12 Quotes by Allan G. Johnson

A society is patriarchal to the degree that it promotes male privilege by being male dominated, male identified, and male centered. It is also organized around an obsession with control and involves as one of its key aspects the oppression of women.... If men occupy superior positions, it's a short leap to the idea that men must be superior...[and that] whatever men do will tend to be seen as having greater value.

Male experience is what patriarchal culture uses to represent human experience, even when it is women who most often live it.

subordinate groups are often pitted against one another in ways that draw attention away from the system of privilege that hurts them all.

If we are serious about change, we have to dig - preferably with plenty of company and with a full appreciation of the fact that although we did not start the fire, it belongs to us now.

No woman (or man) becomes a corporate manager, gets tenure at a university, or is elected to public office by showing their capacity for cooperation, sharing, emotional sensitivity, and nurturing.

The odds are loaded toward a path of least resistance in several ways. We often choose a path because it is the only one we see. When I get on an elevator, for example, I turn and face front along with everyone else. It rarely occurs to me to do it any other way, such as facing the rear. If I did, I'd soon feel how some paths bring on more social resistance than others.

Women’s potential to disrupt patriarchy and make men vulnerable is why it’s so easy for women to make men feel foolish or emasculated through the mildest humor that focuses on maleness and hints at women’s power to stop going along with the status quo.

As a system, patriarchy encourages men to accept male privilege and perpetuate women’s oppression, if only through silence.

There is no such thing as doing nothing. There is no such thing as neutral or uninvolved. At every moment, social life involves all of us.