ACTIVISM AS AN INTERNAL STRUGGLE: ON DEPATRIARCHALIZING THE MIND

Back to Page Authors: Sibulelo Qhogwana

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Keywords: social systems, patriarchy, sexism, misogyny, depatriarchalize

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Abstract: Patriarchy, sexism, and misogyny continue to be deeply entrenched in societies, despite activism and resistance against these social systems. While activism is geared towards resisting and eradicating these social systems, not much effort has been focused on internalized patriarchy, sexism and misogyny that women have inherited because of their continual inhabitation of spaces that perpetuate and reinforce these social systems. In this article, I use analytical auto-ethnography in sharing my experiences of resisting patriarchy in different spaces that I inhabit as a black African woman. I highlight how depatriarchalizing the mind is also a significant process as we continue deconstructing notions of womanhood that are deeply entrenched in patriarchal, sexist, and misogynous social systems.

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