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Writer's pictureChevy Solis Acevedo

Patriarchal Violence: A System That Affects Us All

Patriarchal violence, far from being an isolated phenomenon or merely a matter of male aggressors and female victims, is a systemic network that permeates our social, economic, political, and cultural relationships. As thinkers like bell hooks and Rita Segato have pointed out, this system is rooted in power and control dynamics that transcend gender, impacting and involving individuals of diverse sexual identities, and enabling any person or group in a position of privilege to exert violence.

bell hooks, in her book Feminism is for Everybody, emphasizes that patriarchy is a socio-political system that assigns roles of domination and submission based on gender. However, it is also interwoven with other axes of oppression, such as race and class. This perspective invites us to understand that patriarchal violence does not operate in a unidirectional manner. It is a mechanism of power grounded in social hierarchies and can be exercised by anyone, regardless of their identity.

Power refers to the ability to influence or control others’ actions, while authority is the social or formal recognition that legitimizes this power. Privilege, on the other hand, consists of the advantages or benefits a person enjoys due to their position in these hierarchies—often without being aware of it. When someone occupies a position of power, authority, or privilege, they can use these tools to exert control over others.

These forms of violence are not excluded from feminist movements, particularly diverse movements where class and race play a significant role within different collectives. For example, organizations led by individuals who operate from a place of privilege granted by their whiteness often do not hesitate to exert this type of violence against other organizations they consider inferior—those primarily composed of racialized women from impoverished sectors. One of the most overlooked aspects of patriarchy is how, in specific contexts, women and individuals from diverse sexual identities can also wield violence when they access positions of power. This phenomenon does not contradict the patriarchal structure; on the contrary, it reinforces it, as it operates within the same hierarchical and oppressive logic of the system. As bell hooks points out, patriarchy does not discriminate when recruiting those who perpetuate its values.

It is also essential to remember the existence of what Rita Segato calls “heirs of the inquisitors”—women who act as guardians of patriarchy. This means that anyone who internalizes and reproduces patriarchal norms can perpetuate its violence. For this reason, it is necessary to challenge the predominant narrative, which until now has oversimplified violence against women by presenting it solely as a phenomenon where men are the aggressors and women are the victims. A concrete example of this dynamic is the role of social class in perpetuating violence. The system of whiteness, as an ideology that ranks people based on their race and class, is an integral part of the patriarchal system. From this position, those who occupy places of privilege—whether due to their economic, educational, or racial status—can exert symbolic and material violence against those they perceive as inferior. This demonstrates how patriarchy intertwines with other forms of oppression to maintain the status quo and prevent change.

It is therefore essential to challenge narratives that portray women exclusively as victims and men as the sole aggressors. This perspective, as Rita Segato argues, not only oversimplifies a complex phenomenon but also reinforces the idea that patriarchy is a problem of individuals rather than a systemic issue. For Segato, violence is a language of power—a tool to reinforce hierarchies that does not distinguish between genders, although historically, women have been the primary recipients of this message.

In this same vein, bell hooks argues that feminism must work to dismantle structures of domination in all their forms, regardless of who exercises them. This means acknowledging that both men and women can be agents of oppression, depending on how they align themselves with patriarchal logics.

Overcoming this violence requires collective work that transcends the dichotomy of victims and perpetrators. It is urgent to propose and develop educational processes within feminist organizations that critically address the internalization of this system of domination, which becomes active when we find ourselves in positions of power and privilege. Therefore, it is not enough to simply denounce visible forms of violence; we must also challenge the invisible hierarchies that sustain them and from which we too benefit.

Finally, recognizing that patriarchy affects and impacts everyone should not be confused with downplaying its effects. Women—especially those who are impoverished, Black, Indigenous, lesbian, and trans women—continue to be the primary victims of structural violence. However, understanding that this oppression can be replicated from multiple positions of power offers us a broader and more comprehensive perspective to fight against it. The systems of whiteness and patriarchal violence are not isolated but mutually reinforcing structures that perpetuate inequalities and exclusions, maintained by those in power to ensure nothing changes.

At AfroResistencia, we call for action: comrades, dismantling patriarchy does not only mean going into communities with the pretense of empowering women and impoverished, powerless individuals. It also requires challenging the structures that perpetuate violence in all its forms. This is a challenge that concerns all of us and, as bell hooks and Rita Segato propose, demands a radical commitment to justice, respect, and equality.

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