Queen Galadriel: Life under The Matriarchy

There's a commonly held view that, if women ran the world, it would all be flowers, sunshine, peace and love. It's probably nonsense. The capacity of women for unpleasantness, judgement, offence and cruelty is little different from the same capacity in men even if it is often delivered differently.

So life under The Matriarchy wouldn't necessariliy be nicer, happier, healthier or more peaceful. It may even be worse:

Quantitative analyses (n = 285) revealed that 94% of participants wished to possess a superpower, and majority indicated using powers for benefitting themselves than for altruistic purposes. Furthermore, while men wanted positive and negative powers more, women were more likely than men to use such powers for personal and social gain.

Ok. I know. It's some weird research about 'if we had superpowers'. The real world won't be like that of course.

…we find that queenly reigns participated more in inter-state conflicts, without experiencing more internal conflict. Moreover, the tendency of queens to participate as conflict aggressors varied based on marital status.

Among married monarchs, queens were more likely to participate as attackers than kings. Among unmarried monarchs, queens were more likely to be attacked than kings. These results are consistent with an account in which queens relied on their spouses to manage state affairs, enabling them to pursue more aggressive war policies. Kings, on the other hand, were less inclined to utilize a similar division of labor.

It seems female participation - however achieved - is no guarantee of a better world. Nor is women having power a protection against greed, self-interest and corruption.

The Matriarchy might not be quite what we wished for....

“And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”

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