Gylany

  • An antonym to tyranny
  • The contrasting social structure to androcracy
  • A society employing the partnership model, as opposed to the dominator model, as described in cultural transformation theory

Coined by Riane Eisler in The Chalice and the Blade (1987):

To describe the real alternative to a system based on the ranking of half of humanity over the other, I propose the new term gylany. Gy derives from the Greek root word gyne, or "woman." An derives from andros, or "man." The letter l between the two has a double meaning. In English, it stands for the linking of both halves of humanity, rather than, as in androcracy, their ranking. In Greek, it derives from the verb lyein or lyo, which in turn has a double meaning: to solve or resolve (as in analysis) and to dissolve or set free (as in catalysis). In this sense, the letter l stands for the resolution of our problems through the freeing of both halves of humanity from the stultifying and distorting rigidity of roles imposed by the domination hierarchies inherent in androcratic systems.

Gylany