This week on The Tea, we sit down with one-woman powerhouse Jameela Jamil to dismantle some of the most deeply held assumptions about patriarchy, power, and who it truly serves.

In this urgent and unflinching episode, we challenge the idea that patriarchy primarily targets women. Jameela argues instead that it is a system engineered to subjugate men — for war, dangerous labour, and disposability — while convincing them that domination equals power. The real trick? Convincing men that women are the enemy, so they never see who is truly exploiting them.

And yet, the same system that treats men as expendable turns women into objects to be endlessly edited, infantilised, and erased. 

Women are trained to erase themselves — surgically, financially, and emotionally — to serve predatory desires and impossible ideals. From fashion week to facelifts, the message is clear: disappear, stay small, stay young — or become irrelevant.

We unpack

⚖️ Patriarchy: an extraction system — men as disposable bodies for war and labour

⚖️ Division as strategy — why solidarity between men and women threatens power

⚖️ The beauty industry as erasure — self-mutilation sold as “self-care”

⚖️ Youthification & ageing — why self-knowing older women terrify patriarchy

⚖️ Economic resistance — how withholding money can reclaim power

⚖️ Self-knowledge as threat — when women know themselves, power is exposed

Jameela argues that, while power is slipping from our hands, a narrow window remains to reclaim it — not through placards alone, but through refusal, solidarity, and organised economic withdrawal. 

As she puts it: “Men need to wake up and realise that we are all being screwed by the same system. And you would liberate yourselves by liberating us.”

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Myriam Francois is wearing a Christmas jumper provided by Solidarity Sleigh: www.solidaritysleigh.com  : 100% profits from these jumpers go directly to PAL Commission for War Crimes, Justice, Reparations & Return — one of the oldest Palestinian-led advocacy institutions in exile. They serve not only to secure accountability but full Palestinian rights, including getting land back. You can learn more about PAL Commission at: www.palcommission.com 

AUDIO CREDITS

Presenter–Producer: Dr. Myriam François

Guest: Jameela Jamil

Senior Producer: Sara Farolfi

Producer: Nadège Bizimungu

Assistant Producer: Poppy Jacobs

Video Editor: Max Bubnov

An MPWR Productions show.

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