Sound crazy?[I've been admiring the alchemical images over at this site. This one is the hand of the philosophers by J. J. Hollandus, Vienna, 1773.]
I've been thinking about the dearth of women among the ranks of the hipster gurus. Ken Wilbur, Daniel Pinchbeck, Andrew Harvey, Rob Brezny - these are the guys I'm thinking of. Where is the connection between guys like these and the thealogians I admire, women like Dianne Sylvan, Stephanie Rose Bird, Starhawk, Carol Christ, Z Budapest, Diane Stein, Susun Weed? You may think I'm comparing apples and oranges, men who build world systems vs. women who write down the Goddess. But I'm thinking of anyone who could count as part of the alternative, progressive spiritual turning. Where are the women? The thinkers, the visionaries, the web crawling mavens. No - the question isn't where are the women? The question is, why does the guru hero-worship belong to men, and why don't those men discuss the women's ideas and influence? It's like two different worlds.
I know the women are off having visions, making art, writing books, and otherwise changing the world. You can't really afford to give a shit about what the big boys are doing. But what can I say? I want a little glory, press, even shero-worship for the women. I want a woman to be called "the most radical thinker" and "greatest philosopher" of our time. Can you imagine?
7 comments:
I'm honored to be listed in such exalted company. :)
~D. Sylvan
(who got here via your feed on LiveJournal)
Hi, Dianne! I definitely think of you as among the younger generation of Goddess thealogians. Actually, when I read The Circle Within I assumed you were much older - so much for my ageist assumptions! I was delighted to learn how young you are with, what, two books already out?
Also, your website is gorgeous. Someday I'm going to pay for a redesign of this place.
Wow, thank you. :) I made it myself. Dreamweaver and I are like *this.*
People always seem to be surprised at how old I am. That's why I can't wait to hit 30; people tend not to take you seriously in discussions of religion if you're in your 20's.
I'm with you here, Inanna! I think the same thing is happening now as has happened throughout history--the women are being ignored, written out. On Medusa Coils,http://medusacoils.blogspot.com, we posted an article a few days ago refuting an article in the progressive journal, Tikkun, that appropriates Goddesswomen's contributions to religious thought but credits them to other people/philosophies and at the same time disses Goddess/feminist/pagan thought. Name of post is "Article Double-Whammies Goddess."
I've noticed that on our discussion forum the women hold their own with the men. There does not seem to be any male dominance thing going on. So, I wonder if the internet isn't a medium that lends itself to a certain egalitarianism?
Diane - people also tend not to take you seriously even if you are in your thirties, but look a lot younger. :) (Talking about frequently being mistaken for 10 years younger in my case.)
Unfortunately, agism can be a problem no matter the age.
Right on re: male cultural hipsters. I was thinking this just the other day. Favorite pastime of late - looking at the bibliographies for the hipster books. Daniel Pinchbeck's 2012 was a kick and I liked it a lot, but the bibliography was a smorgasbord of dude's names. Same thing with mythologians and archetypal psychology - Joseph Campbell, Robert Graves, James Hillman, Daniel Deardorff, Robert Bly, etc. etc. Of course there are strong wonderful women like Marion Woodman, but I've been more than a little depressed at the litany of men's names in the backs of the books I've been reading.
Would love to see a lady Rob Brezny grace the wave of pronoiac Burning Man-esque counterculture.
Post a Comment