The topic of patriarchy has received little direct attention by geographers but it is
addressed in this paper as a central tenet of the structuring of urban social space.
Drawing on an outline of the various ways in which the city has been treated as a site
embodying patriarchal principles, the author teases out the heterosexist and white
cultural constructions that permeate our treatment of patriarchy, A call is made for
explicit attention to be paid to constructions of sexuality and “race”. The contributions
to these topics by lesbian feminists and black and African-American feminists are drawn
into a framework for a reinvigorated conceptualization of patriarchy. Two aspects of
empirical work carried out in Grand Rapids, MI, in 1989 are analyzed in relation to this
framework, namely living arrangements among low-income Anglo-American and African-American
women and the creation of a lesbian residential area. The paper concludes with an
assessment of the extent to which our constructions of “race”, gender, and sexuality help
us understand whether empirical changes in the social and spatial constitution of
households are challenging the patriarchal structuring of urban social space.
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