“We know from our own everyday lives right here in 2023 that every single human being is different… that not all women want to have children… that not all men want to fight or are good at fighting… but what the patriarchal state says is that you don’t have a choice. This is how you need to live in order to serve the state.”

Part 1:

Part 2:

In this episode: THE IDEALISTS. speaks with Angela Saini, award-winning science journalist and author. Her latest book “The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule” was published in spring 2023, and is a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing. As the founder and chair of the 'Challenging Pseudoscience' group at the Royal Institution, Angela researches and campaigns around issues of misinformation and disinformation. The BBC regularly refers to Angela’s work and she sits on a number of boards, including the Royal Society’s Science Policy Expert Advisory Committee.

What we learned: Angela challenges the idea of a monolithic patriarchy where men in general oppress women in general. Instead, she recounts a complex history of patriarchies— neither chronological nor linear— where men and women have tussled for power in a myriad of ways.