What do you believe is the meaning of women rising?
The Empowerment of Women Deserves Our Attention
Something is happening which is not getting the attention it deserves. Truly, I don’t believe it is an exaggeration to say that women rising will become transformational.
Maturation of Humankind
Through the ages men have held most of the power. In that regard we have something in common with other species. And, given the universality of competition and struggle, their position had a certain justification at least for a time. Certainly women had an effect but it was often behind the scenes. All men may have been created equal, but too often it seemed that we forgot that the word “men” is contained within the word “women”. And the times they are achangin’.
More Than a Movement
I can’t lay claim to having a perfect history of the women’s movement but there are things I have observed. The suffragettes gained the vote for women and then world events seem to have taken over as women came out in force for the war effort of World War II. The clock could not be turned back. But it seemed that it was effective birth control which had a stunning effect as women began to control their own destiny in ways not seen before. And the movement is spreading across the globe. Sally Armstrong, in her book Uprising: A New Age is Dawning for Every Mother’s Daughter, documents the meaning and breadth of what is happening.
Myths Recognizing Women
My love of mythology led me to look more closely at what was happening. In myths, time and again, women showed they had extraordinary power and my attention was grasped by the pervasive myth of mermaids. There were a few mermen but mostly mermaids. They were often seductive and powerful in their own particular way. For me that connected with the witch trials. Men were both seduced by and threatened by the power of women which comes in many forms. Their perception of threat is demonstrated in the war on women which is currently manifest in the attacks on their autonomy and women’s health and reproductive care. It is so thinly disguised.
No Longer a Possibility
And now at last the power and place for women is being manifested in ways which cannot be ignored. I could not resist creating a way to display it in the mythological context of Gaia’s Majesty. Majesty is a descriptive term for the goddess which is our planet but also refers to the beauty and power of women. But it is essential to see that women are coming to power but not with the intent of displacing men. Replacement of tyranny with a new form is hardly progress. It surely must represent a coming to power and partnership.
In the interest of the development of that partnership I am suggesting the Masculinist Movement in which men will examine themselves and the male culture. It is time and there is need for men to better understand what they do and what has been happening to them. It would help foster effect partnership between men and women and should go a long way to calming our most destructive impulses and help us yield to a magnificent transformation.
Do you see this movement as transformative? If you do (or don’t) why?