Beschreibung
Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 54. Chapters: Matriarchy, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Sex change, Sex and psychology, Intersex, Sex differences in humans, Sexual dimorphism, John Money, Patriarchy, Simon Baron-Cohen, Sexual differentiation, Prenatal hormones and sexual orientation, The Inevitability of Patriarchy, Pseudohermaphroditism, David Reimer, David C. Geary, Raptio, Testosterone poisoning, Dihydrotestosterone, Milton Diamond, Sexual identity, Defeminization and masculinization, Disorders of sex development, Virilization, Diane F. Halpern, Steven Goldberg, The Female Brain, Gender taxonomy, Doreen Kimura, Androdioecy, Ralph Holloway, Gynodioecy, Geschwind-Galaburda hypothesis, Hyperthecosis, Sex-limited genes, Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities, Brain Gender. Excerpt: A matriarchy is a society in which females, especially mothers, have the central roles of political leadership and moral authority. It is also sometimes called a gynocratic or gynocentric society. There are no known societies that are unambiguously matriarchal, although there are attested matrilinear, matrilocal, and avunculocal societies, especially among indigenous peoples of Asia and Africa, such as those of the Minangkabau, E De (Rhade), Mosuo, Berbers and Tuareg and, in Europe, e.g. Sardinian people. Strongly matrilocal societies sometimes are referred to as matrifocal, and there is some debate concerning the terminological delineation between matrifocality and matriarchy. Even in patriarchical systems of male-preference primogeniture, there may occasionally be queens regnant, as in the case of Elizabeth I of England. In 19th century Western scholarship, the hypothesis of matriarchy representing an early stage of human development-now mostly lost in prehistory, with the exception of some "primitive" societies-enjoyed popularity. The hypothesis survived into the 20th century and was notably advanced in the context of feminism and especially second wave feminism, but this hypothesis of matriarchy as having been an early stage of human development is mostly discredited today, most experts saying that it never existed. The word matriarchy is coined as the opposite of patriarchy. from Greek 'mother' and 'to rule'. Margot Adler wrote, "iterally,. means government by mothers, or more broadly, government and power in the hands of women." "'Matriarchy' can be thought of. as a shorthand description for any society in which women's power is equal or superior to men's and in which the culture centers around values and life events described as 'feminine.'" In the Marxist tradition, it usually refers to a preclass society "where women and men share equally in production and power." Some consider the term as not being parallel to patriarchy, because it is not always def
