The following is a portion of “Chapter 10 -Balancing the Feminine and the Masculine”, of “The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality” by @dbroze and @johnvibes.
Despite isolated historical examples of equality, the dominant mentality has been one of Male supremacy. Rejection of this system and pursuit of equality is known as Feminism. At various points in history Women and Men have sought to empower Women and establish practices of equality. Although there have been discussions of equal rights since the 14th century, there is no agreed upon beginning of the Feminist philosophy. Most scholars agree that American Feminism has had three waves, each concerned with different aspects of freedom for Women. The first wave of Feminism came in the 18th and 19th centuries and focused on Women’s Suffrage, the right of Women to vote and hold political office. In America the Women’s Suffrage movement began gaining ground in the 18th century as Women began pursuing the right to vote. Second-Wave feminism came about during the 1960’s until the 1980’s and broadened the focus to examine gender roles and culturally ingrained inequalities. The Third-Wave, and current phase, of Feminism includes a wide range of philosophies, including rejections of past schools of feminist thought as well as evolutions of First and Second-Wave feminism.
Out of the struggles of Second-Wave of feminism emerged Radical Feminism. Radical Feminism focused on dismantling Patriarchy through opposition of gender roles. It considered how social class, race, sexual preference and socioeconomic status play into the treatment of Women and Men. Many Radical Feminists had prior experience in the Civil Rights battles of the 1960’s. These movements were focused on direct action and did not necessarily push for political solutions to the inequalities they opposed.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American Feminism merged with the principles of Anarchy to form what some call Anarcha-Feminism. Prominent Anarchist thinker Emma Goldman is seen as a founder of Anarcha-Feminism. For Goldman, the opposition to male supremacy was essential in the struggle against State power. She was also a huge advocate of reproductive rights and education and access to contraception. Before many other radicals accepted homosexuality, Goldman was publicly defending the rights of gay men and lesbian women to love as they pleased.
Goldman criticized voting as a legitimate form of fighting the State. She believed it foolish to assume that giving Women the right to vote would halt the crimes of the State. “To assume, therefore, that she would succeed in purifying something which is not susceptible of purification, is to credit her with supernatural powers,” she wrote in “Womans Suffrage”.
Another prominent figure in American Anarcha-Feminism was Voltairine de Cleyre. De Cleyre was critical of traditional beauty ideals, gender roles and the marriage laws that allowed men to rape their wives without fear of legal consequence. She wrote for Benjamin Tucker’s classic newsletter Liberty. In addition to being a Feminist, Voltairine was an advocate of Anarchism without adjectives. In her 1901 essay, Anarchism, she writes of the need for Anarchists of all economic schools to work together in free experimentation. She concludes, “There is nothing unAnarchistic about any of them until the element of compulsion enters and obliges unwilling persons to remain in a community whose economic arrangements they do not agree to.”
One of the more contentious areas that Feminists have explored is the question of whether gender roles are a valid concept or simply a social construct. Western cultures tend to accept two genders, male or female, while cultures around the world, throughout history have accepted three or more genders. These include the mahu of the Kanaka Maoli indigenous. The mahu were seen as sacred educators of ancient traditions and could be either male or female with a gender somewhere in between or sharing traits both masculine and feminine. Among theBugi people of the Sulawesi island of Indonesia, five genders are recognized. The Bugi support the idea of men, women, calabai, calalai, and bissu. Calabai are biological males who take on the role of a heterosexual female. Their dress and gender expression are feminine. Calalai are biological females who identify with a male gender. Bissu are healers or medium who “transcend” gender and encompass aspects of all five in order to form a whole. Several American Indian tribes also have similar concepts. The Lakota word Winyanktehca can be translated as “two-souls-person”, or “to be as a woman”. The term is applied to biological males who are transgender. The “winkte” are an important part of the spiritual community. The Navajo also have a similar concept in the Nádleehí, which could be translated as “one who constantly transforms”.
Roles are imposed on each gender according to certain qualities that are deemed acceptable and those that are not. Queer theory proposes a deconstruction of gender-identity to get to the roots of oppression. Psychologist Cordelia Fine believes there are inherent biological differences between the minds of men and women. However, she also believes that cultural traditions are responsible for shaping these apparent differences between the sexes. Professor Dianne Halpern writes that social and biological factors are equally responsible and cannot be separated. In Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities, Halpern writes that cultural traditions and biology both play a role in determining gender identity. She discusses how the influence of testosterone on a male brain gives men a slight advantage in tasks such as building with blocks. This could lead a male to seek opportunities to exercise similar skills, such as sports. Over time these activities are labeled as male specific and become ingrained into the culture itself. However, these culturally accepted norms are not absolute and should not be used as a barometer for socially acceptable behavior by either sex.
We believe a conversation on balancing the Feminine and Masculine incomplete without discussing Gender Roles as possible tools for oppression of the freedom of expression and the freedom to love. The idea that all men are supposed to be tough, brave, fearless and unemotional has caused untold harm to the human race. Just as dangerous is the idea that all women are to be emotionally open, compassionate, easily scared, delicate and passive. These concepts reinforce division among the masses and allow the authorities to pit Men and Women against each other. Rather than seeing each other as equals capable of great things, we are taught to buy into and support false versions of the Male-Female dynamic. We also support Transgendered individuals who may have sex organs that do not correspond to the gender role they associate with. Culturally reinforced ideas on the types of relationships that are have also caused harm to human relationships.
I am an investigative journalist and liberty activist; a Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com & The Houston Free ThinkersThe Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 1 and Manifesto of the Free Humans. I have also co-authored three books with @johnvibes:
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I feel like 3rd wave feminism is hurting the progress made over the past couple centuries. It's no longer about men & woman being equil. For most 3rd wave feminist it seems to revolve around men bashing. Also I feel like womans sufferage, or any body voting for that matter, is regressive as far as equality & liberty is concerned.
Excellent words in relation to the subject. @marizam
At the school on my notebook, on my desk, on trees, I write your name
On read sheets, on pure white pages, I wrote your name
On besternt images, on artilleries, rifles, on kings' crowns
On most beautiful nights, on the freshest bread of the day, I write your name
On farms and scope, on wings of birds,
On the mill under the shadow, I write
On waked path, on flattened road,
On crowded areas, your name, hey Freedom..
I appreciate the message of mindfulness toward our notions of gender that this post encourages; many see these as concrete as the concept of sex and confirmation bias makes personal evolution of these goals slow or inefficient. I agree with Halpern's view that gender identity is a product of biology and society; freedom from inaccurate societal norms for gender seems to require either accepting society's painfully drawn-out evolution, or opting to shift to an objective, individual view that allows for immediate application of one's one person morality.
The cited examples of ambiguous gender roles beyond the biological sexes to me illustrates that while humans fancy ourselves good at finding patterns and association, we may not be as adept at identifying which associations to focus on. In a society whose value is rapidly evolving away from reproductive candidacy, perhaps the individual does better to challenge their own views of what their existence can provide, beyond the ability to procreate, to help achieve perspective on the importance of membership to a given sub-set.
It would be intersting to finally witness people seeing beyond the boxes several previous generations placed us in. Why is so hard to understand, and viewed as a threat when people step beyond the prescibed identies?
Isn't crazy that not even a century ago it would have been seen at absurd to send your daughter to university?!
Very interesting your publication I would like to continue being in contacts. success, greeting @ maribelquere97
This was a well rounded piece on the subject of Feminism. I wonder if this obsession with gender roles is why I have been witnessing such vehement displays of sexism over the last decade or so.
Could it be that heterosexual men no longer know their place (or feel threatened) because human "roles" are expanding beyond the male-female duality?
...love is in the air......love is like my everyday perfume
In fact, many people include sacrificing in the very definition of what it means to truly love another