Patriarchy is like the elephant in the room that we don’t talk about, but how could it not affect the planet radically when it’s the superstructure of human society.

DiFranco frames patriarchy as an omnipresent but often unspoken organizing principle—“the elephant in the room”—that shapes social life so thoroughly it becomes easy to overlook. By calling it the “superstructure of human society,” she suggests patriarchy is not merely a set of individual attitudes but a systemic framework that influences institutions, culture, and everyday relationships. The quote links gendered power to planetary-scale consequences: if a society is built on domination, hierarchy, and silencing, those logics can extend to economics, politics, and even how humans treat the environment. The rhetorical question underscores her claim that such a foundational structure cannot help but have radical effects.