patriarchy ultimately benefits men*, but all people can wield it for at least crumbs of power

when you’re a woman who conforms to patriarchal standards, stepping on the women who don’t helps you look better in the eyes of men*, and so it gives you more power relative to the women you stepped on

* i am talking about men as a social class here, not men as individual people. before someone not-all-men’s me.

Internalized misogyny is a thing.