My
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Name: James Troy Young
Email: [email protected]
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 J.
Troy Young's Place - Spirituality
Articles/Gender Bias
This is one of a
series of articles I have written to answer a common question
concerning my opinion on matters. All of my articles come with this
disclaimer.
-The views expressed here are my opinion onnly. My opinion has been
formed based on my life experiences and your own mileage may vary.
Understand that by the time I have arrived at the point of writing an
article like this I have already been confronted with the "tried and
true" arguments to change my mind and have generally found the
arguments not persuasive enough. So if you do intend to try to change
my mind please present a unique and interesting point of view. Because
I have already hashed and rehashed the topic with many people over the
years I am bored with repeating myself. Hence the article which allows
me to simply direct people to it when they ask how I feel about XYZ
topic. So, please, in
the interests of not wasting your time and mine, if you do wish to
debate, make it interesting.
Gender Bias
Some of my first
experiences with the Pagan Community were at places that stressed total
openess and equality. There were no biases of any kind that I could see.
People were treated the same and were encouraged to pursue whatever position
or goals they desired regardless of gender or background. Heck, there weren't even
His and Hers restrooms and showers, there were simply, restrooms and showers which
were shared. This is a concept which shocks and apalls most people raised in a strict, conservative belief system but one I found to be very enlightened and wise because
why should people be treated differently because they are male or female, or because
they have a certain skin color, hair color, eye color or any other attribute? People
are just people. Despite what a some people might think, there were no perverts
hanging around and leering because such people are looked down upon by Pagans
just like they are in any other part of society. People who have not matured spiritually
and emotionally to the point that they can control themselves and behave in a civilized
manner have no place being there and are dealt with by whatever means neccessary for
the good of society as a whole.
In my naive early years and based upon my early readings I believed at
the time that this equality and openess was a particularly Pagan
attribute. I later learned that is not true. While Pagans do tend to be
more open and strive more for gender equality than mainstream society
there are also those within the Pagan Community who believe the way to
achieve balance is to counterbalance the patriarchal ways of mainstream
society by imposing matriarchal values instead. Many of these people do the
same things that their patriarchal counterparts do only reverse the
gender which is cast in a lesser role and still enforce the gender
segregation which is common in mainstream society.
Also ,as a side note, a simple study of the societies of our Pagan ancestors
throughout history (the ancient Greeks and Romans for example) shows that Pagans
also discriminated on the basis of gender in many ways, moreso even than our modern,
mainstream society does. So while it is true that you find more equality and openess
in modern Pagan culture than in the mainstream as a whole this attribute is not
uniquely Pagan.
Don't misunderstand my intent here. I'm not out to pick a fight with
anyone, only stating what facts I've seen and what opinions I've formed
based on those facts. I feel that organizations both male and female
biased have every right to practice as they see fit and those who are
members of those organizations are perfectly right to do as they wish.
All I am saying is I personally do not take part in this practice. I,
personally, would not join a fraternal organization like the Masons for
example because they practice gender segregation and gender bias. Yes, I know about the Eastern Star
as well as Co-Masons but let's not get off on a tangent please.
All I am saying is while I know that is the way of some people, it is
not my way. It really is not a spiritual issue I suppose because as I
stated, people from all walks of life and all spiritual paths seem to
either practice or not practice gender segregation and bias. But I tend
to lean more toward organizations which do not.
When the door to door people come around to talk about their religion if
I am not too busy I'm usually happy to talk to them because my faith in
my own beliefs is usually strengthened by such dialogue. One
of the first questions I usually ask such people is this. Are women and
men both allowed to participate in the clergy and to attain the same
level within your church. In other words can a woman lead your
congregation and if not why not? If they can, can they go beyond that
to the highest level of the organization? Does your organization recognize
the female role in divinity? Because I believe that the divine,
just as nature, is composed of both masculine as well as feminine, both
positive as well as negative energy, both light as well as dark, I do
not believe that only one gender or the other can have the spiritual
monopoly on deity.
Most of the door to door religion salesmen are peddling a patriarchal
form of religion so this point is one that we will likely never agree
on. I feel the same way about the various forms of gender bias within
some segments of the Pagan community. This practice may work fine for
them and that's alright for them but it does not work for me and therefore
I choose not to participate in it. It's just that simple. If your club doesn't
play fair and equal with everybody, don't ask me to join and or support your
club.
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