In Sex in History, we see that the essential quality of the medieval Church was its patrism or father-identification–in our terms, its andorcratic or dominator character. We also begin to see that behind the oscillating swings of history lie specific conflicts between dominator and partnership values…
Indeed, one of the most telltale signs that the pendulum is about to swing back is the revival of misogynist dogmas. Along with the introduction of new “facts” justifying the subordination of women, this is a signal of what Taylor calls “the permanent self-delusion of patrists to suppose that standards of behavior are declining” and that the re-imposition of “father-identified” values must be accomplished at all cost. Most important, is an early warning signal that a more repressive and bloody period of androcratic regression about to set in..the re-idealization of the “masculine” stereotype signals not only a regressive shift of values but also a shift from peace to war…
Ideologically, our world is in the throes of a major regression to the woman-hating dogmas of both Christian and Islamic fundamentalism… extremely hostile attitudes toward women are characteristic of times when women are most rigidly suppressed by men. There is in literature and in film an unprecedented barrage of violence against women, of graphic portrayals of woman-murder and rape compared to which the earlier literary violence…pales to insignificance. .. research shows how the upsurge of violent themes in literature and art predicts periods of warfare and repression (Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade, pages 142-153)
