Confucius, Buddha, and Christ all preached humility, sacrifice, and selflessness — all excellent virtues, especially for the men in charge. But because these teachings were created by men and for men, it’s worth asking: Do these teachings benefit everyone equally? Let’s discuss.
Is Christianity patriarchal? We made a video about it:
How did patriarchy begin? We made a video about that. — check it out:
Watch Elizabeth Gilbert’s entire presentation on The Divine Feminine here:
About:
Amy McPhie Allebest is a scholar, historian, writer, and independent podcast host. Allebest began the Breaking Down Patriarchy project during her master’s degree at Stanford University in 2020. Her studies there served as the catalyst for the project and podcast. In addition to the project, Allebest is best known for her viral 2016 Medium article titled “Dear Mormon Man, Tell Me What You Would Do.”
The Breaking Down Patriarchy project uses essential historical texts to better understand the origins of patriarchy and to deconstruct its unjust effects on our minds, relationships, and communities. The project envisions a world in which all human beings are able to flourish and reach their unique potential. We strive to include as many voices as possible, and our work is intersectional and inclusive. We are also firmly committed to the well-being of boys and men, and we enthusiastically and gratefully enlist the help of our non-female allies in creating an egalitarian world where everyone can thrive.
– Where To Find Us –
Listen to our podcast!! Available wherever you listen to podcasts.
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Starring Amy McPhie Allebest
Written by Amy McPhie Allebest and Celeste Davis
Videographer and Editor: Ralph Blair
Featuring Brittney Hartley @ nononsensespirituality
Featuring Oceana Lane @ oceanalane on TikTok
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Well I think the balance is not in loosing the ego ..or putting others first… but to integrate the ego with all the other aspects of oneself…or integrate the needs of others with your own…to create a win-win..
Otherwise it's a pendulum swing.
A part from this, the message is great!!
Stories that fascinate me are the lives of female saints who managed to live amazing lives despite the patriarchy. St Hildegard Von Bingen wrote the earliest known morality play, invented a written language, contributed greatly to music composition, herbalism, and science, and founded two monasteries with central plumbing. This was all in the 12th century! Many women who wanted freedom chose to be nuns, and she’s a prime example of that
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I love your videos!!
Your mind has been so poisoned with feminism that you can not understand God's plan. God created Men and women differently; in case you didn't notice, men and women think differently. Civilizations that are led by women always fail because they are based on feelings and emotion, not logic and justice.
Its interesting that the monks who walked for peace to Washington DC are in the tradition that has dozens more monastic rules for their female monks.
I just listened to Sam Harris say that he has transcended personal identity. That's male privilege. Women need to think in terms of identity. I am re-examining the concept of Mahayana Buddhism that we should work toward all sentient beings achieving enlightenment before we do. This makes me have a new appreciation for the Theravadan tradition that emphasizes working toward an individual's enlightenment. They are called in a derogatory way "the lesser vehicle". Perhaps we need this as women–emphasizing our own enlightenment over the Mahayana that defers it until everyone else is enlightened
no i think in buddhism everybody is welcome, whether its men or women. its kind of the only religion i somehow find no flaw in, as an atheist. whenever i read about buddha i never felt it was for men, i felt as if everybody could walk on that path. the origin of buddhism by buddha wasn't sexist, now thats a different thing how the followers made it, but the origin was equal for everybody.
1:22 Siddhartha gautam was born in Nepal not India.
Respectfully, I believe your framing of Christianity in this video misrepresents what the Bible actually teaches.
Eve did not sin because she “sought knowledge.” She sinned because she directly disobeyed God’s command. The issue in Genesis is rebellion, not intellectual curiosity. In fact, Scripture consistently encourages wisdom and understanding.
Regarding submission in marriage, the Bible commands mutual humility first. Husbands are instructed to love their wives sacrificially—“as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her.” That standard is not domination but self-giving responsibility. Biblical headship is accountable, protective, and sacrificial—not oppressive.
The claim that Christianity forbids women from leadership also overlooks Deborah, Esther, Phoebe, and others whom God used in significant leadership roles. Scripture affirms equal value—male and female are both created in the image of God.
Biblical roles in marriage are not about superiority; they are about order, responsibility, and reflecting Christ’s love. When practiced as written—not distorted by culture—they produce stability, protection, and mutual honor.
Critiquing abuses of Scripture is fair. But misrepresenting what Scripture actually teaches is not.
where does this theory come from? and how does it include queer people?
My mom taught me to always take care of myself so I will never lose myself to help others. I’m getting married soon, a Conservative Jewish wedding. Men are required to provide for all their wife’s material needs, and make sure they’re content and happy. Being an egalitarian movement now, women are treated as equally liable for learning, and recognize that historically Judaism was very male-centric and misogynistic, so they continue to develop things to be better for everyone.
Oh yeah, your descriptions of the divine masculine and divine feminine are very much how my rabbi has described masculine and feminine aspects of God. Not reversed, very similar.
Many of the same dynamics take place in the workplace, unsurprisingly.
Religions are for the men, by the men and of the men. Well said! So embrace dhamma or dharma. It is for everybody who can live as a human, not as a gender. You need to do 8 things to embrace the dharma of humans..Yam, Niyam, Aasan, Pranayam, Pratihar, Dhyaan, Dharma, Samadhi…All 8 together. You embrace dhamma. It has not been created by men. So you can only embrace it if you are human, risen above your gender. If you still live as woman or man identity, Dhamma will not allow you to embrace it. You will not be able to make head or tail of it.
Hey, Mormon sisters. Want to have some fun teaching Sunday School?
Ask the class, a group of mixed adult men and women, to name (without peeking) the six prophets who came directly after Brigham Young. At least a few people in the room will be able to do this. Some may remember a little song they were taught in Primary called "Latter-day Prophets" and that should help them out.
Now, ask the class to name (without peeking) six of the Relief Society presidents who served after Brigham Young.
There will be an awkward silence. Maybe some chuckles. "Oh, come on! The leaders of one of the oldest and largest benevolent women's organizations in the whole world! Seven million members? That's more than double the number of people employed by the U.S. Department of Defense! And you don't have any idea of the names of the people who presided over it?"
Let them stew in it a bit. Ask them why, in a church where the leadership claims women are important, even vital to the church, no one is taught the names of the women who preside the way they are taught the names of the men who preside.
Everything in this video is confirming what already felt and thought from childhood to adulthood…i was and still am definitely the rebellious daughter , out of three ( daughters) never bought into the , get married , have kids etc… i was independent from the get go .. still am at 65 .. i moved to NYC TO PURSUE a professional dance career …and I DID IT , traveled the world performing and now teach yoga ,,, and as a yoga instructor , i teach empowerment especially to women , bc yoga too , like many patriarchal practices, focuses on “ losing the ego” i call BS on that …foR WOMEN …i teach EMPOWER THE EGO !!!! Never make yourself small for someone else !!
Religion Meant For Males.
Women We Already The Religion.
I am a 70 year young male practitioner of Taichi, a practice that has undergone a peculiar social evolution under the subliminal influence of gender trait politics. Keep in mind that “yin + yang = taichi” is a core therapeutic philosophy as it emerged under the ancient invention of acupuncture. By the time it became the name of a martial art just a couple centuries ago, the practice had become patriarchal, this when the response-based defense tactic actually reveals itself to be therapeutic even as feminine trait behavior. Today what is most in danger of quietly passing into antiquity is the selfless submissiveness of the yin bipolarity, but the even more obscure is the partnered drill whereby the healing dance benevolently transforms into a competitive game of minimized training hazard. Taichiquan (“quan” meaning “fist”) is a performative therapy that also serves as a theatrical demonstration of how masculine and feminine trait behaviors are ideally mutually supportive,… and guess what? I can’t frame this topic in this gender specific way, neither to devout enthusiasts nor critical detractors of the practice, without getting dismissed or offending someone! Moreover, i’ve been a fan of Mrs Allebest’s for quite a few months and this is the only video I’ve seen where she’s starting to obviate the need to remove blaming patriarchy for something that femininity is equally responsible for occurring. Hyper-masculinity is equally responsible with hypo-femininity for humanity’s ills. I further assess that this mutually self-defeating trend started in the Neolithic Agricultural age, when barter afforded hoarding and masculinity very naturally hijacked the survival agenda of civilized society with the invention of money. We’ve been violently hobbling subliminally with the inclusion of women as livestock in polygamous husbandry ever since. What Eve handed Adam in that apple was agriculture itself, all in the interest of out-growing the competition’s tribe in population.
07:20, it's not hardwired, we are socially conditioned for empathy and putting kids first. Screaming babies cause anxiety for many of us!!!! Women wouldn't kill newborns and children if this was hardwired into us, kids are stressful and women aren't naturally nurturing; that's a toxic gender role.
You are all over the place, do you know who you are?😅😅😅😅😅
Woman are so bored
So very relatable. Thank you.
This is really interesting and relatable. I was always chasing spiritual growth but only recently started to question why all the teachers and systems seemed to be so male centric. I would be curious to hear you discuss this topic more in the context of the gnostic texts. Even though Jesus was a man and part of the patriarchal religion of Christianity, he also didn't write down his teachings and so the ones we read in the bible, while generally positive, are through the voice of secondary retellings. The whole concept of gnosis is much more about personal and embodied spiritual knowledge, I would be curious to analyze how this fits into the female experience. Also, I'm curious if you know of any past or present female spiritual icons and/or teachers. It seems like the female spiritual path from profane to divine that you have laid out here could also be a product of our times. I also know men who have a hard time standing up for themselves and just quietly serve, true I don't think it is to the same extent as women, since they will never know what it feels like to have life come from their body. But I do wonder if these two paths are truly female and male, or if they're two paths that could be walked by either gender depending on their temperament as a person. It would also be interesting to see how these ideas fit into the whole gender conversation that's happening widespread in the world right now!
I am amazed! You said the EXACT same thing I have been saying about raising boys and girls differently to make our society balanced. ❤
This is so wonderful! Exactly what I needed to hear! 🌻✨💛😆
As a Catholic girlie on a journey of learning to take up space instead of making myself small 🌻🤗(slay hehe 😂🔥💛) , I noticed that many men like to focus on the verse about wives submitting to their husbands, but they completely ignore all the other verses about (sorry y'all I don't remember the verse exactly, so I'm paraphrasing 😙) the husband needing to love & respect the wife so much that he should be willing to lay down his life like Jesus did. I see that verse in that spiritual sense that husbands need to allow their self, their ego, to die.
But, nahhhh, that part isn't always as emphasised as the wife's submission's part. Also, I feel like men have found a way to distort "submission" into this disgusting abuse of power thing… Whereas I genuinely believe it just means that they should respect each other & show that basic human decency.
Your videos and channel in general need more recognition!
THIS IS WHAT IVE BEEN FEELING FOR SO LONG BUT HAD NO WORDS TO FULLY EXPLAIN THIS
I appreciate where you’re trying to go, because there is a real point buried in there and for the comments here. But the argument is not place together well. You can’t compare apples with oranges. You’re judging a pre-modern survival world by modern air-conditioned office standards. Two thousand years ago there was no birth control, no modern medicine/hospital, no welfare state or selective government, no safe policing, no easy food supply or water, and survival was far harsher (no cosy home, hot water, fridge, soft bed, safe schools, cars, supermarkets). Men carried the external burden with labour, provision, war, protection, danger, and disposability. Women carried the burden of pregnancy, childbirth, child-rearing, and dependence in a brutal world. Both sexes paid a price. Yet, you cherry-pick the softest religious texts (which is translated). On top of that, you mix psychology, philosophy, science, spirituality, sociology, history, anthropology, biology, neuroscience, semantics, and epistemology as if they all support one clean conclusion. 🤷♂️. I get where you’re trying to go, but this argument is far too selective and confused to carry the weight you’re putting on it.
Thank you for including Gisele Pelicot. I know the line of these strong female chars would be endless but her story is so relevant nowadays
Built by men for men. Agree
It's weird to watch this, and agree with all your points about culture and gender dynamics, and also notice that you don't have the foggiest idea of what an ego is or ego dissolution is.
Yes, deciding you are better than other people and trying to control them is high ego. But feeling shame or fear and suppressing your own emotions or desires is ALSO HIGH EGO. Women do not need to grow their egos. It is just the case that when they dissolve their egos they might get an opposite result to men, and become more assertive and have better boundaries.
It strikes me how similar that feminist Christian speaker you clipped in was talking about an expanding ring of care that starts, critically, with the self. That is exactly a classic Buddhist teaching! (Popularized by Pema Chodron in the US, notably, a famous female Buddhist Monk)
Aside from that, the core point of Buddhism isn't that you need to get rid of your self. It is to become aware that the self is, and always was, an illusion. You can't minimize or suppress what doesn't exist! Also women could be monastics in the time of the Buddha, they are literally in the Pali canon, and many of the most famous Buddhist teachers are women. The misunderstanding of Buddhism and what it teaches in this video is extreme.
You drop the Islam 😅😅😅😂 why ?
The main reason I clicked on this video is because there was a woman on the cover picture… Speaking about religion.
I'm so done with this men yapping about useless shit
I guess you haven't read the philosophy of Hinduism. Especially the Shakti sect.
I always hated that my Korean American ex husband's family split into two groups after dinner: the women would take the dishes and all run off into the kitchen. The men stayed in the living room and talked about plans and life. Since I was usually a guest I would just stay with the men and talk. Until I realized I was breaking some kind of rule I didn't grow up with. The women became resentful towards me. The men didn't seem to care . I felt uncomfortable being ' banned' to the kitchen., but I eventually did to keep the peace.
I've found that it's usually the women that get mad when you break a norm. But I imagine if all women stood up. Then the men would have a problem with it!
This is how I feel as a woman. I over gave and was used and abused—not anymore.
Sane washing the message of religion even in this video. Summarizing their messages as good is giving them an inch that they did not earn.
All religious traditions that exist are misogynistic