Matrilineal isn't matriarchal. Matrilineal/matrifocal cultures believe in a balance of power between the sexes - the Mosuo are a great example. It's not a reverse dominance hierarchy where women oppress men. And yes, they are organized much, much better. In cultures like this, there is no rape, women are actually treated with respect, etc., etc.
The Mosuo of China are a matrilineal culture that does not even have a concept of husbands or fatherhood. Everyone lives in the home of their mother or grandmother and couples never formalize their relationship or even live together. Men help to raise their nieces and nephews, but individual autonomy is considered to be almost a sacred thing and possessiveness is ridiculed. Rates of violence in general are quite low and rape is nearly unheard of. This has been attributed to both a culture of sexual permissiveness where multiple partners are not unusual as well as a culture with high respect for women.
That doesn't mean they are perfect or Utopian because no cultures are, but the way that humans lived for 97% of human history - until patriarchy came along and brought us slavery, gross wealth disparity, war as a way of life, and social stratifications of all sorts is demonstrably, way, way better.
I'm a social scientist with 15+ plus experience and expertise in this subject area. You can stomp your feet all you want because you've been taught to equate patriarchy with men, instead of understanding that you are just a tool of a system that harms you just as much - albeit in slightly different ways.
The American Psychological Association recently released new guidelines for working with men and boys. They took 13 years to craft and come out of 40 years of research. The findings are more nuanced than this statement indicates, taking into account multiple masculine experiences as influenced by things like race, and sexuality, but this phrase does still hit upon the gist of the problem, “The main thrust of the subsequent research is that traditional masculinity — marked by stoicism, competitiveness, dominance and aggression — is, on the whole, harmful.”
Civilization was built before patriarchy came along and actually brought it to a screeching halt for many years.
Patriarchy is a social system, one that arose for the first time about 5–7k years ago. It is male-dominated, but that doesn’t mean that men always do well or flourish in it. That’s because patriarchy is not just a historically two-tiered genderized power differential, but also an entire system of social stratification and hierarchy that is established and maintained by intimidation, coercion, and sometimes even violence. At times there have been laws to maintain it as well. It’s essentially a Might Makes Right doctrine where the richest, strongest, and most powerful abuse others for their own benefit.
Painting, pottery, and other clay modeling of various types, as well as stonework indicate a culture rich in spiritual tradition as well as focus on decorative arts, including obsidian mirrors and textile fragments, which have been found during the excavation. And this was thousands of years before the rise of Egypt or Sumer.
In other words, there was plenty of “world” before the onset of patriarchy and from the earliest stages of human societies, many of these inventions and discoveries are now recognized as having been made by women. The notion that man the hunter drove evolutionary developments is now considered to be scientifically anachronistic. Besides the fact that we now have ample evidence of ancient women as also being hunters, there are other considerations as well.
So yes, I will stand by what I've said because I actually know what I'm talking about.
