Development of Patriarchy in Sumer

The following is a blog posted on October 8, 2013 by ellie wilson at Heartwell Productions in which the question is asked: have humans always been organized in patriarchal societies? Or has there ever been another model of human interaction? And if so, when and why and how did it change? Many books have been written on this topic, some fanciful and almost mythological in their naïveté, but others from a thoroughly researched and scholarly perspective. The following discusses the evidence that women have had equal roles in ancient civilizations.

Heartwell Productions

Ever since the beginning of women’s studies, a major question has been: when did all this male dominance begin? Have humans always been organized in patriarchal societies? Or has there ever been another model of human interaction? And if so, when and why and how did it change? Many books have been written on this topic, some fanciful and almost mythological in their naïveté, but others from a thoroughly researched and scholarly perspective.

For a while, the notion was popular that there was once a time when females ruled. People imagined a past when the “great Mother Goddess” was worshipped, and females were held in awe for our mysterious power to reproduce and to bleed without dying. These were the days when societies were set up with female rulers, the fantasy went, when only women could be priests, when, in fact, men were sometimes sacrificed in the cause of fertility.

View original post 2,190 more words