From: madrone@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us
Subject: Re: This is a New Subject
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 93 11:40:38 PDT

burkel@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (groovy feminazi) writes:
> The thing that I encounter, however, is quite different. They are
> not women, they are grrrrrls. They wish to don combat boots and
> machine guns and go out hunting rapists and the old highschool coach
> that made comments about their boobs. Harassment is a crime
> punishable by castration.  I find very few people honestly examining
> how they contribute to the role of victim. Everything is the blame
> of the misogynist, male-dominated society at large and they have not
> contributed to this at all

I find this topic interesting.  I approach it from a different angle,
though, because I'm involved in empowering women in childbirth.  Just
like in other areas of oppression, many women in childbirth just
passively hand their bodies over to the hospitals and then yell "Foul"
when they get cut.

I do blame doctors (and the old RCC and AMA for forcing all the
midwives underground).  But more insidious are the WOMEN who buy into
the system, hand themselves over to it and THANK the doctors for
taking their power.  Aaaargh!  The doctors get reinforcement that
women can't handle childbirth, that we WANT to get cut and so forth.

So, the first step seems to be for women to believe that we have the
right to control our own bodies.  I was always pretty independent, but
I was 26 before I really believed that I had the absolute right to say
"NO" to sex, that I didn't owe my body to any man who desired it.
Once I actually believed that, it changed the way I behaved, too.

From childhood, we women are taught to be nice rather than assertive.
We are taught to be victims, to be afraid, to be dependent.  We are
taught that the female body is only good for sex and only if it is
young, cute, in shape, etc.

One of the extremely positive aspects of Paganism for me was to
connect with my own womanly power.  A woman's power is different from
a man's and women most effectively exercise their power if they move
as a woman, not in emulation of a man.  How can I be weak if my womb
is the most powerful muscle in the human body?

The Goddess provides me with a rich mythic framework for re-visioning
womanhood as strong, powerful, beautiful and Divine.  

-- Heather Madrone (madrone@cruzio.santa-cruz.ca.us or
   ..netcom!cruzio!madrone)