Remember...Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astair did,
but backwards and in high heels...
Rape of the Feminine
When looking at a patriarchal religion, one thing becomes glaringly obvious. The female nature is either absent, debased or vilified. What female members that are allowed to remain are often victims of the more powerful members of the male persuasion or are cast in less powerful non-leading roles to be held up to the female population as ideal models of feminine modesty. By doing this, women lose a primal role-model, one capable of letting woman-kind realize her true potential both as a woman, mother and perhaps as a wife (if she so choses). We can see examples of this debasement in mythos as early as the Greek era when heros and Gods regularly kidnapped, raped or robbed women and Goddesses in the interest of promoting a social world order.
When Apollo chases Daphne and refuses to listen to Her admonistrations of "NO!", we can see how low a woman's right to choose is regarded by a male dominated system. She calls out to Her father to save Her who in turns does not remove Her from the situation, but turns Her into a tree: open to Apollo's embrace and the plucking of Her leaves. We see that in the end, Woman will succumb to the power of Man in one way or another, so why should She fight it? This is a powerful message to those who take heed of it. Myths and stores are oftentimes used to promtote social and moralistic codes. What becomes apparant is not just an explanation of how nature works, but what roles a woman is expected to play within her society. We do not see Goddesses going out and raping men on a regular basis. When men are captured these men always find a way to escape. Women are never so lucky.
We see this theme again and again in our popular fairy-tales and the revival of Greek myths and legends. The Little Mermaid (from Grimm...)pines and dies when her love is untrue. Woman cannot survive without a husband. How can she be portraid as strong and independant when even in the stories we tell to our children She is shown to be only able to exist if there is a man to protect Her. Even more disturbing is the old tales of the Silkies, women and men who donn the skins of seals like overcoats to live in the sea and take them off to go onto the land. The stories always show a man (either divorced, widowed or just in lust) who comes across a silkie skin and keeps it to blackmail the female owner to return with him to be his wife. Sobbing and pleading have no effect, as her cries are superceeded by his desire to own this supernatural and exotic creature. Many years go by, children are had and the woman cooks-cleans-and cares for the children all the while searching for her silkie skin. The end of the stories always resolve with her finding it and returning to the sea, deserting husband and children so she could have her freedom. Sometimes she looks back with regret, but more often than not never once regrets returning to the sea.
Within this type of story, we see how man captures his wife by stealing her skin, perhaps free-will or youth, for the promise of serving him and bearing his children. She serves in this role while continuing to search for her lost youth and dreams, and when finding it remembers who she is and returns to what is lost. By lying to the feminine, with false promises or just the use of violence, we cause woman to be burdened with social expectations that she may not yet be ready to accept. Not all women want to be wives and mothers, but within these stories we see that what she want is irrevelant to what the man wants...a bearer of children and someone to cook for him. Her dreams and freedom are placed on hold or ignored in the interest of what patriarchy desires, twisted tho it may be.
In the rape of Persephone, we see the Greek explanation of why we have the seasons. What is missed or overlooked is why does the girl have to be raped/stolen for the seasons to be created? Why does Zeus allow this horrendous crime to be commited and why is the knowledge withheld from Persphones mother: Demeter? It is believed that the concept of Persephone is much older than the Patriarchal Greeks and Romans and harkens back to a more matriarchal system. Persephone once went down to bring peace to the dead of Her own free will. She went willingly and happily and returned every year to Her mother so Demeter could start the harvests growing. It was a natural progression of life to death to life. What happened to the story so that the God of the Dead had to capture Persophone and "force" Her into the relms of the dead and "trick" Her into eating pomegrante seeds? Why did this very different story come into being? With the advent of Patriarchy, the old social order had to be changed. The Goddess could no longer be afforded such a high status and had to be reduced in social standing. Hence, Persephone's rape and Demeter's wanderings to find Her missing daughter. Might makes right and since woman is the weaker sex, even the Goddess must succumb to the Gods.
Woman's sexuality is often the center of patriarchal attacks. It is She that is the seducer, She that tempted Adam and it is She that caused "original sin". Nothing sums up the belief that a woman and sexuality should not exist more than the Judeo-Christian belief system and other masculine religions such as Muslem. Women harken back to a more Goddess driven faith, full of reproduction and creativity. The easiest way to make an old religion unpopular is to call it "evil" or "unclean". Stories are created and circulated to show what happens when someone disobeys divinity and what the consequences are. The male dominated religions do not want their women to recall who and what they once were, so create dogmas and social laws to keep the feminine in very tight check. What once was regarded as being "holy" (such as menstral flows) are recast as being "unclean" and necessating seclusion and purification. Raised within such confines, it is no wonder women begin to look upon themselves as being unfit vessels worthy only of contempt and never dreaming of reclaiming their once existing equality.
Today, women are struggling to demand equal recognition of their sex. Motherhood is no longer being cast as a womenly duty, but as a choice of free-will requiring mutual agreement between the parties. It is still an upward fight. She is reclaiming her body's right, but often at the expense of living and fighting in a male driven world. To succeed, she has to deny her right to be feminine and takes up destructive male dominated traits. The creative path is often lost with the chaotic blast of destruction and so we all lose. What has to happen is the reclaiming of the female as being equal to the male. Both have to exist, creation and destruction together, so the world can continue to exist. Learn this for yourself. Seek recognition for who you are. Take pride in what you are. Choose for yourself what path your destiny will take. If you have to sacrifice something, make sure you can live with the decision. What you lose may just cost us all our future.
To flip through the pages of my BOS faster...
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Brightest of Blessings