Patriarchs squirming in testosterone stews

I remember vividly being transfixed by the believability of this highly intelligent black woman who refused to back down in the face of all the criticism and venom that was spewed at her by both men and women of all castes and colours.

Thomas' supporters were convinced that Anita Hill should keep her mouth shut and allow this black man to make history by rising to the most prestigious judicial rank in the US.

Indeed, this was one of the moments which many scholars and analysts have recorded as the collision between race and gender. Anita did not back down. She stuck to her story.

The powerful patriarchs, not wanting to be seen as participants in what Clarence Thomas passionately described as "a high-tech lynching" stood by their man. The rest is history.

In 2011, another moment of the collision between race and gender is evolving. Once again, the high-profile patriarch is a black Republican who is desirous of becoming the next president of the US. He is Herman Cain, and he has been accused of sexual harassment by at least four women who appear to be all white.

Asserting his innocence

This drama is also being played out on the international news media. A press conference was called by one woman and another was called by Mr Cain, who stood before a row of his country's flags and asserted his innocence.

He emphatically denied any recollection of these women who appeared on camera. The only event he recalled was a distant time in the past when one of his accusers was standing before him and he told her that she was the same height as his wife who came up to his chin.

Mr Cain did not use Clarence Thomas' words to describe his situation. He framed his moment of stress in political jargon and stated in the clearest terms that this was a conspiracy of the "Democratic machine and he vowed that he would neither back down or step down. Like a patriarch on the warpath, Mr Cain put on his battle fatigues and lambasted the liberal media and the anonymous women who dared to cast a shadow over his squeaky-clean persona.

All this bravado did not silence Karen Kraushaar, one of two women who settled sexual harassment claims against Cain when she worked at the National Restaurant Association while Mr Cain was president. Earlier, another woman, Sharon Bialek, had gone public with salacious allegations of Mr Cain moving his hands towards her genitals and her head downwards to his crotch on an occasion when they were together.

True to form, Mr Cain and his legal team and Tea Party supporters put in gear machinery to detail Mrs Bialek's involvement in lawsuits, bankruptcy and a paternity case.

Typical of these cases involving rich and powerful patriarchs, the women who dare to bring charges of sexual harassment and abuse must be prepared to have their entire life story told in order to render them not credible.

Indeed, Mr Cain and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund, have a lot in common . They are rich, powerful patriarchs who desire to rule countries. Sometimes in their trek to the promised land, they slip on their testosterone stew.

Another scenario in which the agents of the patriarchal system were recently forced to squirm in their disgusting testosterone stew was detailed by Maureen Dowd in the opinion pages of the November 8 edition of The New York Times.

This is the web of conspiracy and secrecy in which the brotherhood protected a predator, Jerry Sandusky. This character viciously and unapologetically buggered a number of young boys for whom he took responsibility while serving as a defence coordinator under the stewardship of Penn State highly respected football coach, Joe Paterno.

The outcome of this sordid affair was the instant dismissal of both Mr Paterno and the president of Penn State. Both men were dismissed because they ignored the reports of Sandusky's crimes and protected him while they sacrificed the lives of the little boys who were so brutally violated by the ultimate patriarch.

Powerful men will always protect their friends, especially those who bring money and fame to their countries and institutions. In this opportunistic space, women, children, the disabled, the elderly, the disadvantaged are fodder in the machinery of greed and corruption.

Entrenched values

It is instructive to note and realise how entrenched patriarchal values are in every corner of the modern world. For instance, the parents of the little boys who were buggered by the sporting icon at Penn State might have valued the opportunity for their children to be exposed to such a prestigious place of pomp and success in the field of college football.

These parents are like the students who are reported to have been highly offended when the University fired Paterno. They loved their coach and they were too brainwashed to comprehend the evil of patriarchs covering up the horrible and evil actions of their friends. Perhaps when these young people become parents, they will understand that Paterno and the president of Penn State deserved their moment of embarrassment.

Hopefully, the predator will spend the rest of his sorry life in the hellhole of an American maximum security jail.  He certainly needs to squirm in his testosterone stew.

Perhaps the historical moment has come for the Jamaican patriarch to pay attention to his predisposition to ignore the abuse of power and all forms of violence and corruption that are masked in the historical malfunctioning of the patriarchal mindset.

Glenda Simms, PhD, is a gender expert and consultant. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and glendasimms@gmail.com.