There is a very trendy idea among Western feminists, that at some point — five, ten, or maybe 15 thousand years ago — women were free-roaming “goddesses” who decided the affairs of their clans and tribes, while men were subservient to them. This, however, has never been the case.
A lot of these theories are based on a misunderstanding of archeological evidence by an anthropologist that studied earliest agriculturalists and later populations of Europe and Asia Minor. This misconception was promulgated by Gimbutas, a few decades ago, based on certain statuettes featuring voluptuous naked women. I’ve seen those Neolithic statuettes in person — in Ankara and in Vienna’s museums. They are reflective of respect given to mothers and fertility, as these were associated with agriculture, and the people that brought agriculture into Europe circa 6000 BC, from Anatolia (modern Turkey). However, the people who made them — while not as radically patriarchal as the Indo-Iranians (Indo-Europeans) — were NOT what modern day feminists want to imagine. Unfortunately for the feminists, it was still a male dominated culture.
You can even make the argument that the very notion of civilization is bound with the idea of non-free women. Because if women are “free” they end up copulating with only tiny sliver of male population — most often so-called “alpha males.” Which is what one sees in most of the mammalian world.
Even bonobos have ranked males. As with many other mammal species, bonobo males have linear dominance hierarchies, with the highest ranked male tending to win intrasexual fights with other males. The highest ranked male also tends to have the greatest reproductive success of any male in the group, fathering as much as 62% of the next generation. Ironically, this alpha male paternity domination is higher than in the chimp populations, which are conventionally thought of as male dominated.
Going back to earliest agriculturalists, look up a relatively recent article in Haaretz, which discusses the family organization of just such a Neolithic agrarian community, residing in what’s today’s England, many thousands of years ago, as first farmers. The article, “DNA Study Reveals Family Values of Neolithic People in Britain. But Where Are the Daughters?” is the first and only reputable source of information on this that I have been able to procure, which bases its findings on actual DNA and not suppositions. The authors of that extensive study don’t see living “female goddesses.” While they try to stay neutral, the crucial statement here is this: that the tomb of these ancient humans features members buried according to (mostly) patrilineal descent.
This is a telltale sign of patriarchy.
ilyamusing 