Tag: control of women

Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Women For Peace–Take To The Streets

This post was originally published on Nov. 19th, 2012

Sometimes we are told that domination and violence and war are innate in human nature; therefore, it is futile to protest war.  But this is not true.

I oppose war because I oppose all forms of power-over, domination, and violence.  As a radical feminist and ecofeminist I believe that power can and should always be power-with, the power that nurtures the growth and development of self and others.  The power of Goddess/God is always and everywhere power-with and not ever power-over. 

Are violence and domination innate in human nature?  We have been told that we are the “naked ape” descended from “apes” who, like the chimpanzees with whom we share 98% of our DNA, were male dominant and violent. Do we, then, have any hope not to be violent and dominant?

Franz de Waal’s studies of the other “ape” species that shares 98% of our DNA, the bonobo, debunks this popular myth.  The bonobo live in peaceful matriarchal clans, and their response to conflict is to rub each others’ genitals until the desire to fight goes away.  They are living proof that species very much like us can choose to “make love not war.” De Waal says that the most we can conclude from studies of our ape relatives is that ancestors of human beings, chimpanzees, and bonobos had the capacity to evolve toward dominance enforced by violence, or toward more peaceful ways of resolving conflict.

Continue reading “Legacy of Carol P. Christ: Women For Peace–Take To The Streets”

The Guessing Game by Vibha Shetiya

VibaMy husband, who is American, first introduced me to the word “negging.” Although I hadn’t come across it before setting foot in America, I soon came to realize it was a concept that knew few cultural bounds. The Urban Dictionary (UD) defines negging as “[when] you use remarks to tap into female insecurity; shake their confidence…neg is a negative remark wrapped in a back-handed compliment.” In the West, as I have learned, negging tends to target a woman’s physical attributes, often as a pick up line. Thus, as the UD again illustrates: “You are nearly as tall as me. I like tall girls (LIFT). Are those heels 4 or 5 inches (DROP)?”[1]

I’m from India and thought I’d provide an example of negging to illustrate its varied and glorious forms. Back when I was growing up, dating wasn’t socially acceptable in my culture – it often had to be done on the sly which probably explains why negging as a pick up line wasn’t the smartest choice. But we South Asians had and continue to have our own cultural equivalents of underhand methods specifically designed to erode a woman’s sense of self.   Continue reading “The Guessing Game by Vibha Shetiya”

WOMEN FOR PEACE–TAKE TO THE STREETS by Carol P. Christ

Sometimes we are told that domination and violence and war are innate in human nature; therefore, it is futile to protest war.  But this is not true.

I oppose war because I oppose all forms of power-over, domination, and violence.  As a radical feminist and ecofeminist I believe that power can and should always be power-with, the power that nurtures the growth and development of self and others.  The power of Goddess/God is always and everywhere power-with and not ever power-over. 

Are violence and domination innate in human nature?  We have been told that we are the “naked ape” descended from “apes” who, like the chimpanzees with whom we share 98% of our DNA, were male dominant and violent. Do we, then, have any hope not to be violent and dominant?

Franz de Waal’s studies of the other “ape” species that shares 98% of our DNA, the bonobo, debunks this popular myth.  The bonobo live in peaceful matriarchal clans, and their response to conflict is to rub each others’ genitals until the desire to fight goes away.  They are living proof that species very much like us can choose to “make love not war.” De Waal says that the most we can conclude from studies of our ape relatives is that ancestors of human beings, chimpanzees, and bonobos had the capacity to evolve toward dominance enforced by violence, or toward more peaceful ways of resolving conflict.

Continue reading “WOMEN FOR PEACE–TAKE TO THE STREETS by Carol P. Christ”