On Fri, 10 Mar 1995, Kylie Matthews wrote:
> It's all about the root of the word. -- man. We are not men. Therefore a
> lot of women/womyn prefere to not use men or man and instead use womon or
> womyn. There are a lot of other variations as well. It is along the same
> lines as changing the title chairman to chair.
I must take issue with this. Changing chairman to chair is simply making
the word gender neutral. Changing women to womyn is butchering the
spelling while NOT changing to root from which it came. This seems to me
to be the worst part of both worlds. The problem of course is that we use
the words "man" and "men" to refer to humans in general and to refer to
males in particular. Changing the spelling of women to womyn does not
alter this at all. The inherent belittlement still exists in the
language. One alternative which I saw some time ago (and cannot for the
life of my remember where) was to continue to refer to people as human or
man kind but to change the way we refer to BOTH genders in particular. I
think the use was "mal's" and "fem's." I rather like this change as it
eliminates the real problem of referring to males and humans as men and
females as something different. Again, changing the spelling does not
help this, the distinction of females from humans remains (perhaps
worsened by removing the common root).
> I am not suggesting that womyn are not human but I am suggesting that womyn
> are not the adjuct of men, nor are we subordinate, nor are we less
> important.
I could not agree more with this. Which is why I think the mal and fem
references suggested above are attractive.
Peace,
Jon.
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 10 18:56:29 MST 1995
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 17:55:58 -0800 (PST)
From: gretchen hughes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Starting a new list?
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In-Reply-To: <Pine.3.89.9503061922.A14445-0100000@netcom11>
I just wanted to respond to Joy Williams' (Dancing Hummingbird) idea
about a new list about ecofem and spirituality. I think that would be
great! I really liked how you encouraged having it be inclusive and open
to those other than neo-pagans as well. Diversity is good here.
Anyway, I just wanted to put in a vote as it seemed the issue had been
dropped.
/\ /\
Peace, Love, Joy, & //\\ //\\ (trees),
Gretchen Hughes ///\\\///\\\
|| ||
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 10 21:02:06 MST 1995
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 20:02:09 -0800
From: Rose Zubizarreta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: Starting a new list?
greetings -- I've been lurking on this list for a while now, and am moved
to post in regards to the issue of a new list. I've been looking for a place
that's appropiate for a discussion on the political implications of
re-imaging the sacred, along feminist, earth-centered, socially-active
lines. I am a "her*etical" Buddhist, and interested in an ecumenical
conversation with others who are uncovering/recreating a
pre-patriarchial/post-patriarchial spirituality and all the far-reaching
implications thereof.. I have yet to find any such forum (the womens' studies
list seems to broad) and am wondering if this could be such?
Rosa Alegria e-mail address [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 10 21:20:22 MST 1995
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 23:20:21 -0500
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: individuals' relationship...
>A question circulating on COE, "what do you think are an >individual's
responsibilities (if any) to the environment?"
What a great question !! I try to bring this issue right down to earth,
to the way I live my life every single day. You know, recycling in my
community, using eco-friendly alternatives to household cleaners, pesticides
and the like.
But beyond that, I have a very deep sense that my spiritual duty is also
to love the planet, and I mean in a very direct way -- the way I show love to
other members of my family. The same way that I might hug my daughter, I'll
hug a tree. The same way that I might admire her beauty, I'll stare in awe
at the swans flying above a small pond near my home. The same way I used to
wrestle playfully with her when she was a toddler, I now play with the dog
who shares our home. The way I used to feed and watch over her, I care for
the parrot who also lives with us. In these small gestures, I foster loving
relationships with creatures who walk, fly, swim, and creep, and to the earth
whose given birth to us all. So that my responsibility AND my relationship
to the earth merge in some alchemical way, and I have faith that Mama Earth
gains sustenance from my attention and physical expressions of love to her.
In love and
hope,
Chris (aka
Spider Woman)
"Your web spans a distance of two of my hands spread turning the space
between unrelated uprights, accidental neighbors, fennel, corn stalks into a
frame. The patterned web startles me, as if a grasshopper spoke, as if a
moth whispered. The bold design cannot have a predatory use; no fly, no mite
or wasp caught by its zigzag as my gaze is. Then I see you...Black and Gold
you are a shiny brooch with legs of derricks. I remind you I am a general
friend to your kind. I rescue your kinfolk from the bathtub fall mornings
before I run the water....You stare at me, you do not scuttle or hide, you
wait. I go round and leave you mistress of your territory, not in kindness
but in awe....Hecate of the garden path, Argiope"
by Marge Piercy, in The Moon is Always Female, 1981.
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fri Mar 10 21:30:14 MST 1995
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 1995 20:21:15 -0800 (PST)
From: Dancing Hummingbird /aka Joy Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Starting a new list?
To: Rose Zubizarreta <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
As soon as I get the go ahead (a friend on teleport is trying to set it
up for me), we will have one going.
BTW, I am a Neo-Pagan who is absolutely intrigued with Tibetan Buddhism,
so I think we would have much to talk about Rose!
Joy Williams
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Scion in the Church of All Worlds
"The Garrulous Grok Flok"
Thou Art Goddess!
