Cornelius, Michaelyn2026-10-202026-10-202026https://hdl.handle.net/10566/25703The desire to be recognised as a human being is universal, yet patriarchy dictates the terms of this recognition by imposing that bodies be recognised firstly as gendered subjects before they are recognised as human beings. This thesis seeks to explain how patriarchy functions as an all permeating system of power. More particularly, within women-loving-women relationships, especially in its unconscious form, in their everyday rhythms and rituals. In this investigation I employ a qualitative approach, with daily diaries and interviews as the method of data collection, to enable an in-depth exploration of participants’ behaviours and innermost thoughts on a daily basis. This methodology enables me to distil the nuanced subtleties of the power relations within women-loving-women relationships; it specifically allows an exploration of the intrinsic embeddedness within these relationships. A fundamental point of this study is to unveil the insidious unconscious gendered practices within women-loving-women relationships. The daily diary methodology allows for the unveiling of these moments. To show the insidious nature of patriarchy, I include heterosexual couples as research participants. This comparative approach is crucial to fully understanding patriarchy, as a pervasive all-encompassing system of power, and that its logic finds resonance in both the heterosexual context and female same-sex relationships. In confronting these sites of intervention, I deploy the work of Engels, Althusser, Foucault and Butler. These theoretical tools construct the foundation for my explanatory apparatus to investigate the quiet and hidden manifestations of a patriarchal logic, more specifically within women-loving women relationships.enFamilyGenderHailingPatriarchyPowerThesis