Hunting means power and other patriarchal nonsense

First published on my Facebook page on Dec 13 2020. Republished here with major additions.

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This article from Mic is a super fun article to read and learn from. It’s also super patriarchal and problematic. This is the headline: “Ancient remains prove women have been running shit for at least 9000 years.”

The point of the article is that ancient remains of our ancestors show hunting implements in burials of people they think were women which suggests that women were hunters just like men. The implied meaning of the article headline is that women being hunters means they must have had power in ancient human societies, ie. they must have been “running shit”.

There are several major issues with this analysis that need to be addressed.

Hunting doesn’t mean someone is more in charge of their life than someone who’s gathering. The idea that women must have been “running shit” because now we have evidence that they were hunters, while as gatherers they must have been weak and useless and “not running shit”, is exactly the type of patriarchal gendered and binary thinking that is so wrong with our present day system.

Feminizing labor or putting negative connotations on feminized labor is what leads to the oppression of women and anyone who doesn’t fall into the…