The arbitrary character of patriarchal ascriptions of temperament and role has little effect upon their power over us. Nor do the mutually exclusive, contradictory, and polar qualities of the categories “masculine” and “feminine” imposed upon human personality give rise to sufficiently serious question among us. Under their aegis each personality becomes little more, and often less than half, of its human potential. Politically, the fact that each group exhibits a circumscribed but complementary personality and range of activity is of secondary importance to the fact that each represents a status or power division. In the matter of conformity patriarchy is a governing ideology without peer; it is probably that no other system has ever exercised such a complete control over its subjects. Kate Millett
About This Quote

Patriarchy is an ideology that assigns men to the role of dominant authority figures while women are assigned to be subordinate. It is a patriarchal society where men are in charge while women are under them. Patriarchy likes to impose its authority on everyone but it cannot do so because it has no mind of its own. It has no power over anyone's life except the power it could only get by imposing its authority on people. The fact that there are different but complementary personalities in each group cannot be taken seriously because it is not real power that is being exercised, just the illusion of it.

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