Patriarchal Precedents: Sexuality and Social Relations

by Rosalind Coward

First published in 1983, Patriarchal Precedents is an 'excavation' of the term patriarchy. Rosalind Coward shoes how the debates about patriarchy and matriarchy were crucial to social theories in the nineteenth century, discussing how the resolution of these debates resulted in our present ways of (mis)understanding the family, sexual relations and sexual characteristics. Rosalind Coward argues that the violent debates around patriarchy tell a salutary tale about how the term presupposed as much as it set out to explain. She demonstrates how it was used in Marxism and psychoanalysis in ways which blocked any radical thinking about sexual relations, and how the arguments against the term patriarchy within anthropology still have to be taken seriously. She argues that in order to advance our understanding of how power is exercised in sexual relations, of the place which sexual relations have within society and the construction of sexual characteristics, a series of presuppositions about sexual relations must now be cleared away. This book will be of interest to students of gender studies, women's studies, sexuality, men's studies, sociology and anthropology.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Feminism

334 pages

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[gideon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started off strong but soon became too complicated and highly academic for me to follow. More about the history of random other stuff in anthropology and not the kind of juicy analysis I was expecting for the most part, very dry and BORING. Also did not get to the point til literally the last page which did not help with understanding the thread of argument. Maybe good for someone who has more background knowledge and interest in niche anthropology stuff. Not for me.