I first saw a version of the feminist protest fist symbol on a t shirt that said, "I'd rather be fighting the man." I really wanted it, but didn't have the money to buy it at the time. If I was making a new version, I'd pair the symbol with "I'd rather be fighting the patriarchy." It's a system, not an individual. Feminist Protest Fist - I'd Rather Be Fighting the Patriarchy, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers, t shirts, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Patriarchy is also not a universal system. There are many matrilineal cultures still existing in the world, even with the global imperial capitalist missionary patriarchy actively working to squash them into submission. Patriarchy with patrilineal descent is not the natural state of humanity. It is one possibility, that is actually pretty rare historically. Fighting the patriarchy is not futile. Figure 1. M
The Mercury symbol is one of the symbols that has been proposed to represent nonbinary gender. Mars is traditionally the male symbol. Venus is female. Originally the Mercury symbol was a representation of Mercury's staff with its two entwined snakes. Mercury was a male god to the Romans, their version of Hermes, but snakes have represented the divine feminine since much further back than their co-opting by the Roman patriarchy. For example, the Egyptian Goddess Wadjet was depicted as a snake entwined around a papyrus stem as early as the Predynastic Era (prior to 3100 BCE). Someone crossed the staff sometime in the 11th century to look more Christian, which also makes the symbol look more feminine. Nonbinary, a mixture of masculine and feminine traits. Mercury, nonbinary symbol, original painting by Echoing Multiverse available via Saatchi Art . Stickers, buttons, and other merch available through RedBubble or Fine Art America . Solar System Symbols. Source: NASA Painte