Dinosaurs beware! The feminists are coming.
Men, heroes, archetypally go out in the world and take on dragons, armies, pirates, rescue damsels, explore foreign lands, build empires, and launch crusades. It is the way of the hero, the masculine, to learn and grow through external challenges.
Women, heroines, archetypically heal the sick, create life, nurture, love, celebrate and teach. It is the way of the heroine to learn and grow through personal challenges, issues of relationship and of the heart.
Masculine energy finds its greatness by breaking free of the everyday while feminine energy manifests its greatness by fully connecting to the everyday and the divinity to be found there.
I am not to say that a woman’s place is gathered around the hearth and the man’s is to be out hunting and exploring the wider world. Such a simplistic conclusion assumes that a woman is totally feminine and a man solely masculine. Each of is has an intricate mix of both energies. We are each masculine and feminine, ying and yang. Which is why it insults all of us when the feminine attributes of humanity are disrespected.
Feminism should never have been about giving women the opportunity to prove that they could be heroes and do what men do best, just as well as men. Unfortunately, however we had to combat the erroneous assumption that women were both different to and lesser than our male counterparts. Now that it is [mostly] recognised that women and men are equal it is time to move on to the real role of feminism; equal recognition, respect and reverence for feminine attributes, roles, decisions, contributions, stories and perspectives.
So to those people who still believe raising children is less important than spending 8 hours a day in an office cubical – you are a dinosaur. The face of feminism is changing. No longer are women who rally and burn their bras the iconic feminists. Today feminists are just as likely men as women and they effect change on a personal level, one person, company or situation at a time. Dinosaurs beware! The feminists are coming.
2 comments
I don’t know if I agree with this. I think feminism wasn’t really about encouraging women to act like men, but rather about acknowledging that women shouldn’t be pigeon-holed into certain roles just because of their gender. It wasn’t about saying that working was more important than raising children–the point was more: women should have alternatives if that’s not what they want.
And I think a lot of women *do* want other things. I know I do. I don’t identify at all with the heroine you described above, who is nurturing and caring and about personal challenges and all that. And it’s not because I want to outdo the men or be a man or anything like that or that I think there’s anything wrong with being “feminine.” It’s just not me. At all. I like working. I like external challenges. While I do not judge and am even happy for women who stay home with their children and who enjoy that, I know that that is something I personally would never find satisfying. A big part of my decision to marry my husband was knowing that he supported my choice to continue working and that he is the sort of man who wants to be an equal partner in raising our children. He’s not going to expect me to do all the nurturing and tending the sick. Actually, he’s much better at stuff like that than I am.
I guess what bothers me is this idea is that women/feminine energy is like this and men/masculine energy is like that. While I agree 100% that for a long time, things associated with women have been discredited and devalued simply because they are associated with women, and we need to work to attribute value back to those things, I think it’s still important that we try to dissociate from gender stereotypes. It’s harmful to men and women both who don’t identify or act as society expects them to.
Why can’t people just be people and do what they like, regardless of their gender?
Katie Thank you for a fantastic comment! I think you misunderstood my point, somewhat. I total agree with you gender stereotypes are harmful and inappropriate, which is why I was looking at the feminine and masculine energy. I was using the terms Masculine and Feminine in their most expansive sense, borderline spiritual. (David Deida and Ken Wilber are resources for this perspective) And I clarified that the concepts of masculine and feminine energy degenerate to stereotypes when viewed too simply and pointed out we all contain both types of energy. The archetypes I listed are available to, and manifest in, both men and women. I don’t expect women to only manifest the feminine attributes, in fact that assumption is at the heart of sexism.
My point is that masculine and feminine energies are equal and complimentary. Than in the second waves of feminine women focused on doing what men did (sometimes to the extreme) to prove a point and break the mold. It worked, too; women experience little discrimination entering all but the most masculine of roles (mining, CEOs, mechanic). This mass exodus to masculinity also added weight to the devaluing of femininity when it appeared [to men?] as though women valued masculinity at the expense of femininity too. What is only just happening now, and the crux of my post, is exactly what you asked for; we are working to attribute value to those things associated with feminine energy (in my terms) and women (your terms).
I think we are actually much closer to the same page than we think. Except your last line – I think gender is to be celebrated.
Thanks for such a wonderful comment! xxx