I’m not necessarily being defensive about the gender issue - there is a lot of progress being made and not all of it has been entirely for the benefit of elites. How does a liberal democracy emerge from such a system? Or socialism?

Which elites have dangled things in front of my nose, what are they offering that I MUST take? Could it be that hierarchy is an emergent system in a crisis - it helped with the Titanic after all. The notion that the nature of hierarchy itself is inherently bad seems to underpin a lot of what you argue - but surely it is one way groups of humans organise themselves. It’s not the only way, but could be the best way in a crisis and it could be the way most conducive to progress. Whether that is good or bad is a matter of perspective surely?