments- the word is from 'lord' or 'master'...both words implying (institutionalized) gendered hierarchies. If the gender is removed/abstracted, to be the 'dominator' or 'ruler', an extra layer of abstraction clouds the relationship, and the reality that, as your wiki blog that brought me here...."Men still dominate every aspect of society from culture to news to sports to politics and everything in between, and they have since time immemorial" but removing the pater from -riarchal family removes that fact. I do like the acknowledgment of other '-isms' inter-related and interwoven with sexism, except that sexism becomes disembodied, yet women do not.

I said this over on my own blog but I'll say i...

2010-08-30T22:01:50.945-04:00

I said this over on my own blog but I'll say it again here. This is an advanced concept to me so I'm still struggling to understand kyriarchy. I get patriarchy well enough but kyriarchy is something that's ... behind patriarchy.

Do you play video games? I think of it like the secret final boss that only gets revealed as pulling the strings after you've already defeated whoever you *thought* was the villain all along.
But I don't know if that's the best analogy because then it's as though there's only one boss pulling the strings instead of ... a lot of strings tripping everyone up.

I'm still working on it.

I love this word! It's a good explanation for...

2010-08-24T23:45:05.336-04:00

I love this word! It's a good explanation for how different things interact at different times. Especially how one person can have and not have privilege at the same time - sometimes even on the same issue, depending on whether or not they are read as members of the privileged group (e.g. a person with an invisible disability).

Great post! Kyriarchy is pretty much my favorite w...

2010-08-23T16:30:19.887-04:00

Great post! Kyriarchy is pretty much my favorite word at the moment, I loved it as soon as I saw it. So much more descriptive, a neologism I can love. My friend D is still clinging to using the term patriarchy instead because, in his words, "smashing the patriarchy sounds... cooler" but I feel like it's got too much baggage now regarding older waves of feminist theory.

Kyriarchy is my favorite sociological word, but I ...

2010-08-23T16:09:15.801-04:00

Kyriarchy is my favorite sociological word, but I disagree that Patriarchy treats *only* the sexism axis. Most men are not Patriarchs! The word comes with a heaping scoop of partner privilege, reproductive privilege, and age privilege baked in.

BTW, "a question mark" would probably be a more usefl accessability caption up top? I don't think speech synthesizers are on good term with punctuation marks meant to be read as words.

This was a fascinating introduction to the word, a...

2010-08-23T15:00:58.708-04:00

This was a fascinating introduction to the word, as well as to the social realities it encompasses.