ABSTRACT. — The term ‘patriarchy’ is part of the common lexicon, appearing everywhere from The Simpsons and Ani DiFranco lyrics to academic tomes behind paywalls. Patriarchy typically is characterized by a binary hierarchy in which men are dominant and women are subordinated. This binary picture has shaped not only how we understand patriarchy, but also how we understand sexism, misogyny, feminism, and gender itself. I’ll argue that this binary picture is fundamentally flawed, and that patriarchy is a system, not of male dominance, but rather of “real men’s” dominance.