Friday, November 18, 2005
Women, Wolfs & Masculine Castration: The revenge of the non-fact
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
I started reading "Mujeres Que Corren Con Lobos" by Clarissa Piconla Estés. It talks about the intuitive woman, the sexual, cyclic one, and the ages of women, their wisdom and creative fire. I know that feeling; I know what she is talking about—at the end of the day, I am a woman, am I not? However, I think that this kind of ultra-feminist literature creates more stereotypes than we need.
Let us do an exercise and think about the intuitive man, the sexual and cyclic one, his ages, wisdom and creative fire. I must confess that this idea provokes in me a conflict between these characteristics and my stereotyped beliefs about them. Men hide this intuitive, sexual and cyclic depth behind a stereotype they did not ask for. What happens to men on Pincola’s wolfs race? Are these the evil beings that have profaned the earth, destroying it? Where does the archetype come from? Do not Hitler and Mary Tudor dance on the same dancing floor? Or, do not Ghandi, Shamans and Pablo Neruda embrace Frida Kahlo, Barbara Wood and Mother Teresa? Where is the institutional order of gender these days?
The large impact caused by this book through workshops and the confirmation of a whole dogmatic doctrine about women makes me think about the relation between Hysteria and Feminism. They have in common the grief because of castration, the longing to recover something that has been taken away. On the other hand, the psyche derives from certain zeitgeist... Again: where is the institutionalism of Gender?
I started reading "Mujeres Que Corren Con Lobos" by Clarissa Piconla Estés. It talks about the intuitive woman, the sexual, cyclic one, and the ages of women, their wisdom and creative fire. I know that feeling; I know what she is talking about—at the end of the day, I am a woman, am I not? However, I think that this kind of ultra-feminist literature creates more stereotypes than we need.
Let us do an exercise and think about the intuitive man, the sexual and cyclic one, his ages, wisdom and creative fire. I must confess that this idea provokes in me a conflict between these characteristics and my stereotyped beliefs about them. Men hide this intuitive, sexual and cyclic depth behind a stereotype they did not ask for. What happens to men on Pincola’s wolfs race? Are these the evil beings that have profaned the earth, destroying it? Where does the archetype come from? Do not Hitler and Mary Tudor dance on the same dancing floor? Or, do not Ghandi, Shamans and Pablo Neruda embrace Frida Kahlo, Barbara Wood and Mother Teresa? Where is the institutional order of gender these days?
The large impact caused by this book through workshops and the confirmation of a whole dogmatic doctrine about women makes me think about the relation between Hysteria and Feminism. They have in common the grief because of castration, the longing to recover something that has been taken away. On the other hand, the psyche derives from certain zeitgeist... Again: where is the institutionalism of Gender?
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