oasisnotes t1_jdtvqop wrote on March 27, 2023 at 3:45 AM

Reply to comment by fitzroy95 in Vivek Venkataraman argues that political equality and proto-democracy were the most common form of political organisation in the "state of nature". These ideals preceded modern liberalism & statehood, and are arguably how humans have lived the majority of our evolution. by Ma3Ke4Li3

> old societies were largely male dominated tribal groups

Lots of anthropological evidence suggests otherwise. For most of human history, societies weren't necessarily patriarchal or matriarchal, but they were matrilineal (i.e. descent was tracked through the female line). This is because in these societies the only parent you could truly know was yours was your mother. Women didn't necessarily 'rule' these societies in a sense that we would understand it, but they did exercise influence over family and tribal life in a way that could, in many cases, cause quotidian existence to revolve more around them. IIRC societies didn't tend to become male dominated until there was an emergence of food surplus and specialized labor.