What is the antonym of "distaff"?

What is the antonym of "distaff"? It's not in my dictionary, but it must exist. Right?

edit By distaff I mean, "the female equivalent of something typically male", not just "female" generally. I could write "Joan Jett is the distaff Adam Ant" or "Adam Ant is the [what?] Joan Jett".

further edit no cracks about my musical ignorance.

Solution 1:

This is really just General Reference, but from Merriam-Webster...

sword side noun
the father's side of a family — compare distaff

spear side noun
: paternal; the spear side of the family — compare distaff

distaff noun
1 a : a staff for holding the flax, tow, or wool in spinning; b : woman's work or domain
2 : the female branch or side of a family

I suppose Joan Jett is the distaff Adam Ant means the female equivalent of, but although it's perfectly comprehensible, it's not at all a standard usage. If OP is happy with non-standard usages, he might as well go for Adam Ant is the puppy dog tail Joan Jet. Otherwise, male equivalent.

EDIT: I'm slightly ashamed to admit I'd never heard of Joan Jett until I came back to this answer the following day. Now somewhat wiser, I have to say that OP's usage looks exceptionally unlikely (she couldn't be further from the normal associations of distaff! :). Maybe a better way to say it...

Adam Ant is the warlock to Joan Jet's witch

Solution 2:

Distaff, in this context, is defined as "the female branch of the family":

distaff

noun

1a stick or spindle on to which wool or flax is wound for spinning.

2 [as modifier] of or concerning women:

marriage is still the passport to distaff power

Phrases

the distaff side

the female side of a family:

the family title could be passed down through the distaff side

As stated in the full definition, the term for the male branch of the family is spear.

The dictionary definition for spear refers to "the spear side", but doesn't mention spear as meaning 'of or concerning men'.

I guess you could say that when talking about family trees, the antonym of distaff is spear, but outside of that context, there isn't an antonym.

Solution 3:

While they call upon different linguistic roots, and have a focus that is somewhat genital (as does spear), there are several male-female pairs, such as

yang (male) as compared to yin (female)

and

lingam (male) in contrast/complement to yoni (female)

The comparison could be rendered "Adam Ant is the yang [or lingam] version of Joan Jett".

A punchier approach would be "Adam Ant is the yang [or lingam] Joan Jett".