What is Wrong with Thealogy?

[pt_tangles]

I mean really ... is it the feminist thing? Is feminism so far out of fashion that people have to turn their noses up at any tiny bit of feminist rhetoric? Why exactly does everyone hate the feminist movement? Have we all forgotten what feminism has done for us? Or is it that we just don't care anymore? What is it about wanting to be treated like a worthwhile human being that is so very distasteful?

Equality with men is something that is a difficult goal to define. For too many people equality = the same, and we are not the same as men. Sorting things out takes time, and it isn't an easy process ... but back to the subject of my rant ...

So far as I can see if your path focuses more on the feminine, why not use thealogy? Why not explore the more feminine side of life ... what exactly is wrong with focusing on women and coming to grips with being in a female skin?

It isn't something that our society helps us with ... do the commercials that deal with 'freshness' and 'activities' give any thought at all to the emotional roller-coaster that your period puts you on? Do they even mention the word 'period'? Western society wants everyone to be nice, normal, rational folks all the time ... don't feel rational? Well, that is ok, sweetie, we have these pills that will balance your hormones and ease your cramps so you don't irritate anyone.

I grew up thinking that there was something inherently wrong with being a girl (thanks, dad). Not consciously, but underneath everything, there was something wrong with me that had to be fought tooth and nail everyday (emotions, hormones, intuition, etc). Even today when someone wants to put someone else down ... they tell them that they are being 'girly'. And when a woman wants to embrace being 'girly' then you become a femnazi ...or a bitch ... or a man-hating dyke.

I read constantly about the feminine aspects of the moon, the earth, the ocean ... the Goddess is everywhere ... in everything. So why then are we putting people down who describe their spirituality in those terms?

I am not saying that there aren't twits out there ... or that some of the other words that they have come up have any place in the language (I don't think that 'history' is a discriminatory term), but I think that thealogy has value ... it shouldn't be discarded just because we don't like some of the people who use it. The fluffies want the term 'Wicca' for their own ends, but I don't see anyone giving up that fight so easily.

--Phae

Comments

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Nothing wrong with it at all, imo. A very useful term.

[pt_tangles]

I think I need to take nonfluffypagans off of my friends list.

--Phae

[firefly124.livejournal.com]

Never been there, and I'm thinking that's a good thing.

[pt_tangles]

It is increasingly giving me the same feeling as the Cauldron (scholarly athiesm=good, mystery-based paganism=bad), only it seems that most of the people there are just pissy and anal because they have nothing better to do with their lives than be pissy and anal.

--Phae

[curefreak.livejournal.com]

The problem with feminism is that, like any cause/movement/religion etc. etc. there are radicals that taint the cause. I am a feminist (As I believe men CAN be feminists, though my Sociology professor said they couldn't), I believe in equality, however this world is anything but fair and equal.

Therefore, a great theory turns into women (sometimes) getting jobs because they are women, not on merit, regardless of gender. This reverse sexism hurts the feminist cause. Then there are the radicals who want women to "rule" over men. The men obviously object, as do clear thinking women and there is a backlash.

I very much doubt we will see a gender equal society in our lifetime :(

[pt_tangles]

Maybe not, but things can get better than they are. And I don't think that people searching to tear down feminists are helping (and I am not refering to you, but to the people in my original post).

--Phae

ps - for what its worth ... my fiance is a feminist too (you don't have to be a woman to want them to be treated better ... everyone has/had a mother).

[curefreak.livejournal.com]

Oh I am totally with you. Just because we probably wont get there in our life time, certainly doesn't mean we should just give up. This defeatist attitude annoys me with people. It may be 2 steps forward and 1 back, but it's better to move toward a goal, than stay stagnant.

[blackthornglade.livejournal.com]

It grates on me because I don't believe we need to get rid of a perfectly good word (theology) because the root of the word denotes a masculine. Thealogy, womyn, wimmin...they all grate. Thealogy less so, because at least it's gramatically correct.

Part of that grating comes, for me, directly from the radical feminists that have overrun some areas and directly from the overly pushy segments of the Goddess Spirituality movement. In many instances, I've been directly called into question, as a woman, because I disagree with their positions.

It's left a taint on feminism for me.

I'm not for equality. Yes, you're reading that right. (Don't panic, there's more.) What I'm *for* is equity. We're all different and have different needs and requirements. I want those to be met for *everyone*, men, women, schnauzers, you name it. Equity promotes everyone's needs being met and those who need more getting more. Equality means we all get the same thing. I think those that need more *should* get more, thus my promotion of equity over equality.

Words that recognize and set apart women...those, to me, are bad. Thealogy as a scholarly idea is fine. It describes a specific course of study that focuses on the divine feminine/Goddess. It's still, however, a subset of theology, and an word that's somewhat redundant. The concept of thealogy, like womyn, has been taken and elevated to a status that it wasn't, IMO, ever meant to get to. It's a call to arms, militant, and annoying to me.

I tend to work with and follow male deities. The general assumption in paganism is that you're Goddess oriented. And thealogy specifically *excludes* what I do. The same as many feminists have tried to cut me out of the herd for being a submissive woman *BY* *CHOICE* because, apparently, I've been brainwashed by the patriarchy into accepting the abuse that my partners want to dish out on me.

I've been told, specifically and to my face, that I *can't* be a feminist because I have male partners, worship male gods, and allow both to dominate me and enjoy it.

Yes, that's a lot of baggage to carry around, but it's part of *why* thealogy gets snarked at by me. It's not the word or the concept, its the usage and the people that rally around it.

[pt_tangles]

I do see what you are saying, but a lot of the same can be said of those who want to take the word 'Wicca' and make it mean whatever they like it to mean. Many are militant, many are idiots ... does this mean we just give up 'Wicca' as well?

I am a little confused why you think that I would panic or get upset over your view on equity vs equality. Canada is far more socialist than the US is, and I know about how communities should work.

From what I can see, there is a lot of hurt being carried around in the Goddess Spirituality and feminist movements, not in everyone, but in a great many. If they need their words to help them heal, then I don't think it hurts me any to let them have them.

--Phae