Thus the Patriarchy.
In Two Stories
In college, my Indian friend, Nina, told me a story she heard as a child.
There was a washerman whose job it was to clean the seats of the public transportation buses. He was given a rag and a bucket of soapy water. He prided himself in the efficiency and care he took carefully scrubbing each and every seat.
The washerman began with the seats behind the driver at the front of the bus and diligently worked his way to the back of the bus washing each and every seat. Then from the back, he made his way forward until he completed the seat by the front door.
Since he had only one rag and one bucket of water that is what he used to complete the first bus. And the second. And the third. And so on until the fleet had been scrubbed.
When he was finished cleaning the buses they were dirtier than when he began. The supervisor asked the washerman why he had not cleaned the buses because the inspection indicated that the buses were indeed filthy.
“The buses are clean for I cleaned them,” answered an indignant washerman.
The washerman believed the act of cleaning made them clean. The muddied water was irrelevant.
The washerman had washed.
Thus the patriarchy.
Another story, a batch of delicious chocolate brownies. Into this particular batch of brownies was added poop. Not much. Just a little. No one could taste the poop. Now, who wants a brownie?
Thus the patriarchy.