For this post, we will focus on a brief introduction to the rise of feminist consciousness in modern day times, roughly from the 19th Century to the present. ( Gratitude once again to Gerda Lerner!) This is only a beginning for the mining of topics rich with possibilities that will lead us in many different directions for future posts. We are definitely open to suggestions, contributions and discussion topics!
The beginning of the birth of feminist consciousness and feminism starts with an awareness of a discomfort caused by the split between the Feminine and Masculine Archetypes. We come to realize that this imbalance weighted to the Masculine Principle side has created a rift in our collective reality. Out of this recognition comes a yearning for wholeness or equal balance of the Masculine and Feminine Principles in our psyches and daily lives.
This discomfort also causes the recognition that we have abandoned the Feminine Principle in a way that creates a social, political and spiritual crises not only in our culture, but also within our personal and interpersonal issues.
We further come to recognize the rigidity of female roles and their unequal status under patriarchy which gives rise to resistance, and becomes a force for change.
This discomfort leads us to distinguish between feminine and female, masculine and male. One being gender and the other energy, energies that both males and females possess. They do not follow gendered, stereotypic roles.
Once again, the concept of sovereignty—a basic tenet of feminism--arises for both men and woman.
Sovereignty: Supreme power or authority.
The authority of state or person to govern itself.
A self-governing person or state.
Unto oneself.
” For women the problem with sovereignty hasn’t been with abuse of our power (as it is associated with males, particularly kings) but with a near complete lack of it. For millennia patriarchy has ensured that sovereignty has been completely out of reach for virtually all women.” Ann Niven Newkirk, Sagewoman Magazine, p.3.
“Here lies woman’s longing to be authentically ”feminine” to express herself fully as a woman and at the same time, to be a strong independent individual whose power and authority are rooted within her…” a poem by Maria Ranier, “To Be a Woman,” p 3.
A Special Note: A wonderful retrospective and explanation of the goals for the Second Wave Feminist Movement is a Netflix documentary entitled, “Feminists, What Were They Thinking?” Foremothers of the movement are interviewed for their perspective and memories of those beginnings. Highly Recommended!
On a personal note, I have all of the MS magazines that were published at that time lasting about ten years. They are lovingly archived in a special cabinet for ready reference if need be. I was very pleased when my daughter asked to use some of them when she was teaching a women’s studies course in political science. I’m hoping I have saved them for more than just sentimental reasons, although the smile they put on my face just remembering those beginnings is certainly worth my effort to hang on to them. They are my own private historical record of the Second Wave Feminist Movement! Anyone else have any favorite memories of those beginnings?
There are several phenomena in particular, that have catalyzed the beginning of a transition out of a rigid patriarchal mindset in the 20th and 21st centuries:
Feminism has led to a study of early pre-patriarchal cultures, sometimes called Goddess Cultures.
Feminism rigorously challenges gender stereotypes and patriarchal social patterns.
* Feminism has created a feeling of sisterhood in opposition to identification with the masculine energy values that patriarchy embodies. (I am in accord with Gerda Lerner when she says that one has to swing in opposition to the presenting issues of patriarchy in order to develop a counterbalance (Feminism) to eventually come back to balance in the middle.
Feminist consciousness and Feminism brought awareness of women’s need for the power of self-definition through their own language, imagination, thought and stories, a form of female energy sovereignty.
“Feminist consciousness is a phrase that began to gain currency in the 1960s. On a personal level, it reflects a new way of looking at ourselves and the world in which conventional dogmas about women’s divinely or naturally ordained subordination are no longer accepted. On the social level, it refers to the result of a special group process--a coming together of women to not only to ask new questions about the nature of reality, but to support and nurture one another in a new sisterhood. On the cultural level, it refers to the mounting recognition that the subordination of women and of ‘feminine’ values like caring and compassion, lies at the core of an aberrated--and increasingly suicidal--social system.” Riane Eisler, To Be A Woman, edited by Connie Zweig. p 33.