[1][2][3] The concept postulates that in heteropatriarchal societies, cisgender heterosexual men generally occupy the highest positions of power in society, causing women (including transgender women), non-binary people, transgender men, and other LGBT people to experience the bulk of social oppression in relation to gender and sexuality.
[5] Heteropatriarchy is a facet of popular feminist analysis used to explain modern hierarchical social structure, which is dependent upon, and includes, the perspective of gender roles, based on a system of interlocking forces of power and oppression.
It is said to be commonly understood, in this context, that men typically occupy the highest positions of power and women experience the bulk of social oppression.
Research by Evelyn Nakano Glenn postulates that Ancient China is an example that confirms this, being a society having male emperors with dominant power, in which women and people who showed feminine traits were objectified and oppressed.
[1] The concept asserts that these Greeks had a critical role in the institutionalization of patriarchy in the Western world and also had an impact on Roman imperialism that furthered their gender/sex ideas into modern arrangements.
Synthesizing the work of such scholars is thought to demonstrate how the Greek gender/sex system, as mediated through Roman imperialism, gave rise to the gender/sex conceptions that birthed contemporary arrangements.