Who’s Your Daddy?

Decriminalizing hostility in the political sphere legitimizes hostility in the domestic sphere. Feminist theory has sought to dismantle this dichotomous dialogue by stating that the “political is personal” and the “personal is political” (Enloe, 2001). Personal or domestic relationships are subject to publicly perceived authoritarian voices and those in political power have the ability to construct, and/or define the dynamics of personal relationships. Likewise, the dynamics of socio-political interpretation is often rooted in personal relationships. In most cultures, the family structure is arranged hierarchically, with a dominating “head-of-household”, traditionally recognized as the father. This person has the role of dominator, and each family member descends on the scale in a masculinized to feminized order, with young male children being feminized until adult maturity is attained, at which point they become masculinized and displace their mother as the co-patriarch. The patriarchal family structure plays an integral role in the success of patriarchal language as a socio-political tool. In essence it is the breeding grounds for accepting and cooperating with the tactics employed by patriarchal language in politics.

To claim that patriarchal language tactics are manipulative is certainly legitimate. The controversy stems from whether or not patriarchal language tactics are abusive. Given the hierarchal structure necessary for patriarchal language to exist in politics and the family, and the inherent role of a dominator – which depends upon provoking fear and powerlessness- abuse appears to be a legitimate byproduct of patriarchal language in general.