DOMINATOR AND PARTNERSHIP MODELS

Seven Basic, Interactive, and Mutually Supporting Differences as proposed by Riane Eisler in "Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body - New Paths to Power and Love"

GENDER RELATIONS
DOMINATOR MODEL
The male is ranked over the female, and the traits and social values stereotypically associated with "masculinity" are valued more highly than those associated with "femininity."*
PARTNERSHIP MODEL
Females and males are equally valued in the governing ideology, and stereotypically "feminine" values such as nurturance and nonviolence can be given operational primacy.

* Please note that the terms "femininity" and "masculinity" as used here correspond to the sexual stereotypes socially constructed for a dominator society (wherein masculinity is equated with dominance and conquest, and femininity with passivity and submissiveness) and not to any inherent female or male traits.

VIOLENCE
DOMINATOR MODEL
A high degree of social violence and abuse is institutionalized, ranging from wife-and-child beating, rape, and warfare to psychological abuse by "superiors" in the family, the work place, and society at large.
PARTNERSHIP MODEL
Violence and abuse are not structural components of the system, so that boys and girls can be taught nonviolent conflict resolution. Accordingly, there is a low degree of social violence.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE
DOMINATOR MODEL
The social structure is predominantly hierarchic* and authoritarian, with the degree of authoritarianism and hierarchism roughly corresponding to the degree of male dominance.
PARTNERSHIP MODEL
The social structure is more generally egalitarian, with difference (be it based on gender, race, religion, sexual preference, or belief system) not automatically associated with superior or inferior social and/or economic status.

*As used here, the term hierarchic refers to what we may call a domination hierarchy, or the type of hierarchy inherent in a dominator model of social organization, based on fear and the threat of pain. Such hierarchies should be distinguished from a second type of hierarchy, which may be called an actualization hierarchy. An example from biology is the hierarchy of molecules, cells, and organs in the body: a progression toward a higher and more complex level of function. In social systems, hierarchies of actualization go along with the equation of power with the power to create and to elicit from oneself and others our highest potential.

SEXUALITY
DOMINATOR MODEL
Coercion is a major element in mate selection, sexual intercourse, and procreation, with the erotization of dominance and/or the repression of erotic pleasure through fear. Primary functions of sex are male procreation and male sexual release.
PARTNERSHIP MODEL
Mutual respect and freedom of choice for both females and males are characteristic of mate selection, sexual intercourse, and procreation. Primary functions of sex are the bonding between female and male through the give and take of mutual pleasure, and the reproduction of species.

SPIRITUALITY
DOMINATOR MODEL
Man and spirituality are ranked over woman and nature, justifying their domination and exploitation. The powers that govern the universe are imaged as punitive entities, be it as a detached father whose orders must be obeyed on pain of terrible punishments, a cruel mother, or demons and monsters who delight in arbitrarily tormenting humans, and hence must be placated.
PARTNERSHIP MODEL
The spiritual dimension of woman's and nature's life-giving and sustaining powers is recognized and highly valued, as are these powers in men. Spirituality is linked with empathy and equity, and the divine is imaged through myths and symbols of unconditional love.

PLEASURE AND PAIN
DOMINATOR MODEL
The infliction or threat of pain is integral to systems maintenance. The pleasures of touch in both sexual and parent-child relations are associated with domination and submission, and thus also with pain, be it in the so-called carnal love of sex or in submission to a "loving" deity. The infliction and/or suffering of pain are sacralized.
PARTNERSHIP MODEL
Human relations are held together more by pleasure bonds than by fear of pain. The pleasures of caring behaviours are socially supported, and pleasure is associated with empathy for others. Caretaking, lovemaking, and other activities that give pleasure are considered sacred.

POWER AND LOVE
DOMINATOR MODEL
The highest power is the power to dominate and destroy, symbolized since remote antiquity by the lethal power of the blade. "Love" and "passion" are frequently used to justify violent and abusive actions by those who dominate, as in the killing of women by men when they suspect them of sexual independence, or in "holy wars" said to be waged out of love for a deity that demands obeisance from all.
PARTNERSHIP MODEL
The highest power is the power to give, nurture, and illuminate life, symbolized since remote antiquity by the holy chalice or grail. Love is recognized as the highest expression of the evolution of life on our planet, as well as the universal unifying power.