How the Fuck Did We Get Here? A Patriarchy Story
What do Cleopatra, Medusa, and Cassandra all have in common?
They’re positioned as the actual main characters in the last three books for 2023 within the integrated book club inside Project Reclamation.
We know these women. But we only know their stories from the perspective of the patriarchal lens of storytelling that handed them down to us.
And that’s the point of this book series. It’s a five-month deep dive into how the fuck we got here in the very specific intersectional blend of patriarchy, white supremacy, Christian supremacy, etc etc etc we find ourselves living in today.
For the book club, we started in October in ancient Egypt – which, by the way, lasted for more than three THOUSAND years. The book: When Women Ruled the World by Kara Cooney.
Second only to China for the longest-running human civilization, ancient Egypt formed the foundation for how Western patriarchy has been structured and is what Western empires have modeled themselves after.
So when we seek out answers to the question of how the fuck we got here, starting anywhere else only paints a partial picture.
In the book, the author explores the reigns of Merneith, Neferusobek, Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, Tawosret, and Cleopatra – the six women who held real power over Egypt.
Six... In 3,000 years.
She discusses how they came to power, the various ways they aligned themselves with the patriarchal construct and held it up in order to maintain their power, and the vast differences in rulership and impact they had in comparison to their male counterparts.
This book delivers an excellent demonstration of how our Western culture of hierarchies truly originated. And the book club discussion was spectacular!
Minds were BLOWN at how similarly our systems of power and oppression are set up today.
And equally as blown to consider how far we’ve come on gender equity in such an incredibly short span of time compared to just how old this shit is and how deep it runs.
It’s not just generational. It’s multi-millennial.
Last week, inside Project Reclamation, we had the book club discussion for our November book "Women and Other Monsters" by Jess Zimmerman.
This discussion got even more heated than October’s call because the author invites us – through beautifully relatable memoir – to explore the stories of Greek mythology through a new lens in order to show how ubiquitous misogyny has become.
Harpies, for example. They weren’t just unpleasant women. They were ravenous monsters who would wreak utter havoc on your life, destroying your stuff and stealing your food. And it’s a derogatory term reserved today to diminish trust and undermine powerful women.
Hilary Clinton, for example. During her time as first lady and during both presidential campaigns she ran, our patriarchal society in the US couldn’t stand the thought of a woman wielding the same power that has always been granted to men. But she wasn’t just chastised. She wasn’t merely called a bitch. No, she was nasty. She was a harpy – a monster capable of destroying your life and eager to steal the food out of your children’s mouths.
Of course, we don’t think about the details of such terms anymore. We’re disconnected from the myths and legends. And that’s part of what makes them so insidious. It’s part of what makes Western culture so dangerous for women, queer folks, people of color, disabled folks, and other people of marginalized identities.
It’s like the air we breathe. We don’t notice it. It just is.
In the book, Zimmerman also shifts the perspective of well-known characterizations:
Medusa – what was HER experience like, never being able to make meaningful eye contact with someone, lest they turn to stone?
Sirens – what was THEIR experience like, always singing out for love, only to find that those who heard their call would encounter painful and tragic death, never reaching them to share that love?
We’ve never asked.
These are the questions we need to ask of all religious and mythological texts: How would the women have told their stories? And in many cases, how (and why) were their stories edited out?
These are precisely the questions Elizabeth Lesser asks in the December book for Project Reclamation. The book of hers that we’re reading is "Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes."
In the book, Lesser explores the stories we tell without considering any alternative viewpoints or possibilities – those that we’re handed without questioning them, that then become baked into the culture.
Cassandra – blessed with future sight, cursed with no one believing her. ← What’s her side of the story?
Pandora – blamed for opening the box. ← What would she have to say about it?
Eve – that whole apple thing that led to every sin ever. ← What’s her take on the matter?
"Cassandra Speaks" taps into it all, and since Eve is involved, this book leads us into "God Is a Black Woman" by Christena Cleveland for our January book.
The author is a theologian, and I typically steer clear of any religious affiliation with the Project Reclamation book club. This book, however, chronicles her journey through dismantling the white supremacist, patriarchal concept that she calls “whitemalegod” and, through her journey, offers an alternative viewpoint on Christianity, specifically.
Considering how much “whitemalegod” permeates our Western culture in general and the political landscape of the United States specifically, the exception to religious affiliation is well positioned for this book.
In February, Project Reclamation will revisit a book that was part of our book club in July 2022: "Fearing the Black Body" by Sabrina Strings.
This book should be required reading for everyone with a body. And it rounds out our deep dive to answer the question of how the fuck we got here.
Just as we cannot gain a full understanding without looking at the power structures of ancient Egypt, and we cannot see with full clarity without digging into the patriarchal lens of Greek and Roman mythology or Christianity, we have absolutely no reference point without solid insight into how chattel slavery of Colonial America shaped our view of bodies.
This book will change you. It will change your relationship with American history. It will change your relationship with the fashion industry. It will change your relationship with the diet/fitness/wellness industry. It will change your relationship with the beauty industry.
But most importantly, it will change your relationship with your body.
And I want to invite you to read it with us inside Project Reclamation.
So what is Project Reclamation?
It’s a membership community like no other.
Built with the philosophy of equity-first, through the lens of anti-capitalism, upon a foundation of self-coaching tools with access to master certified life coaches, all within the context of a supportive community; at $10/month or $100/year, Project Reclamation exists to make what’s normally gate-kept behind massive paywalls accessible to the massive amount of people who need it most.
It’s smart. It’s supportive. It’s accessible. And it’s open for registration.
Join us at KeliLynJewel.com/project-reclamation.
