The Myth of Sexual Hierarchy: Facts, Narratives, and Counter-Narratives

Abstract

Historically, the narrative concerning female nature promoted ethical-cultural dispositions supportive of the theory of complementarity and the myth of sexual hierarchy. Even today, this cultural worldview and prejudices about sexual difference constrain the material realization of equality between women and men. This article examines the historical process and narratives that have entrenched the myth of sexual hierarchy, the female and/or feminist challenge to cultural prejudices, and the discourses adopted in response to potential questioning of this hierarchy. To this end, it integrates an exploratory analysis of the construction of patriarchal authority, a descriptive examination that traces the evolution of the narrative and the most historically significant debates, and an explanatory approach that allows for determining the origin, causes, and consequences of the survival of sexual hierarchy in formally egalitarian societies.