I have been looking at the world and studying the way things are changing. Feminism was a thing that was catching my eye alot. Over the years I have fought for women's rights and defended ladies actions when needed. I have also criticized actions of some women over the years as going to far. And I have reached a point that I can't say that I am a feminist anymore.
Now I haven't stop fighting for women, that part hasn't changed at all. But I want there to be equality with the male and female genders. I want to remove the walls placed to separate the male and female aspects. I want equality and that is what I fight for.
Feminism has developed into something I don't like. Feminism is now a qualification to be associated with certain groups. Feminism is being pushed into non-associated groups and changing the original groups mentality. I don't like it and I think someone has to speak about it. And that someone is going to be me.
Wicca has always had a large female base to it. thanks impart due to the catholic church refusing to let women preach. Women needed to have their personal beliefs expressed and this was a way to do it. And then it turned into a cause. Dianic wicca is a women only group. What about equality? Dianics started to do to men what was done to them. Revenge became a driving force in this group. Their coven's name is the "Susan B. Anthony" coven. Named after a historically important woman that fought for women's right to vote.
Recently at a wiccan event, a dianic leader placed a sign forbidding transgendered men from entering her women's only spiritual event. I think this put paganism in a bad light. Are you so angry with men that anything male is rejected from your group. Just as bad as the Vatican leadership being of men only. What is gained from this action? Nothing absolutely nothing.
AT a free-thinkers meeting some women were calling themselves "Secular feminists". Why did these ladies have to add feminism to being secular? This was an atheist free-thinker meeting. And I know quite a few Atheists that fight for equality between the sexes. Atheists are generally more open minded about sexuality than most religious people. These ladies were also pushing for rules and regulations in how people conducted and represented themselves. Some rules that were not needed, were being pushed. They were telling people not to wear fake jewelry. How can any decoration worn on the body be considered fake jewelry is beyond me. So these select feminist women were trying to enforce a dress code. Sounds like Catholic schools and uniforms to me. What about freedom of expression? They are free thinkers.. but are being told that they have to follow certain guidelines. I believe that to be counter productive.
Back to paganism, I have been seeing the continual obsession of going back to the 'goddess'. Hold on, what about the god? Am I to forget about Cernunnos? Has paganism become so female driven that it has lost it's way? Have they forgotten about balance? Have they forgotten about fighting for equal rights? Have they forgotten that the female needs a male to have a child?
I am trying to find more male pagans, and it is hard to do. I want to reach out and balance paganism with men that understand the need for balance. Men that know women are equals and partners in life. But yet I can go down and list of pagans and it is over 80% female.
This morning I was reading a book review and it mentioned feminism 4 times in the short introduction of the book. 4 times.... And this has made me start thinking about how feminism has seemed to lost its way. Has feminism overtook paganism and started to affect how many women see the world.?
I am no longer a Feminist seeking women's rights. I am an Equalist seeking equal rights between the two sexes.
Why is 'feminism' such a hard concept? If you had to think about what you wear, who you will be with, what kind of drink you have (or how many) and how you will get home safely, then maybe you could understand the culture we are brought up in. Women are taught how not to get attacked by men, and men are not taught enough about how to be kind and empathetic towards others. That is our society. This is why there is a feminist movement. Women speak out against the culture of what a woman's place "should" be, and for that, they get the label of "femi-nazi" or "bitch", "whore" and lots of worse things. Feminism isn't a dirty word. It's a way of purging the imbalance that is viewed as the normal manner of the world. And men who balk at that idea tend to long for the good old days where women knew their place, leaned on the guidance and strength of the men in their lives, and didn't seek out one another to make their own voices heard. Now that women are asserting their individuality and their independence, men feel threatened and attack them for wanting more than they "need". Women are drawn to paganism because they are able to assert their own power within these groups. Men have all of religious patriarchy of the last 1000 years to back them up, so why fight against women's groups? Why be argumentative towards their needs and desires? Why seek to encourage them to bring balance to their lives by insisting that they "need" a god? You can't be an equalist seeking equal rights between the sexes while standing on the male side of the scale and insisting it's the women who need to move to the center. Empathy. You need to learn some. Inviting "women born women" to a woman's only event is not about hatred towards men, or 'getting even', or punishing innocent men for the crimes of patriarchy. Those particular groups are about creating a safe, empathetic space for women who have been battered, abused, manipulated, shamed, and degraded by the men in their lives, and they need to be in sacred space with women in order to tell their stories, receive healing and empathy, and to empty themselves of all the pain and hurt from their experiences and finally move past it and become whole.
ReplyDeleteUnless you have ever been programmed in such a way, (like leaving a cult, for example) you will not understand the transformation process that must occur, and you will probably continue to look at the existence of these women's only groups as hostile towards men, merely in place in order to deny entry to men, and to be exclusionary towards men. Again, society is geared this way already, and women need refuge from it. You wouldn't understand if you can't empathize, and maybe if you offered to be a sentinel, a guardian of sorts to these women, instead of getting your feelings hurt because you aren't included in a woman's healing ritual that is highly personal and would probably not be able to be completed in the presence of men, maybe you could start to understand what it's like to be a woman these days, with all of the efforts to block access to health care, private and personal decisions between doctors and women that have been upheld constitutionally for decades and now being stripped all across the country in the name of "men's interests" and the pretended "sanctity of life" of a zygote, and the tearing away of a woman's sovereignty the moment of ejaculation within her vagina, then MAYBE you could start to appreciate that it's not all about YOU, and your hurt feelings about not getting to stick your nose in every Dianic group, every ceremony that involves Goddess only invocation, and every instance of "imbalance" that you seem to have your eagle eye on within the Pagan community, and you could start showing your drive to bring balance and equality by maybe starting in your own back yard, and strive to get rid of that ridiculous clown Steve King, who represents your district in the U.S. House, and get more involved in actually solving the core of the problems women face, so that you can become a TRUE equalist, and not just drop empty words on a blog page somewhere.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I'm forced to conclude that the author of this blog knows absolutely zero about feminism, women, Paganism and the Susan B. Anthony coven. I KNOW a number of women who were in that coven at its inception, some I know very well. The coven was formed back in the '60's/early 70's when feminism was just beginning to sweep the country and much work needed to be done to gain equality for women. One was invited to join a highly prestigious international interfaith group; another is Starhawk who started Reclaiming and has done much for women; another is a very dear and close friend who was one of the first 3 or so students of Victor Anderson who started Feri and knows more about magick than anyone else on earth practically; another died recently after a long bout with Lyme's - at 14 she was gangraped by 16 Hell's Angels, miraculously survived, went back a year or 2 later, hunted them down and killed every single one - at FOURTEEN YEARS OLD! The judge let her off completely, told her to go home and take good care of herself. ALL of these women have been highly, highly responsible for laying the groundwork of Paganism. And you, Blue Sage, what have you contributed to Paganism...or life in general?
ReplyDeleteWomen still make less for every dollar than men, doing the same work; women are having to fight for the right to have an abortion if they choose to; women are still denigrated and humiliated in Congress, in the Senate and in the media. Rape is now treated as if it's the woman's fault. Blue Sage, if you don't know this, you know absolutely nothing because it's as plain as day what is happening to women. I'm old enough to remember fighting for women's rights the first time around; now I"m having to do it all over again. I can't think of one single group that has ever had to fight for their rights/equality TWO TIMES IN THE SAME DAMN LIFE TIME. I don't think you have much to teach anyone, I do think you have ALOT TO LEARN! But you probably won't, because you have dismissed women in general.
These are not the words of a teacher, these are the words of a man gorged on his own ego that desires people to see him as a teacher. If pagans read and tried to use this specific article for example, to affect their mentality, they would grow to be the same fundamentalists that have done so much harm to societies growth.
ReplyDeleteFeminism, like any movement or idea can be perverted for ones personal gain. That is a human flaw, not a feminist flaw. Any religion, political movement, civil rights movement, can be corrupted. Nothing is free of this, but BlueSage seems to be obsessed that feminism is attacking men and wanting to be put above men.
I am a man, I wear a goddess ring on my finger and NO god ring, why? Because i'm a man by natural birth. I need nothing but my body to be reminded of the god within us, but the ring reminds me of the goddess. It's not because I'm putting goddess above anything. Feminism is striving for equality on all levels, nothing more or less.
That is all I have to say.
Nonsence, what a great post and excellent piece of writing! You are so right in all you say. You are a great example of a secure, goddess-worshipping Pagan man, who is quite comfortable around intelligent, powerful women. Men like you are one of the reasons I stick with the Pagan community; whenever I hear a man speak as you have, it heals me just a bit more from a lifetime of nearly 60 years of abuse from men. There are so many fine men like yourself in the Pagan community (I'm married to one of the best)but unfortunately not all men who call themselves Pagan have a clue as to what it's really about, what our values are and even why they're Pagan. I think many of these men come here looking to put down intelligent, powerful, strong women and are extremely threatened by them. It would seem that Blue Sage is one of them, sadly.
ReplyDeleteStarted..Easy and Nonsence.....THANK YOU ALL.You know why.! Best blessings to you all. Kay Massey
ReplyDeleteI am so proud of "nonsense". I am now 66 and hope to live long enough to see that the majority of young men "get it". They are the hope of the future of our Earth and the rising consciousness of humanity. Secure in their maleness and true consorts of the Goddess, they will help bring about the next golden age on Earth. Anytime there is a rise on consciousness there are those that are afraid of change and want to stay on the level they are on. They don't want to change and grow out of fear perhaps, or their ego won't let them step back and let the divinity within guide them. They stick with the material aspects of a religion, the trappings, they make the tools the main purpose and think this is all there is to learn. That attitude is fundamentalism as fundy as the Bible bangers ever were. Hopefully with young men like "nonsense" this sort of man will become extinct as the dinosaurs.
ReplyDeleteOne more comment that I probably shouldn't say but it is digging at me. BlueSage, you say you are "trying" to meet more male pagans? I don't know where you are looking, there are plenty of men in all walks of life that serve the Old Ones. In my experience it is about 50/50 at any public gathering I have been to. Try coming to the Pagan Unity Festival in TN, or SpritQuest in NC, take some workshops and learn a few things in person. There are just as many pagan men as women, but if you come with an egotistical attitude they won't want to know you.
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