Re: Patriarchy: Re: What Matriarchy?

cougar@cathouse.com
Thu, 25 Jul 1996 17:01:42 GMT

mimir@speakeasy.org (Al Billings) wrote:
>: ---------------------------------------------------------------
>: Minangkabau matriarchy
>:
>: The society of the Minangkabau is ruled by the system of matriarchy,
>: that means that they trace descent and inheritance through
>: the female line.
>
> This isn't matriarchy. This is matrilineal descent. Two different things.

Perhaps you should look these terms up in a dictionary before you
claim such things.

Very interesting, you make a distinction which I cannot find in any
other place, including dictionaries and other books.

matriarchate: a society, tribe, or state in which women hold the
dominant authority.
matriarchy: a social system in which descent is traced through the
mother's side of the family.
matrilineal: pertaining to, based on, or tracing ancestral descent
through the maternal line.

As you can see, the two terms are virtually identical. "achy"
signifying a social system, the "eal" signifying a METHOD.

TECHNICALLY, ENGLAND has been a matriarchate from time to time as
women have been holding dominant authority. So, your arguement is
moot.

This leads me to believe that you do not know what you are talking
about.