The Natural Family Dimly Seen Through Feminist Eyes (In DEFENSE OF Patriarchy) (Essay‪)‬

Aspiring patriarchs would seem to have little to cheer about in recent decades. Equal pay statutes have destroyed the "family wage" regime that once rewarded the bread winning father as "head of household." The real hourly wages of blue collar men are lower today than they were in 1973. Title IX rules have forcibly turned much of the male dominated athletic world over to the women. Aggressive little boys are tamed by Ritalin. School textbooks fervently promote the feminist worldview, celebrating female steelworkers and male daycare workers. The same ideology dominates the vast majority of American colleges and universities; turgid women's studies programs are ubiquitous. The military places the quest for androgyny above the goal of victory. Prestige professions such as medical doctor and lawyer are rapidly being feminized. Marriage rates and marital birthrates are low. Child support orders turn many remaining fathers into the indentured servants of their ex-wives. Church liturgies sound like Ms. magazine articles. Language police crush the generic "he." Like all other interest groups or hobbyists in America, patriarchs did have their own journal. Issuing from tiny Willis, Virginia, Patriarch magazine sought "nothing less than a return to patriarchy, a society led by strong, godly men.... Each man should aim to be the founder of a dynasty for God." (1) However, its editor suspended publication in 2004; circulation was probably never more than a few thousand; and in terms of graphics, it was clearly the product of a simple home business. Today's would-be patriarch now has nowhere to turn for advice and inspiration.