Patriarchy Blues audiobook

I kind of love how there was this subtle bait & switch... I'd heard about this book from a white woman on insta, saw that the author was a black man, and saw the title and thought we were all just going to lament the damage and destruction that patriarchy has inflicted on so many people. It didn't take long to realize that the essays are not just about patriarchy but also include the intersections of capitalism and white supremacy... and the gut check was absolutely towards the end when he tells stories of how white feminism is complicit in much of white supremacy. And I think I totally get it. Sadly. Good stuff. Thank you.

I was only casually familiar with Frederick Joseph from his social media presence. I didn't think our political views were fully aligned, but I respected his approach to expressing his views as such an aware young cat. I've also maintained an appreciation for his philanthropy and genuine compassion for others. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this title release and expected it to be engaging. It did not disappoint. Quite beautifully written, I found Joseph's writing to be highly relatable, vastly insightful and deeply moving. It encouraged me as a Black man to honestly evaluate my life and interactions with others and inspires me to do better. The impact of this book should prove invaluable to many. Joseph's presence is invaluable to the world.

You should absolutely read this book. Man, woman, non binary, everyone, but especially white women. Read it. Sit with it. Be convicted. "... find out not just what we are -- but what we may become."

This book is composed of essays, poems, and letters that detail the complex, difficult, and nuanced experiences of the author’s interactions with the patriarchy. There is no topic uncovered. It might be hard for some to read since it confronts the truths we (generally, as a society) don’t like to talk about. But there will never be resolution or dismantling of the patriarchy if we don’t talk about these truths. Dismantling the patriarchy is like rolling a rock uphill; incredibly frustrating and harder to do alone. It is up to us to decide if we will help push the rock, or if we will grease the hill ahead. Frederick Joseph poses challenging questions to all of us. How can we afford not to listen?

Patriarchy Blues is equal parts beautiful, poignant and smart as hell. My husband is reading it now - and I have more copies on the way that I plan to give to every dude I know. Can't recommend this book highly enough.

A Must-Read!

Patriarchy Blues, by Frederick Joseph, summarizes how our American, patriarchal society is exhibited in the modern world, explained through the lens of a black man. He discusses how prevalently race, class, and sexuality intertwine with misogyny, and how everyone does their part to uphold the repressive system. Joseph’s objective was to inform how the dominance of white men has influenced movements and behaviors, from white feminism to cat calling, and is used by everyone to ostracize others; I believe he fulfilled this objective, as he goes in depth of how each demographic of people is affected day to day by a male dominated system. For example,when discussing how homophobia plays a role, he explains that many men shy away from stereotypically gay activities that they may enjoy in order to appear “masculine”: “We are repressing our full selves in service of hatred against others” (Joseph 51%). Using such elaborations, he is able to convey his argument while shedding light on different perspectives.Some themes mentioned in the book remind me of Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye; her novel touches on why the women of her story are consistently abused by men, explaining how those negatively impacted by the hierarchy tend to take their anger towards their oppressors out on those with less power such as their wives, thus perpetuating systemic injustice. Oppressors, cultivating division, reap the benefits of manipulating marginalized groups into harboring hatred for one another. I imagine the intended audience for the book was mainly white Americans. As a white American, I feel that he does an excellent job at communicating the patriarchy in all its forms. However, I am aware that many white people tend to become incredibly defensive when the topic of racism and white oppressive systems are brought into conversation; this is even mentioned by Joseph when describing the reaction of many white people to his previous book. Because of this, I am not quite sure how the narrative was received amongst his target audience. I liked the book and found it engaging, as I felt that it wove the author’s life experiences with those of his family and friends to paint a greater understanding of the issue at large: “A black man in a suit is no more protected from a white supremacist bullet than a black man in a hoodie . . . A black person who has money or education within white supremacist, capitalist, and patriarchal structures isn't indicative of systemic change . . . black excellence is a manifestation of black exceptionalism and does not lift any other black people out of the struggles they were born in” (Joseph 36%). I would definitely recommend the book to others; each issue was well-articulated and crafted in a way that could be understood to anyone who reads it: “ . . . the idea that some flowers are worth words such as “beautiful” while others are not . . . that only some flowers are worth time, love, appreciation and respect, is the very idea that is rotting this garden that has given us all life” (Joseph 19%).

Patriarchy Blue written by Fredrick Joseph was a great read to me. I was never bored or felt lectured while I was reading. Joseph's use of anecdotal stories strengthened his points and reminded me of instances in my life where I've read, experienced or felt what he was conveying in these pages. The subject matter is heavy and may require some readers to take breaks due to their own experiences but I never felt like it was too much.In the beginning of the book Joseph opens with a quote by Fannie Lou Hamer, "Nobody's free until everybody's free." This quote serves as an introduction to the rest of the book. While the title suggests the primary focus of this book is the patriarchy he discusses how the patriarchy is linked to other forms of oppression such as white supremacy, homophobia, transphobia, classism and etc. I feel like this is needed and forces readers to examine the roles they play in upholding oppressive systems.Another great point made by the author was that oppressed the oppressed may also be the oppressors. Read that again. Think about that. Truly digest what was being said here and examine how one can be privileged even though they may be oppressed in some ways. This can and has led to so much hurt.I will say that this book is a lot. Because he references oppressive systems other than just the patriarchy in length I feel some readers may be turned away if they aren't prepared for it. I have consumed a lot of literature about the intersectionality of these issues so it was spot on for me.Overall, I'd recommend this book to men and women that may not be able to articulate how the patriarchy has affected them or want to start unlearning the harmful behaviors we've been taught since birth.

This was a quick but good read! I really appreciated his perspective on how masculinity is intertwined with capitalism, race, gender, class, and white supremacy. If you are interested in learning about masculinity, reading this book with Justin Baldoni's book - Man Enough and bell hooks' book - The Will to Change, you will be well on your way to learning how important knowledge about this topic is.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this whilst not necessarily agreeing with everything. I enjoyed the diversity of entries, types and topics. The poems were a bit less powerful to me for some reason.

To live in a world as a cisgender heterosexual man is to need to reinvent oneself. You see, I grew up not knowing love from any man outside of my uncle Juice and always looking to take from others to become safe. My life in a white supremacy world has been the epitome of chaos. I used to have a sharp sense of gratitude for being a man. Being excited to take girls undies, being upset to get whatever I desires and angrily fussing at my mom. Patriarchy Blues illustrates the damage that patriarchy has created in my life yet the world and the personal work that is necessary to become more than the the status quo. Thank you, Fred for sharing the ways patriarch impacts everyone from the interpersonal, to Black women, and the ways that others exacerbate poison. Everyone should read this book as everyone is guilty for the ways that patriarchy implodes our world!

I've been following Fred Joseph on social media for quite a few years now and I always turn to him when something happens to get his take because no matter how hard I try, I can never put myself in a Black persons shoes. I can only keep learning, keep listening and actively trying to do better. This book is written in a set of essays, letters and poems. He credits a lot of his understanding of the world to how his mother raised him, stand up for Black women and break the cycle that Black men may unknowingly perpetuate.Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an early read of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I wish I’d listened to the audiobook instead - Patriarchy Blues was a mix of prose, poetry, and essays that felt like they should be performed as monologues. No matter the format, each chapter was beautifully written and covered difficult topics with grace and empathy. It’s not escaping me that I - a white woman - am writing a review about a book in which the author - a black man - spends a lot of time talking about the importance of intersectionality and especially how white women often feel entitled to share our opinions about other (read: more) oppressed groups as if they were fact. Frankly, there’s nothing I can say about this book that Frederick Joseph doesn’t cover in one of the chapters, and far better than I could hope to. Instead I’ll just say that books like Patriarchy Blues are why I participate in a stupid number of book clubs. Left to my own devices I would still read a ton of books, but almost all of them would be escapism - fantasy or sci fi, safely removed a step from real life. This is because there is more incredible escapism out in the world than I’ll ever have time to read, but also because I am a coward at heart and books like this are hard. It’s not fun to see yourself reflected on a page in less than complimentary ways. It’s easy to close your eyes entirely, or pretend the book is talking about all the other people that look just like me, or find some little detail to nitpick and pretend that means the entire book is wrong. But I’ve been working on learning to sit with discomfort. Learning to ask myself why, exactly, a specific page or passage makes me uncomfortable and how I can grow and be better in future. This is a book to read and digest slowly - most of the chapters are short, so you can work through it in 5-10 minute installments every night before bed, or come to a bookclub ready to talk about which chapter you found most interesting. It would be good for anyone and everyone to read, but it might be best for young men. Joseph shares a lot of his personal journey and how anger is often the only emotion men are allowed to express. I’ve read a lot of books about the patriarchy written by women, and it was refreshing to find a book that feels like the first kernel of encouragement for change aimed at men. “I’ve been there,” Joseph says. “And it’s so much better to find your way out.”I paired Patriarchy Blues with a Cosmo. It's a cocktail I remember always wanting to try when I first turned 21, but I was too embarrassed to order such a girly drink. Instead I would get the lightest beer the place had and pretend I was enjoying it. In honor of Frederick Joseph and smashing the patriarchy, enjoy a fruity, delicious, and aggressively pink drink!www.lonslibrary.com

I’m someone who doesn’t read the synopsis of a book so that I go into every book with an open mind and no bias. I was not prepared for the internal wreckoning I felt after reading Patriarchy Blues By Frederick Joseph.Joseph’s voice is powerful and distinct as he lays out what patriarchy is, how it affected our past, how it affects our future and the ways in which it is ingrained into the very fabric of our society. If you believe yourself to be without bias or an Ally, Patriarchy Blues will have you taking a much harder look at yourself in the mirror to dig deeper into what those actually mean.I appreciated the author's intelligent challenges to the status quo and see Patriarchy Blues as a call to action that is so desperately needed in our current world.If I could give this book more than five stars I would, so I’ll just say this, read the book. And once you’ve read it, get your friends to read it too. This is the perfect book club pick because the questions and discussions that will come from these pages will help bring us to a more enlightened point of understanding so that we can begin to fix and heal wounds some may not even know exist.

Let me be clear. This is so much more than an examination of the patriarchy. Frederick Joseph dives head first into his own relationship with gender, race, masculinity, white supremacy and the patriarchy. Mr. Joseph puts his vulnerabilities on full display with his experiences and the way he challenged his own thinking and embraced the unknown with intent to learn. The emotions he poured into revisiting and sharing his experiences was powerful. I’ve read some reviews that declared this book “preachy” and having the feel of a “Facebook comment section”. I couldn’t agree less. Anyone with even a small ounce of empathy and emotional awareness will see value in this perspective. And there is great value in the perspective of black voices and their experiences. I don’t believe the intention of this book is to change anyone’s mind, those that don’t see a problem will never be convinced as such. This book will help you see a different perspective and inspire introspection into how our own behaviors perpetuate these cycles.

Patriarchy Blues is a thought-provoking and perspective-defining collection of essays, letters, poems, and stories that are masterfully, unapologetically, and intentionally written. It's a book that is [unfortunately] relevant, but also deeply retrospective, diving into the earliest inceptions of patriarchy, racism, sexism, and homophobia/transphobia in the United States, as well as their intersections & the harsh and painful realities they have created for so many non-white, non-male, non-heterosexual individuals across generations. As Frederick Joseph discloses, his books rarely receive stellar reviews from white women, which is not surprising given white fragility, and therefore, a false affliction toward anything that makes one acknowledge privilege & accept responsibility for the state of today's world. This is a must-read, and Joseph, a must-follow leader and activist. Excited to dive into his and his wife's book, Better Than We Found It: Conversations to Help Save the World.

I became aware of this book through a shared tweet from the author declaring that he was dedicating the proceeds to abortion funds in the wake of the assault on pregnant peoples rights committed by the disgraced and debased Supreme Court. I was immediately sold. This was a compelling and enlightening listen, part poetry, part essay, part intimate biography, and part sociology. Like the cubist cover art, which breaks up, reassembles, and provides multiple viewpoints of the object, the author disassembles and provides analysis of the patriarchal, white supremacist fundamentalism that is the deadly disease at the root of our society. Excellent read and can’t wait to read more of the authors work.