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Darkness Now Visible: Patriarchy's Resurgence and Feminist Resistance
In the fall of 2016 those promoting patriarchal ideals saw their champion Donald Trump elected president of the United States and showed us how powerful patriarchy still is in American society and culture. Darkness Now Patriarchy's Resurgence and Feminist Resistance explains how patriarchy and its embrace of misogyny, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and violence are starkly visible and must be recognized and resisted. Carol Gilligan and David A. J. Richards offer a bold and original that gender is the linchpin that holds in place the structures of unjust oppression through the codes of masculinity and femininity that subvert the capacity to resist injustice. Feminism is not an issue of women only, or a battle of women versus men - it is the key ethical movement of our age.
- GenresFeminism
172 pages, Hardcover
Published August 9, 2018
25 people are currently reading
219 people want to read
About the author
Carol Gilligan
51 books210 followersCarol Gilligan is an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist best known for her work on ethical community and ethical relationships.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 24, 2020
There's a simple cure for the worst plague humanity still suffers - patriarchy - an unjust system of unequal human organization that injures everyone on the planet, including its perpetrators.
While the tools of supremacy are often invisible, life is nevertheless destroyed. Silencing, shaming, and separating people are the most frequently used tactics of conscienceless powermongers.
The remedy is all about caring for each other as human beings of every gender, race, and orientation. It's that simple.
But patriarchy views 'caring' as an unmanly 'feminine' quality. This irrational division hurts men, women, children, and animals. Consider the millions of innocent young men sent to die in preventable wars. WW1, the Spanish-American War, the Vietnam and Iraq wars saw honest lads tossed to their deaths by their uncaring grey-haired elders who could have and should have resolved disputes. But, given that the minds of these elders had also been co-opted as children, they grew up to conform to the mold they'd inherited.
Authors Carol Gillian and David A.J. Richards urge changing that frame.
This detailed study traces the cruel system of patriarchy to other historical, rationalized cruelties, and, while reading, I recalled one of my own experiences. Back in 1959, I'd shared with a Grade 3 teacher, a Roman Catholic nun, that I was sad Jesus had such a mean Dad. I told her that if God wanted to save the world, he should have done it himself, and not asked his kid to die. I said that wasn't fair. The son was young and the father old. He shouldn't ask his child for such a big favor. I was kept in for recess and made to pray the 'Our Father' in a classroom corner. I was told never to talk so disrespectfully again. And here, 60 years later, the authors traced the same origins as I once did before I was silenced.
An unjust system of human organization can and must come to an end. All social beings of every gender, orientation, and race are rational and feeling. There is no divide. Loving, voiced, legalized, and equalized acts of caring inside and outside of our homes and in our communities can create a better tomorrow.
A riveting, convincing, compelling study for activists, historians, and every caring citizen wanting clarity on creative ways to resist and heal from pervasive patriarchal injustice.
Eleanor Cowan, Author of: A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
While the tools of supremacy are often invisible, life is nevertheless destroyed. Silencing, shaming, and separating people are the most frequently used tactics of conscienceless powermongers.
The remedy is all about caring for each other as human beings of every gender, race, and orientation. It's that simple.
But patriarchy views 'caring' as an unmanly 'feminine' quality. This irrational division hurts men, women, children, and animals. Consider the millions of innocent young men sent to die in preventable wars. WW1, the Spanish-American War, the Vietnam and Iraq wars saw honest lads tossed to their deaths by their uncaring grey-haired elders who could have and should have resolved disputes. But, given that the minds of these elders had also been co-opted as children, they grew up to conform to the mold they'd inherited.
Authors Carol Gillian and David A.J. Richards urge changing that frame.
This detailed study traces the cruel system of patriarchy to other historical, rationalized cruelties, and, while reading, I recalled one of my own experiences. Back in 1959, I'd shared with a Grade 3 teacher, a Roman Catholic nun, that I was sad Jesus had such a mean Dad. I told her that if God wanted to save the world, he should have done it himself, and not asked his kid to die. I said that wasn't fair. The son was young and the father old. He shouldn't ask his child for such a big favor. I was kept in for recess and made to pray the 'Our Father' in a classroom corner. I was told never to talk so disrespectfully again. And here, 60 years later, the authors traced the same origins as I once did before I was silenced.
An unjust system of human organization can and must come to an end. All social beings of every gender, orientation, and race are rational and feeling. There is no divide. Loving, voiced, legalized, and equalized acts of caring inside and outside of our homes and in our communities can create a better tomorrow.
A riveting, convincing, compelling study for activists, historians, and every caring citizen wanting clarity on creative ways to resist and heal from pervasive patriarchal injustice.
Eleanor Cowan, Author of: A History of a Pedophile's Wife: Memoir of a Canadian Teacher and Writer
February 18, 2019
Keep it
October 13, 2021
I want to give this 5 stars, because it was life-changing for me in some ways. The primary focus, how Patriarchy infuses our politics, underlies, fascism, and does emotional violence to men and women as they develop and have to fit into a culture that has narrow definitions of what it means to be "manly" or "feminine."
It really opened my eyes and has made me a crusader against Patriarchy.
It would have gotten 5+ stars if it weren't for the writing. I suspect the co-authors worked on different parts of the book, because some of the writing was adequate to good. But, other sections were kind of adequate to sloppy. I'm not sure how many times I was told that the Women's March the day after Trump's inauguration was "the largest in history." I learned that "in the past few weeks" we have seen people like Harvey Weinstein exposed for their [patriarchal] exploitation of women. A strange locution for a book that one hopes people will be reading for at least a few years.
So the writing brought the rating down from 5+ stars and the content brought it up from a 2 star rating.
It really opened my eyes and has made me a crusader against Patriarchy.
It would have gotten 5+ stars if it weren't for the writing. I suspect the co-authors worked on different parts of the book, because some of the writing was adequate to good. But, other sections were kind of adequate to sloppy. I'm not sure how many times I was told that the Women's March the day after Trump's inauguration was "the largest in history." I learned that "in the past few weeks" we have seen people like Harvey Weinstein exposed for their [patriarchal] exploitation of women. A strange locution for a book that one hopes people will be reading for at least a few years.
So the writing brought the rating down from 5+ stars and the content brought it up from a 2 star rating.
December 29, 2018
An incisive and important explanation why the patriarchy is an obstacle to democracy, and why feminism is not simply a minor corrective that clears up a confusion and fixes the inequality between the sexes, but an essential strategy for achieving democracy and the capacity for authentic love. Gilligan and Richards explain why patriarchal thinking (the ideology that men are inherently superior) has returned, and how it can be resisted.
This is essential reading for anyone interested in our democracy's survival. It also explains why feminism continues to be such a threat and challenge to non-democratic leaders, and how America has struggled from its inception with a true notion of equality.
This is essential reading for anyone interested in our democracy's survival. It also explains why feminism continues to be such a threat and challenge to non-democratic leaders, and how America has struggled from its inception with a true notion of equality.
December 29, 2019
Gilligan's work on evolutionary development of psychology and women is groundbreaking and should be more influential in the coming years. Facebook however discusses a more gender bias perspective, however, concerning the necessity to expose our patriarchal social constructs and times of political crisis. This book (Trump era) and it's prequel, 'The Deepening Darkness' (GW Bush era), both cover the same important oppressive aspects to be looked at in these regressive times.
December 21, 2020
Excellent analysis that fosters questions
There was so much in this book that resonates with me that I found myself highlighting great chunks. It is also thought provoking and I found myself wishing I could be in one of the classes the authors teach. Feminist thought is ridiculed and framed as anti-male. I am grateful for my own son, who despite my own struggle with patriarchy, has remained a kind and sensitive man.
There was so much in this book that resonates with me that I found myself highlighting great chunks. It is also thought provoking and I found myself wishing I could be in one of the classes the authors teach. Feminist thought is ridiculed and framed as anti-male. I am grateful for my own son, who despite my own struggle with patriarchy, has remained a kind and sensitive man.
November 21, 2018
Fantastic read. This book put all the pieces together -- from the sociological to the deeply psychological, resonating with my experience of being a white American woman who grew up in what is now a Trump-supporting region.
January 12, 2019
Took more highlights then I ever have in a book. A great research on the dangers of a patriarchal society.
September 18, 2021
Whoa- an excellent explanation of the patriarchy and the ways in which it was used during the recent trump dark years! Really smart and thoughtful!
December 9, 2021
A depressing but ultimately hopeful analysis of the resurgence of patriarchy.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews