Patriarchy Blues

February 28, 2022
Concepts of privilege, power, race, and gender are put on trial in this scorching treatise on toxic masculinity. When Joseph (The Black Friend) was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at 24, he took stock of his life and saw he’d been navigating the world “through a misogynistic” perspective. In addressing that, he delivers a series of stringent essays aiming to “uproot” a contemporary cultural landscape that has “conditioned us to uphold not only homophobia, misogyny, and transphobia—but white supremacy as well.” In “The Shore,” he uses the film The Matrix to examine the ways society’s racist and sexist power dynamics act like a “computer-generated world” designed to oppress its people (Christianity, he argues, “gaslight believers” to perpetuate a similar hierarchical system). He also takes searing aim, in “The Rot in the Garden,” at social media—which “open a world of possibility” while reinforcing harmful prejudices—and wonders whether, rather than “canceling,” people should be “asking each other to evolve.” Joseph’s critiques of “the patriarchy... both overt and ingrained” are razor-sharp, but it’s the clear-eyed reckoning of his own place within it that tethers the soul of his book: “As a Black man I should not be above reproach... simply because I also face oppression.” This potent work makes a systemic issue immensely personal.

March 15, 2022
Anti-racism activist and philanthropist Joseph turns his attention to issues of intersectional oppression. "Realizing your life won't last forever sometimes has a way of reminding you to be free," writes the author about being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis while contending with the effects of the pandemic on marginalized communities. After the murder of George Floyd, the anti-racism movement found plenty of adherents and allies; missing were similarly extensive discussions of the violence done to trans women, the disproportionate loss of jobs by women of color, and other matters. Anti-racism, he writes, fails if it does not also address homophobia, violence against women, and other "oppressive behaviors and systems." This involves building an anti-patriarchal movement and rejecting conventional wisdom about gender roles--e.g., girls stay quiet and boys don't cry, nostrums by which "we are limiting who and what our society is and may become." We must also call out instances of oppression, which may sometimes take on uncomfortable dimensions: Joseph writes meaningfully of being a one-time fan of Dave Chappelle's comedy, which worked best when directed against White supremacism and economic privilege but is burdened by "homophobia, misogyny, and anti-Blackness." In a relatively slender book, Joseph covers a great deal of ground, taking on rape culture, White privilege, victim blaming, the rights of sex workers, and the fact that "the Black American experience is not monolithic," always returning to the intersectionality that governs how people are defined and, too often, oppressed. His book merits a large audience whose members must "take a sledgehammer to the institutions of yesterday that have kept the most marginalized from power that was never meant solely for men." In conclusion, Joseph writes, "through the enlightenment of intersectionality we will move these mountains of caste, until equity is not a dream, but rather a standard." A well-reasoned, wide-ranging plea for a new conception of personhood and justice.

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