“In my work with men and women I distinguish between political patriarchy, which is the sexism that has been the target of most feminist writing, and what I term psychological patriarchy. Psychological patriarchy goes beyond the relationship between actual men and women- as individuals or as a class. Psychological patriarchy is the dynamic between those qualities deemed “masculine” and “feminine” in which half of our human traits are exalted while the other half is devalued. Both men and women participate in this tortured value system. Psychological patriarchy is a “dance of contempt,” a perverse form of connection that replaces true intimacy with complex, covert layers of dominance and submission, collusion and manipulation. It is the unacknowledged paradigm of relationship that has suffused Western civilization generation after generation, deforming both sexes, and destroying the passionate bond between them.”
~ Terrence Real
Psychological Patriarchy
