In feminist theory, kyriarchy (/ˈkaɪriɑːrki/ KY-ree-arr-kee) is a social system or set of connecting social systems built around domination, oppression, and submission. The word was coined by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza in 1992 to describe her theory of interconnected, interacting, and self-extending systems of domination and submission, in which a single individual might be oppressed in some relationships and privileged in others. It is an intersectional extension of the idea of patriarchy beyond gender. Kyriarchy encompasses forms of dominating hierarchies in which the subordination of one individual or group to another is internalized and institutionalized.
It is essentially one big intersectional pyramid scheme under which we all live, including patriarchy/sexism, racism, classism, ableism, ageism, heterosexism, cissexism, capitalism, authoritarianism, and basically every other -ism in existence. We are all both privileged and oppressed, both slaves and slavers, in one way or another, basically.
But there is ONE particular -ism that is often overlooked: adultism. Also known as childism, and part of adulto-patriarchy, it is a particular form of systemic ageist oppression and discrimination that is directed against children and young people who are considered non-adults. And that is more than just a mere oversight, but rather it is by design. Adultism is literally the keystone Jenga block of the whole entire pyramid scheme of the kyriarchy. Pull it out, and the whole entire edifice collapses at once, in other words. So of course it would have to be deliberately obscured by the powerful and privileged to protect that very same pyramid scheme from which they benefit.
Wait, what? You mean adultism is what is propping the whole system up all along? Absolutely. All of the other -isms are imputed, or based on, adultism to one degree or another, as children and youth are literally the OG "suspect class" of people systemically denied full civil and human rights. And often it is cleverly disguised as "protection". Does the word "infantilization" ring any bell? How about "paternalism"? Or even the word "patriarchy"? Look at the literal origins of these words. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. Everything else is basically window dressing in this overall Ponzi pyramid scheme, which also functions as a protection RACKET as well.
That is NOT to say that adults are actually better off on balance under adultism and adulto-patriarchy. They benefit from it in a relative sense, while in an absolute sense, most adults (of all ages) are still worse off on balance under adultism than they would be without it, at least in the long run. Much like how patriarchy notoriously chews up and spits out most men as "collateral damage" as well, so to does adultism backfire on adults, and makes everyone less free. The concept of Ubuntu comes to mind, as does the Law of Karma.
And as the late, great Margaret Mead famously noted decades ago, we are moving into what she calls a "prefigurative" society. She had defined a "prefigurative" culture as a modern, rapidly changing society where children and youth effectively become the teachers of their elders, rather than the other way around. In this, her third type of culture (after "postfigurative" and "cofigurative"), the future is unknown, making adult experience obsolete. Thus, adulto-patriarchy is rapidly becoming obsolete.
So does that mean that we should just abolish all age limits overnight, and then the entire kyriarchy will collapse at once, and we will all live happily ever after? Well, not so fast. First of all, being the central keystone Jenga block of the kyriarchy, adultism is HEAVILY and JEALOUSLY guarded, and surrounded with booby traps galore. Even those who claim to want to "smash the kyriarchy" (or parts of it) still tend to consciously or unconsciously guard it. Secondly, even if all age limits were somehow abolished overnight, they could be very quickly replaced by something else equally arbitrary and even more questionable in practice, such as Dr. Robert Epstein's (no relation) assimilationist idea of "competency testing". Not only would that be ableism as imputed adultism (and vice-versa), but that would in fact likely entrench adult supremacy even further by essentially overvaluing "adultness", which is just as much of a social construct as childhood and adolescence. And finally, the 19th century (and earlier, pick your poison) should loom large as a cautionary tale in that regard: there were indeed far fewer and lower age limits back then, but children and young people really weren't any less oppressed. In many ways, the bottom 99% of children and youth were more oppressed back then, as de facto serfs (if not slaves) under such extremely laissez-faire capitalism. Many of these age limits (things like child labor laws and age of consent come to mind especially), were in fact created as textbook examples of Chesterton's Fences: before you remove a fence, make sure you know why it was put up in the first place!
(Oh, and notice that the voting age was 21 back then, as was the general age of majority? And how government was much smaller, but privatized tyranny, both family and otherwise, was much larger? Moral of the story? Always beware whenever adults in power choose to selectively dole out some freedoms to young people while also withholding others. Natch.)
Thus, taking a meat cleaver approach willy-nilly to all official age limits without changing the underlying social structure is clearly folly in more ways than one, and will NOT actually solve the problem of adultism OR kyriarchy. It is multifaceted, and must thus be tackled from many different angles. That is not to say that some age limits should not be lowered or jettisoned at once (the voting age and drinking age come to mind, along with curfew laws and such). And we certainly should NOT add new age limits or raise any existing ones further! But otherwise, it needs to be dealt with VERY carefully and gingerly, or else at everyone's peril.
For example, in a just society, we would need to have a VERY robust social safety net that would make the Nordics blush, and even Universal Basic Income (UBI) in place before we could even consider phasing out child labor restrictions, lest such labor become economically coerced like it was back in the day (and still is today in much of the developing world). With NO apologies to glibertarians or paleoconservatives, just societies need to have "just transitions". The cart clearly does NOT go before the horse!
After all, negative liberty (freedom from) and positive liberty (freedom to) are NOT mutually exclusive, but are rather two sides of the same coin. You cannot truly have one without the other.
But yes, once adultism is gone, the kyriarchy will collapse and go on the trash heap of history for good. So what are we waiting for?
Smash the adulto-patriarchy, smash the kyriarchy! And let the planetary healing begin!
