Androcentrism and Patriarchy: The Purpose

Androcentrism and Patriarchy:

The purpose of the present paper is to demonstrate that the events which took place last year at the MTV Awards during the Best Music Video for a Female Artist Section, involving singers Beyonce, Taylor Swift and Kanye is nothing but supportive evidence in the favor of androcentrism and patriarchy.

What happens is that the nominees for the above mentioned category are shown and then the winner is announced. The winner is Taylor Swift who comes up on the stage to receive th award. She starts her thanking speech when male singer Kanye West steps up and interrupts her. He congratulates her, saying he will let her finish in a minute and declares that the award for the best video by a female artist ought to have gone to Beyonce, who has "the best female video ever."

One could argue that androcentrism and patriarchy have nothing to do with the matter. The scene could be interpreted as one in which an artist expresses his support for another. The unusual intervention is motivated by the "injustice" which is committed. Kanye never says the people were wrong in choosing to award Taylor, but expresses his own personal opinion that Beyonce should have won instead. Obviously he has no respect or concern for the winner.

In an ideal world we would say that sex and gender do not play such an important role in shaping people's statuses. However, in the world we live in they do. Therefore at the MTV Awards ceremony we are dealing with a scene in which the merits of a woman are denied by a man -- who tries to impose another woman. It is worth underlining that the man in question is not the authority who decides whom the awards go to, but he completely ignores that.

I believe that the authority he thinks to own is derived not only from his previous success as a singer, but also and mainly from his gender status. Because he si a man, he thinks that he is entitled to decide upon which of the women ought to receive the award. This is a clear piece of evidence supporting androcentrism, but also patriarchy. Through his gesture the man does nothing but put himself at the centre of everyone's attention. Symbolically, his is a declaration that the male is the central value of society hence having the authority to declare and to impose what he considers to have most value.

It is true that the award remained in Taylor's possession, but Kanye's gesture was such a blow that her morals were completely down and she was not able to continue her speech, feeling humiliated. In fact afterwards, Beyonce who receives another award will call her out on the stage to have her moment. In the scene under discussion we are dealing with a behavior pattern in which a man humiliates a woman regardless of the special circumstances they find themselves in.