Those who know me might agree that I am an angry woman. My partner definitely would and constantly reminds me. And I would agree with him, that my raling against injustice probably achieves little. It is simply not in me to passively accept the systems, both organisational and philosophical, within which I find myself living but maybe he should be looking a little deeper and finding out why.
Therefore I must share the comment that really got my hackles up. I was relieved to find a kindred spirit in Maureen Murdock with this gem in the intro to her book (which I am buying):
My desire to understand how the woman's journey relates to the journey of the hero first led me to talk with Joseph Campbell in 1981. I knew that the stages of the heroine's journey incorporated aspects of the journey of the hero…. I wanted to hear
Now if that isn’t bloody patronising I don’t know what is. I am as stunned as Murdock by that response and can’t believe that a man with such a thorough knowledge of transpersonal psychology and myth can’t see his own distorted (but common) projection in the idealisation of the feminine. I think that’s how many men still want to think about women.
What people fail to see though, is that it is this insidious attitude towards the feminine that has resulted in Mother Earth being viewed as a long-suffering, never-ending resource that exists solely to nurture and love her destructive children. This is why it is so important to understand myths and the archetypes that lie behind these deeply entrenched behaviours.
Of course it has sent me into a paroxysm of re-evaluation, because so many of the theorists I am relying on for my discussion of this topic in my thesis are male, and I am realising just how wrong they might be. I have been feeling deeply suspicious of the way in which they have interpreted the feminine psyche, and, as I tend to do, have assumed that I am really dysfunctional and just don’t fit the profile. But now, although I will probably still be quoting these theorists, will find myself frequently arguing an alternative.
As a result of this little episode I have realised just how deeply entrenched is my own lack of confidence in challenging the status quo that defines me, which of course highlights the broader problem, and why things don’t change. It is in reality extremely difficult to believe that we ‘make a difference’, even though it is one of the most touted catch-cries of the generation in which I grew up. I am completely fed up with political correctness and trying to be a good ‘daddy’s girl’.
So where does that leave the angry woman….righteously angrier. And justifiably so if you think about the last 3000 years, or maybe even more, since the matriarchal cultures from which ours has evolved began to decline. I will leave you with another of Murdock’s comments:
The women I know and work with do not want to be there, the place that people are trying to get to. They do not want to embody Penelope, waiting patiently, endlessly weaving and unweaving. They do not want to be handmaidens of the dominant male culture, giving service to the gods. They do not want to follow the advice of fundamentalist preachers and return to the home. They need a new model that understands who and what a woman is.
Image: My version of 'Joan of Arc' based on a Mediaeval image.
The Heroine's Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness, Maureen Murdock.
