Categories: uncategorized
Date: 22 January 2006 08:51:39
Ok, I am not going to get into the habit of reviewing books I am using for uni, or stuff that over a decade old, but (and you knew that was coming)
Outercourse by Mary Daly.
It's an autobiography, it's a theory book, it's all sorts of things but it is not what I expected. As anybody who has ever had to listen to my views on feminism (either in a classroom or in an informal setting) is aware I do not do radical feminism, (being a "nice" liberal feminist) I don't understand them and I think they don't have much positive to offer or rather I didn't.
I realise that my view of radical feminism has been the product of stereotyping and a view of 70's social movements that has been shaped by the pictures the (male) tv execs have chosen to show. When I have looked at it in text books before, and seen it laid side by side with the liberal version that I have been socialised into seeing as "normal" and "the way things should be" I have chosen to reject it as an alien idea of the past.
At the same time I have (internally) screamed at times as I have tried to reconcile an identity which is woman with the non-gendered, (or rather male centred) world I found myself in. I have grown up learning that I can be whoever I want to be and do whatever I want to do, according to my talents and indeed at school was put on the academic pathway to be able to do this. Yet as I have grown I have found the realities of this world are slightly different for women, (just a couple of examples):
When the child is sick and you desperately need to be at work how do you deal with the internal conflicts this gives?
When you are told that there are "male" and "female" ways of thinking, but essays will be assessed using the "male" model
When you are a woman who is in touch, a little, with what it means to be woman within the current patricarchal reality and so speak out in an honest way you are labelled as "different" or as someone "who broke the mould when God made you" or "off the wall"
Anyway getting back to the book I realised that whilst I do not agree with everything she says, (particularly about Christianity) she is making some amazing points and actually acknowledging women as women, not as wanna be men, or man haters (which are the accusations often made of radical feminists). Yes she uses some words that may appear strange, but there is humour involved and a real sense of reclaiming an identity and space that is beyond patriarchy and the normal distinctions.
Her use of pagan language and imagery is interesting, but not something I feel should be a barrier to the reader who may come from an alternative perspective. Although I am aware it is not the way she thinks about it, to me she is pointing out that paganism catches something more of the gifts and identity God creates in woman, than does Christianity, as it does about the power of creation generally. So for me it is something which actually expands my view of God the creator a little more, as a Christian.
Basically I recommend it to those of you who may want to try it as an experience more than a book, (but remember what one person can find a wonderful adventure another can find a nightmare).