Like many others, I swoon when Twisty Faster speaks critically about the patriarchy. Her recent rumination on marriage and patriarchy is pithy and sweet. It has a subtle Twain-ish dark humor pervading it. Well, if Mark Twain wrote about blaming the patriarchy...

I can't resist quoting a little:

See here. The patriarchy I blame isn't people, it's a system. It is a hierarchical system of dominance at the gilded pinnacle of which pink-faced male captains of industry luxuriate, and at the rat-infested bottom of which poor brown women die screaming in filth and penury. In between are sub-hierarchies, but one constant obtains across all class, cultural and geographical lines: within any given hierarchy, women are consistently relegated to the lowest possible status.

And the rich white guy outranks everybody.

So check this out: I'm blaming patriarchy, not impugning the feminist credentials of women who, for whatever reason, decide to get married. Or carry tiny handbags. We all do what we gotta do.

These thoughts parallel my own on the institution of marriage. And tiny handbags.