Hypothesis:

Ancient civilizations were not nearly as male lead or ‘patriarchal’ as we tend to think they were. We are viewing those places through our current patriarchal lens.

I was having a chat with ChatGPT about ancient civilizations and was wondering why it wasn’t mentioning some of my favorites. It explained that some of those places didn’t have clear hierarchy, or clear military rule, and so they didn’t count… interesting. So any culture that didn’t have a clear hierarchy or clear military leaders essentially doesn’t count as a civilization? Wow.

Have you ever read a history book and noticed that it’s 90% the history of wars? Kinda sad to view the world that way. And our culture seems to equate military might and military decision making with leadership. ...we equate violence with leadership. Very patriarchal, and not at all healthy.

And of course men have a natural advantage in violence and we need women to make the babies, and so it’s mostly men in the military. In a world ruled by violence the most violent will rule. Patriarchy.

What do you think?

Note: As always, "patriarchy" ≠ men bad. Patriarchy is a culture that hurts everyone.