Patriarchy [pay-tree-r-key, noun]: A word, like war, rape, lynch or genocide, which encompasses within a few letters so much evil, so much stupidity, so much destruction, pain and hurt. Patriarchy is a dysfunctional social system which originated a brief 3 to 5 millennia ago. It is a human artefact built on the concepts of male superiority and misogyny; militarism, slavery, the dominance of a few, the expendability of the many; the objectification of "the other", including our Mother the Earth; and the hatred of anyone not of our tribe, as well as those of the tribe who do not slavishly and mindlessly follow its rules for behaviour. Our mission is to confront the ills created by patriarchy ? to make this world a better place by creating cartoons to promote thought. Understand we all swim in a toxic pool of patriarchal sludge ? attitudes, beliefs, prejudices. We want our cartoons to encourage you to think deeply and critically about what you read, hear and see. We want you look at what we have so long taken for granted. We want you to get riled-up at the astonishing silliness and senselessness of the things the patriarchy has taught us to accept. And that is especially true with respect to its daughters: The absurdity, the cruelty, the inexplicability of how we think about half the human race, behave towards females, organise women's lives and choose to shape our societies on a truly strange platform of outdated and sexist ideas. AUTHOR: Carol A Edwards is the creator of Feminine Riles, on Instagram. It has over 5,000 followers. Her cartoons use gorgeous graphics and mind-bending content to go behind the accepted narrative of "being female". Above all, her work illuminates the key issues facing half of humanity, while raising readers' eyebrows and skewering convention. Each cartoon, though seemingly small, tells a broader story: Readers say they not only challenge and enlighten, they start conversations. Carol is also a multiple award-winning professor of finance, with over 25 years of teaching experience. Students and colleagues have praised her materials for their creative approach to delivering complex, difficult concepts in a way which is interesting, concise, accessible, and "awesome!" Currently, Carol works in the graduate program at the globally top-ranked Beedie School. That puts her in a small coterie of women instructing students in advanced finance. Moreover, in the 1980s, she was one of a very few females in the world to work in the testosterone-charged field of portfolio management. A life-long feminist, Carol has considerable experience with the issues she cartoons about.
