On Matriarchy and Patriarchy

Abstract

The interpretation of matriarchy and patriarchy is pertinent to our interpretation of history and to the prospect of human future. This article lists the mis - interpretations of matriarchy and patriarchy. Drawing on Engles's classic argument in The Origin of Family, Private Ownership and Country, the archaeological discoveries recorded in Riane Eisler's The Chalice and the Blade and some of China's archaeological discoveries, together with analysis of relevant literature texts, the article provides a theoretical clarification of the meta - concepts of "matriarchy" and "patriarchy" from the perspective of social structure and the relationship between humans, contends that the often misused concepts of "matriarchy" and "the system of female power", "patriarchy" and "the system of male power" are not synonyms, through the analysis of the pertinent concept of "peniscenlrism", holds that peniscentrism is a self -conceited exaggeration of the male sexual power, it is a pure biological and fictional concept and identifies the famous feminist claim "if one confesses himself a feminist in China, it also means he must confess himself a masculinist".