So, What Does “Smash the Patriarchy” Mean?
“SMASH THE PATRIARCHY” from an online buzz word to actual indian politics. How is it even possible? . Regardless of whether the speech belongs to the leader or the party, politics is not what I am here to talk about; rather, the actual point that interested me was the slogan itself: “Smash the patriarchy”. You have probably said it, captioned it on your social media and even included it in your discussion while working on a project together with some classmates. Now, what do you mean by it? If asked, most people get silent, which is why it needs to be addressed thoroughly. While patriarchy also shows up in one of your male relatives telling an inappropriate joke at a family gathering and nobody batting an eye, it is a much larger system deeply rooted in our society ; how buas are portrayed in a negative light for asking their share of property, “safety” of one person being used to limit the freedom of another and automatic surname of a child from either one of the parents are all examples of patriarchy. This is the difference between being sexist and a whole system being sexist.
One such example, which I find really annoying is the word “gaali”. A guy can use the most abusive words mid sentence without anyone even batting an eye, it’s almost become a punctuation mark at this stage. However, a girl uses one word – just one – and people turn around, someone chuckles inappropriately, and some aunty somewhere holds onto her chest. The problem here is not whether or not the word was particularly offensive, since the girl had absolutely no business using it anyway. “Boys” get to be boys. Girls have to be “shocking”.
This sort of thing sums up pretty much all of the reason why I am writing this essay. One respectful guy or one good speech does not reverse years of ingrained societal behavior. A slogan used at a rally and a habit engrained during the raising of sons versus daughters cannot possibly function on the same timeline. One is something which occurs once. The other is something which has been occurring subconsciously for years – when every girl says “log kya kahenge” a little bit louder than boys, when everyone forgives sons mistakes more quickly than daughters, when “adjust kar lo” gets uttered exclusively to a particular gender within the household.
I did not write this because of any speech or anything else. I wrote this because this word deserves something more than a slogan. Every time you notice yourself overreacting to something as minute as girls cursing, women out late, etc ask yourself why it matters so much. This is generally where patriarchy is hiding, very quietly, behind what has become so normal to us we forget its there.