The Patriarchy: Whodunnit?

In Episode 9 of the Patriarchy: Whodunnit? we ask: WAS IT THE BUDDHA?  In 6th Century BCE there emerged on the scene in North India a man called Siddhartha Gautama who would come to be called “The Buddha”. His religion professed to end human suffering, but did it actually end the suffering of women, or did it make things worse? In this episode we ask:   - Who are the bhikkhu and the bhikkhuni? - W...

In Episode 8 of the Patriarchy:Whodunnit? we ask: WAS IT THE BRAHMINS?  Between 800 BCE and the beginning of the first millennium, the Brahmin priests in India used five tactics to destroy the status of women. We uncover in detail how they did it. In this episode we ask:   - What is Manu’s problem and why is he so vitriolic against women and outcastes? - For what crime was a mature woman to have h...

In Episode 7 of the Patriarchy:Whodunnit? we ask: WAS IT THE MAURYANS?  Chandragupta Maurya emerged as Raja to found the Mauryan dynasty which spread from the Ganges Pain to cover the whole of what is today North India between 320 to 185 BCE. What impact did his dynasty have on the women in India? In this episode we ask:   - Why did the chief wife of the Raja have to simulate sex with a stallion?...

In Episode 6 of the Patriarchy:Whodunnit? we ask: WAS IT THE PERSIANS?  The Persian Achaemenid empire was the largest empire the world had ever seen. In this episode we unpick the culture of these nomadic warriors who became emperors and see if they were patriarchal. We ask:   - How many of his own sisters and daughters is it appropriate for a Persian king to marry? - What is a harmamaxae and how...

In Episode 5 of the Patriarchy: Whodunnit we ask: WAS IT ALEXANDER OF MACEDON?  We look deeply at the story of this man in order to understand why Alexander became, and remains, a archetype of patriarchal masculinity. In this episode we explore:  - How severe were Alexander’s daddy issues? - Was he a God or a Devil?  - What did the Amazon Queen want from Alexander and did she get it? All this and...

In Episode 4 of the Patriarchy: Whodunnit we ask: WAS IT THE ATHENIANS?  We are delving into their culture during 4th to 6th centuries BCE to understand how they have underpinned all subsequent western thought with their particular brand of intellectual patriarchy. We ask: - Were women excluded from the democracy because they voted for the goddess Athena? - How many phallus statutes should a town...

In Episode 3 of the Patriarchy: Whodunnit we ask: WAS IT PETER, WAS IT PAUL?  We will be finding all about who these two gents were and how they influenced the emerging religion of Christianity. - Why were Mary Magdalen and Peter arguing all the time? - Who were the sects deemed heretical and how different could Christianity been? - How did empires and rulers shape the religions they patronise suc...

In Episode 2 of the Patriarchy: Whodunnit we ask: WAS IT THE ROMANS? We are delving into their 1000 year period to understand why they represent an archetypical patriarchal culture. - Who was pater familias and why was he in everyone’s business? - Who were the Vestal Virgjns and were they really buried alive? - Who does the god Mithra share his birthday with? All this and more as we uncover Roman...

In Episode 1 of the Patriarchy: Whodunnit? we ask: WAS IT NATURAL?  We have been told for thousands of years that men have always dominated women. But actually the patriarchy hasn’t always existed. In the past, we used to live in women centred clans which traced their lineage through the mothers' line and worshipped goddesses. Very different from how the majority of the world works today. So how d...