Over the past year, I have watched a steady rise in calls for “matriarchy” across social media, Substack essays, and activist spaces. The word is invoked as remedy, as balm, as counter-spell to patriarchy. It is offered as if its mere utterance signals moral clarity: patriarchy has failed us; matriarchy will save us. I am not opposed to imagining matriarchy. I am, however, increasingly concerned that we are invoking it without shared definition. And without shared definition, we risk reproduc...

Before We Call It Matriarchy