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Nov. 18th, 2007 01:44 pmRight now reading a brain-gripping piece by Rosemary Radford Ruether. "It [is] assumed that female religious symbols are intrinsically empowering to women. But these are questionable assumptions." For example, she cites a study of Hindu goddesses which concluded that they were created by men for male ends; and discusses misogyny in the female imagery of Judaism and Christianity. In appropriating such symbols, we may inadventently also appropriate the attached sexism.
Ancient goddesses such as Ishtar may be liberating images for modern women; but in their own time and place, they helped to define women's expected behaviour and roles. (Tikva Frymer-Kensky talks about this in detail in In The Wake of the Goddesses, more on which later.)
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Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Why Do Men Need the Goddess? Male Creation of Female Religious Symbols. Dialog: A Journal of Theology 44(3) fall 2005, pp 234-6.
Ancient goddesses such as Ishtar may be liberating images for modern women; but in their own time and place, they helped to define women's expected behaviour and roles. (Tikva Frymer-Kensky talks about this in detail in In The Wake of the Goddesses, more on which later.)
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Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Why Do Men Need the Goddess? Male Creation of Female Religious Symbols. Dialog: A Journal of Theology 44(3) fall 2005, pp 234-6.
