Episode 1: Introduction

"Men and women live on a stage, on which they act out their assigned roles, equal in importance. The play cannot go on without both kinds of performers. Neither of them “contributes” more or less to the whole; neither is marginal or dispensable. But the stage set is conceived, painted, defined by men. Men have written the play, have directed the show, interpreted the meanings of the action. They have assigned themselves the most interesting, most heroic parts, giving women the supporting roles.

As the women become aware of the difference in the way they fit into the play, they ask for more equality in the role assignments. They upstage the men at times, at other times they pinch-hit for a missing male performer. The women finally, after considerable struggle, win the right of access to equal role assignment, but first they must “qualify.” The terms of their qualifications” are again set by the men; men are the judges of how women measure up; men grant or deny admission. They give preference to docile women and to those who fit their job-descriptions accurately. Men punish, by ridicule, exclusion, or ostracism, any woman who assumes the right to interpret her own role or -worst of all sins - the right to rewrite the script.

It takes considerable time for the women to understand that getting “equal” parts will not make them equal, as long as the script, the props, the stage setting, and the direction are firmly held by men. When the women begin to realize that and cluster together between the acts, or even during the performance, to discuss what to do about it, this play comes to an end.”

-Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Patriarchy

I’m Amy McPhie Allebest, and this is "Breaking Down Patriarchy."

On this podcast when we say “Breaking Down Patriarchy,” we mean it in both senses of the word. We mean we want to “break it down” as in, understand it. We want to study Patriarchy as deeply and thoroughly as we can so that we can see the roots of this system, and understand how things have come to be the way they are today. And we’re not gonna lie, we also mean we want to “break down Patriarchy” in terms of dismantling it.

But we have a specific vision of how we want to accomplish this deconstruction. Returning to Gerda Lerner’s analogy where men and women are participating in a play together, in close proximity to each other and interconnected with each other, if someone starts swinging around a sledgehammer, trying to bring the set down, two things are likely to happen: one, the hammer will probably hit people in the face – maybe other women, or maybe men, who didn’t build the set or write the script either and are just doing their best trying to play the roles they were taught. Some of my very favorite people in the world are men – my dad, my brother, my brothers-in-law, my father-in-law, my sweet nephews, my male friends, my husband, who is my best friend and my son, who along with my daughters is the absolute joy of my life. I would not want anyone hitting these boys and men in the face with a hammer. So this podcast is not about women breaking down men. This is about women and men learning together and working together to create a system that is more just and happy for everyone.

The other problem with swinging a sledgehammer around on a stage is that it just tends to destroy whatever happens to be nearby. If you’re standing on stage and you start swinging a hammer around, you might take out some lighting or rip up the curtains, but you're not going to bring the whole stage down or cause the entire company to stop the show. So to us, “breaking down patriarchy” means breaking it down intelligently and methodically.

So here's how we are going to go about it: if you’ve ever taken a class on the History of Civilization or had a Liberal Arts curriculum in college, you’ll remember that students usually start with...

Amy is joined by guest Malia Morris to discuss The Chalice and The Blade by Riane Eisler. Topics include re-assessing hunter-gatherer societies, partnership and dominator models, and the civilization of ancient Minoan.

Malia Morris is a performing artist and voice teacher in the Bay Area. She studied Music Performance and Sociology in her undergraduate at Arizona State University, where she graduated with honors. In graduate school, she studied Dramatic Arts at Harvard University. Malia was awarded a thesis prize for her research on Broadway director Diane Paulus. Her research was selected for presentation at Harvard Symposium.

Amy is joined by guest Sherri Crawford to begin their discussion of The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner. This episode is Part One of Two and covers topics spanning from prehistory through Mesopotamian civilization and the Near Eastern Goddesses

Sherrie Crawford was born in Utah, the fifth of six children, and grew up in Arizona. She graduated from BYU-Idaho with a degree in Social Work, and completed a Master’s degree in Social Work from Boise State University. She is an elementary school counselor, and lives in Idaho with her husband and four children. Sherrie enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking, nature, adventures, learning, and any time spent in any body of water.

Amy is joined by guest Sherri Crawford to conclude their discussion of The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner. This episode is Part Two of Two and covers topics spanning from Hebrew civilization through Aristotle and Ancient Greece.

Sherrie Crawford was born in Utah, the fifth of six children, and grew up in Arizona. She graduated from BYU-Idaho with a degree in Social Work, and completed a Master’s degree in Social Work from Boise State University. She is an elementary school counselor, and lives in Idaho with her husband and four children. Sherrie enjoys spending time with her family and friends, hiking, nature, adventures, learning, and any time spent in any body of water.

Amy is joined by guest Sophie Allebest for a discussion of the religious figure of Mary. Topics include the Gospel of Paul, artists’ depictions of Mary, and the power of personal ritual.

Sophie Allebest is first and foremost, a Pisces. She loves Art, Architecture, History, and rainy days. She enjoys the ancient art of rhetoric and debate (i.e., arguing), and swimming in a freezing ocean or pool. When she’s not working hard at school and art, Sophie loves spending time with her family, friends, and cat.

Amy is joined by guest Janette Canare for a discussion of The Creation of Feminist Consciousness by Gerda Lerner. Topics include the erasure of women’s history, overcoming gender-based barriers to education, and early examples of women’s literature.

Janette Canare was born and raised in Virginia, but has lived in California since moving to Silicon Valley for a tech start up in the early 90s. Her parents immigrated from the Philippines, moving to Norfolk in the mid-1960s, where her dad was in the Navy. These days, she is currently working towards a Master’s degree in Liberal Arts at Stanford University. She enjoys being outdoors—whether hiking, gardening, or for photography. She also loves art, theatre, and travelling.

Amy is joined by guest Lindsay Allebest for a discussion of the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen by Olympe de Gouges. Topics include the French Revolution, the origins of natural rights, the Veil of Ignorance.

Lindsay Allebest is currently a student at Boston University, where she studies History and Liberal Arts, as well as Spanish and Ancient Greece. Although she grew up in the sunny Bay Area in California, she loves living on the East Coast and finally getting some use out of her favorite plaid scarf. When she is not busy writing essays for school, Lindsay loves to sing, play board games with friends and family, and gaze lovingly at her cat Minerva. One of my favorite things to do with my reading partner and oldest child, Lindsay, is to make dinner together. Or sometimes I request that she read out loud from her textbooks or talk to me about her college classes while I cook. Lindsay taught me so many things on this episode, just as she teaches me constantly in everyday life.

Amy is joined by guest Dr. Meagan Cahoon Alder to begin their discussion of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft. This episode is Part One of Two and covers Wollstonecraft’s biography and historical context, pertinent authors of the Enlightenment, and the balance between reason and emotion.

Dr. Meagan Cahoon Alder is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She is in private practice and works primarily with couples. She studied psychology in undergrad and went on to receive a Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy in 2005. Ten years later, she went back to school and got a PhD, specializing in trauma and couple relationships. She is married to her best friend and they have three children together. Her mother, who is battling cancer, lives with them and together this three generation household keeps her on her toes. When she is not working or family-ing, she would ideally be watching live musical theater.