Is Male Dominance in our DNA?

Scientists and scholars have long debated the origins of patriarchy and asked the question: Is patriarchy… natural?
Watch the video above to discover evidence from DNA and history on both sides of the debate.

– Video Chapters –
0:00 Intro
0:20 What We Learn from DNA
1:57 Influences from Earliest Ancestors
2:36 Earliest Social Structures of Homosapiens
3:24 Misconceptions About Hunter-Gatherers
4:16 Early Egalitarian Societies
5:30 Representations of Women
6:50 Spiritual Goddess Movement
8:25 Riane Eisler on Partnership Cultures
10:37 Dominator Cultures
12:20 What the Evidence Tells Us

Sources and further reading from this video:
“The Creation of Patriarchy” by Gerna Lerner
“When God Was a Woman” by Merlin Stone
“The Chalice and the Blade” by Riane Eisler
“The Living Goddesses” by Marija Gimbutas
The Exchange of Women Theory by Claude Levi-Strauss
United Nations Data
Interview with Riane Eisler

Certain art and images featured in this video were generated using Midjourney, a generative AI platform, for educational purposes. We acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of Midjourney to the creation of these visuals.

About:
The Breaking Down Patriarchy project uses essential historical texts to better understand the origins of patriarchy and to deconstruct its unjust effects on our minds, relationships, and communities. The project envisions a world in which all human beings are able to flourish and reach their unique potential. We strive to include as many voices as possible, and our work is intersectional and inclusive. We are also firmly committed to the well-being of boys and men, and we enthusiastically and gratefully enlist the help of our non-female allies in creating an egalitarian world where everyone can thrive.

-- Where To Find Us -

[l.p.]

That ending was thought provoking and impressive. “So what if patriarchy is ‘natural? Disease is natural.”

[hecate]

Before Louis Leakey recruited Jane Goodall, all anthropoligists were male, and completely obsessed with male hierarchies in herd, pack animals. It was always about how the males "conrolled" everything. Then Jane came along, showing that societal structures were more fluid, and the "animals" were more intelligent. Chimps use tools!!! No male anthropoligist ever noticed that before... and they also went to "war" with other troops. It's always more complicated than we think.

[Jesgitalong]

In Hawaiian culture women and men lived and ate separately. I saw some tribal cultures with a big gender divide like that. In one I saw, men and women even spoke different languages. This separation makes me wonder how much female culture we have lost or not have seen for what it was. When patriarchy started to overshadow everything, I imagine much knowledge was undervalued and dismissed.

[jenniferstorm]

The theory of male hunters and female gatherers has long been debunked. It was rooted in assumptions made based on more modern patriarchal societies. Collaborative hunting, with whole clans working on large game supplemented by gathering while small game hunting, was how we survived. Patriarchy emerged with agriculture.

[DLYChicago]

Patriarchy is not just about gender but about class. Patriarchy is about property, control of land, and inheritance rights. Patriarchy is a result of war making between societies--not from within a society. The peasantry and slave classes remained cooperative between the sexes. Most of what we know about patriarchy today comes from the 19th Century, when the middle classes adopted the patriarchy of the aristocracy.

[shannonestarks]

I love that you added, "disease is natural." Natural does not necessarily mean good in food sources or societal structures. However, since humans seem to use "natural" as a justification for many things, it's good to question the assumption. I love Riane Eisler. Thanks for making this available!

[blakehelgoth]

I'm Chickasaw and we were a matriarchal society. All the south eastern woodland tribes were. The clan mothers chose the male minkos, but the minkos only had the authority that came with their wisdom, ability to lead. There were peace Minkos and war minkos. It was much more egalitarian as the way forward would be discussed and agreed upon by many. Our women fought as well, we have stories of the singing hatchet women sending the French fleeing. But, there were / are differences in worship, it is the women that are the shell shakers, men lead the singing. Only men played Stick Ball, the Little Brother of War. But your clan came from the women and dictated who you were and who you could marry. In my opinion, a much more beautiful and richer way of organizing a society.

[rebeccarittenhouse]

Patriarchy and religion seem less and less natural the older i get.

[firbolg]

For me patriarchy is just the excuse men, usually backed with "religious" reasons, use to control physically the often more eloquent and socially intelligent women. Thanks for a great upload! I hope we will see an egalitarian society in my lifetime. A long road is still ahead of us but we'll get there!

[ACE-efxz]

That bit about the ancient hunter is so fascinating! So much of our research is clearly influenced in ways by the biases we have inherited and it is so important to be curious and question our assumptions.

[ACE-efxz]

Also Riane Eilser is so stunning and eloquent!

[supercrawfordcrawford]

You've laid your curiosity out so clearly here. The clapping bonobo might be my soul primate sister 👏👏👏 Excellent work, Amy! Here's to hoping for a partnership future!

[ashleymaehoiland]

I’d never heard of partnership culture, but it’s really beautiful to think about. I’d like to think that our current questioning of gender can lead us closer to this again.

[jessicaoncanvas]

This was a very insightful video. I appreciate your research into evidence of partnership cultures but also framing the question of patriarchy as ultimately a choice, not predetermined. Btw - I saw you used a lot of art to illustrate this video and it's quite beautiful. In the age of AI, I think it's important to cite the sources of your art, human or AI. For future videos, please be sure to share the artists info too, thanks!

[ArreyP]

I think this sort of thing is super important to contemplate, how so much of what we have, we assume there is some grand logic to it, "it's our human nature", "it's what God determined", when it's probably mostly just historical accidents compounding on themselves from being part of this large chaotic system

[ScottMcPhie]

So well done! Really insightful content presented so clearly and with intellectual integrity. Love it!

[KinnyFitz]

This is so intriguing! Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[RedAngelSophia]

Before we start asking if male dominance is in our DNA, should we not start by asking if it matters — and if so, why?

If someone is asking this to determine whether the patriarchy is OK then I submit that, for that purpose, whether it is natural or not is _irrelevant_ because the naturalistic fallacy is a fallacy. If you were to offer me proof that the patriarchy is natural (and I type this comment before watching in your video far enough to say if you can) that would not alter the fact that it ruins the lives of countless people, and worsens the lives of still more.

On the other hand — if you want to know whether the patriarchy is natural because you feel that might have bearing on how to best go about opposing it — then, I would say that yes, we very much _do_ need to know if it is natural.

[thesharkormoriantm]

It is worth noting that lots of relatively egalitarian societies coexisted with (patriarchal) civilizations that have left written records all over history. Just two centuries ago, a third of all humans were gatherer-hunters. Just because they haven't left writing behind we don't have to act like they weren't there.
I recommend the book "Against the Grain", by James C. Scott.

[etsap]

At the wildlife center where I work, the lemurs are all matriarchal, so sometimes we give extra attention to the dad because he's often left to the side while his mate and two of his kids are curled up together. To help him stay social and avoid loneliness, we provide enrichment items and interactions. Yeah some things are natural but they still can carry issues which is why evolution exaists. Like Remi the rat said in Ratatouii “Change is nature.”