Fuck the patriarchy, as Taylor Swift’s keychain says. Am I right?
People gasp and theatrically exclaim, aghast no less: Don’t tell me you’re a feminist! I can say with absolute conviction that it is better to be a feminist than to submit unquestioningly to patriarchy. I am not even advocating for matriarchy. That’s not even the solution. In an ideal world, we would be egalitarian. Which unequivocally does not mean complete equality as to say a 5 year old has the same voice as the president, not to even bring gender into the equation. In Utopia, society would revolve around who is best suited for the occasion. Ah, Shangri-la!
But for the here and now, a little change is perhaps not too much to ask for. I don’t know. In May 2026, in Mizo society where women have more say in society as compared to other societies, there was a reminder so stark it blew me away.
There was a gruesome accident the other day. Two bikes were racing and they caught this one scooter between them and the scooter fell and the pillion rider – a girl – was immediately crushed by a third speeding biker entirely on the wrong side of the road divider. The poor girl died on the spot, may she rest in peace.
But the accident itself was just the beginning of the story.
So two very gruesome stories happened online because of this event. Okay 3 stories, fine, but let's say no. 1 is good because that was a realization and general outrage and people saying we need to stop racing we need to keep to our side of the road yada yada.
No.2 was a status update, a commentary on how people were reacting to the main story. Why was she out at 12? Dear god, was the body even cold yet? This one journalist who writes in English wrote a short piece for social media about how our men need to pull themselves together, look at her she was a student trying to pay her own way through college going to work at night. And then the Facebook warriors flared up like who are you to say that, why do Mizo women always write in English, they think they're fancier than their culture, Mizo is too good for them, who will dig your graves for you when you die. Her piece was a really nice response to all this toxic patriarchy: am I only worthy as a human if I follow your diktat?
The post got reshared by multiple women across platforms. And while we are nowhere near getting through to people, I think we've finally gotten to that point where we can say “All we are saying is treat us as people” but you want to force us into line with the grave-digging bit again. This argument is so tired we ought to rest it.
No.3 was a bit about this one guy from Churachandpur who commented on the Facebook report of the accident: "Quick while the body is still warm". If you are an English speaker, you know what that means and implies. Understandably, some people got angry and called him out on it. It got to a point where the boy finally realized that he was now backed into a corner and he came out with an “apology” saying he was sorry, he had bad comedic timing and he didn’t mean disrespect, he was talking about CPR and was nothing sexual.
So herein lies my interest in the bit. Some asshole was like: why are we Mizo people so quick to judge, look at his apology. He translated the phrase word for word, literally, and was like see how there's nothing sexual about this. Thankfully enough people speak decent enough English with its innuendos, its contexts and its various phrases and connotations, enough to trash his defence.
I was staring at my phone going: Dear lord one woman came out with stop killing us on the road and question us when we work nights and people were like who will dig your graves shut up. Meanwhile, some fuckboy said quick while her body is still warm and he has defenders. The bars are sooooooooo different!!!
This is why we argue against patriarchy because patriarchy enforces toxic masculinity and toxic femininity. We are not allowed to be ourselves and live up to our potential because patriarchy. Meanwhile it gives free rein to be cruel to a certain calibre of people advantaged by it. There needs to be rules and defining norms. Otherwise we descend into chaos. But those rules need to be fair.
People interpret feminists hating patriarchy as hating men. This is ridiculous. In Mizo Christian society, my most convincing argument would be that if you can reconcile yourself to the fact that God hates sin but loves the sinner, you can understand how women hate patriarchy but love the men. Patriarchy is not the same as Men.
In fact, toxic patriarchy damns men too, just not in the same manner and degree as it does the women.
In the ever-cropping up argument of grave digging, is grave digging all that Mizo men are good for, because this argument implies it. This is what is toxic about patriarchy. It reduces us into little boxes that none of us can climb out of on our own, so much so that we have come to accept it as “natural”. There is nothing natural about authoritarianism.
Patriarchy forces men to never confront their emotions which is how we end up with fuckboys who turn into bitter old men, with chronic ulcers and stress balding and beer guts. Patriarchy demands for men to “provide” materially to the women in their lives; this eternal burden placed on men means they are always having to live up to the name of The Man, highkey indicating they are inadequate and “non-manly” if they fail. Of course, these unhealthy stress and tension manifest in acrimonious and rancorous men who resent people for no other reason than their biology. And then they take it out on women and children. Cycle of Hurt.
Manuel Castells did a nice little study on San Francisco called The City and the Grassroots. Here he discussed at one point how gay men across the United States migrated to SF in large numbers in the 60s and 70s and changed the landscape. Men who were otherwise ostracized in their own communities flock to the relatively gay-friendly SF. With their traditional advantages being men allowing them academic success and its accompanying perks, coupled with their sensitivity that came with them being allowed to express their artistic sides, they contributed to SF blooming into a cultural conclave, with amazing architecture and incredible skyline.
All of this and the deep harm patriarchy inflicts on women is that women will defend the patriarchy, sometimes even more than men do. To their own demise, even. Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi, anyone? It is a long study in Sociology.
In the end, we just end up as a bunch of hurt people hurting other people.
People bloom best when they are free and allowed their chance of expression. There are many things that certain genders are, in toto, very good at. Barring exceptions, of course. So this whole muse is not about demanding equality reduced to the absurd like “If women want to be equal to men, we should be able to punch them” like why is your first thought about violence? Damn son. It is about tending to people as people before you reduce them to gender and gender roles. And don’t get me started on religion w.r.t. Christianity because I will argue that Jesus is a feminist. Point blank.
TL;DR I think the bar needs to be relaxed for women as it needs to be raised for men.