The mention of wanting a circle rather than a podium reminds me of when in some RS and Sunday school classes in the past few years, we were asked to make the chairs into a circle. Not sure who suggested it, was it local or top down? Idk. But I do know that the chairs were rearranged back into rows immediately after the class was over each week. But when I visiting a Society of Friends Meeting recently (Quaker Meeting), the PEWS were in a circle. Screwed into the floor, immovable. A silent witness every week that all are equal, there is no hierarchy.
Yes, yes, YES. I read a journal article years ago on how under Mao, China had no advertising – just propaganda and slogans. One famous slogan was "whatever a man can do, a woman can do." The purpose was to put women to work in traditionally male occupations in order to grow the economy. The end result was that women worked alongside men at work, then went home and did all the labour there too. (Ironically, as the government de-centralized the economy and put many Chinese men out of work, they then used Western-style advertising to nudge women out of the workforce and back into the home...freeing up jobs for men). The author concluded that the slogan really should've been "whatever a woman can do, a man can do." I have remembered this ever since I read it.
I love this so much, and not just because you quoted me (though thank you for that)! After years of "career feminism," focusing on women winning at patriarchy, I'm really embracing "care feminism," which is far more about elevating and celebrating what we've traditionally considered "feminine." Like replacing all pulpits with circles -- what a beautiful image!
This. All of this. Hierarchy is a symptom of patriarchy but there just has to be a better way. A feminine way. Thank you for continuing to think and write about these issues.
I feel this. My partner is still a member of the Lds church. When it was time to do back to school blessings, and I was out of the church, I knew I wanted to be involved. I was not ok with another year of being excluded as their mother. But I didn’t want to do it like the patriarchy/priesthood did it. I wanted something that felt and looked different. I realized I don’t like the standing over of these blessings, as it comes off as power over, so I chose to kneel by my seated child during their mother’s blessing and hold their hand, which to me signifies power with. I did not want to just tell them the things I was blessing them with, so instead I 1-asked them if they wanted a mothers blessing to begin with (this is about them) 2-asked them to choose a Crystal from my collection to create the direction for the blessing. This was their consent and participation in their own blessing, making it more about them choosing. I looked at the qualities associated with the Crystal they chose and wrote up a short blessing around it. Then i sat next to them and held their hand as I read it to them, all eyes open. My spouse would do his, and then I did mine, 5 times, one for each kid. It was interesting to feel and see the differences. I agree that the goal must be to restructure.
Love this. I like to imagine how I would bless my children and other people. It rarely involves hands on head and standing behind them. Face to face and on the same level, connecting in a more nurturing way is what I always start with.
Another great article, Celeste! Can you help me with knowing how to respond to men who say that the WNBA are not paid as much because they’re not bringing in as much money? That’s their argument and honestly I’m not sure how to respond.
I can respond to that, because it is an argument that ignores the government's role in developing men's sports. The government invested heavily in popularizing basketball, particularly through athletics programs in public schools. Boys were able to play basketball first at school, then in regional programs, at the university level, and so on. The government also marketed the sport to the public in order to create an audience for it.
Athletics for girls did not receive anything close to the same amount of funding, at least until the passage of Title IX. The government has not spent a fraction as much money popularizing women's basketball as it did for men's basketball. It has not created an audience for women basketball players to the same extent that it did for men.
There is often a blanket assumption that just because the state is not an actor in a particular market today, it never was. This is often false. The government is typically a VERY active actor in various markets simply because unlike companies, the state does not need to turn a profit. It can invest in and create markets that it deems of value to society for whatever reason. In this light, girls deserve just as much investment from the state as boys. Women's sports deserve just as much investment from the state as men's sports. And women and girls haven't received a fraction as much as men and boys.
That is just the starting point for my response to why athletes in the WNBA deserve to earn the sort of money that enables them to have a professional career without resorting to playing in Russia during the offseason.
Yes! Thank you so much for writing all this out Leah!!! So often we ask why should women athletes get paid as much as men when they don’t bring in as many viewers? Without ever asking WHY don’t they bring in as many viewers in the first place? And that has everything to do with who and what we invest in like you said Leah - thank you!
I recognize that in most cities, women’s sports don’t bring in as much revenue as men’s but I see the tide changing! I live in Las Vegas - home of the Las Vegas Aces, Two-Time WNBA Champions! They play to a packed arena every single game! I’m not even a basketball fan and I LOVE seeing the support they get. I think it’s ironic that owner Mark Davis has more wins from his Las Vegas Aces than he does his Las Vegas Raiders - who seem to stink up the field!
Even when women's sports are more popular, such as women's soccer or tennis, it can make little difference – they still often earn less than their male counterparts. See Megan Rapinoe.
As Germaine Greer said, the opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy but sorority and fraternity. I agree with you both, we’re best off to shed these hierarchical notions.
This is why regarding my work on the Sovereignty Goddess, and much more that I do, my goal is to take down the entire system. Change it completely. Bring in the round table system instead.
Let me clarify my comment it wasn’t about the pay for professional athletes because that’s a completely different discussion for me. I think they are all grossly overpaid and it’s ridiculous. Seriously it’s just a game… That you wrote regarding women and patriarchy and reversing roles with the men and we would have a completely different system 100%. Thank you for articulating that, hopefully women will catch that vision and work toward that not simply just ascending the current ladder in the LDS church
Thank you for writing this. You’ve articulated one of several reasons why I struggle with the concepts and ideologies of feminism. Thought-provoking and enjoyable read!
I agree with you and Martha. In my most spiritual place (my shower) I’ve been dreaming and planning what a matriarchal priestesshood would look like. I don’t want men’s priesthood. I want a parallel and equal matriarchal structure. I want women and men to come together in a way that makes us greater than the sum of our parts. I want women to celebrate, ritualize, and oversee birth and death and make menstruation a sacred cycle. I don’t know what else. I’m still day dreaming, but thinking about this is way more nourishing to my spirit than imagining how to fit into the patriarchal priesthood.
The mention of wanting a circle rather than a podium reminds me of when in some RS and Sunday school classes in the past few years, we were asked to make the chairs into a circle. Not sure who suggested it, was it local or top down? Idk. But I do know that the chairs were rearranged back into rows immediately after the class was over each week. But when I visiting a Society of Friends Meeting recently (Quaker Meeting), the PEWS were in a circle. Screwed into the floor, immovable. A silent witness every week that all are equal, there is no hierarchy.
Amazing! I love that ❤️❤️
Yes! And having the chairs in circles did not last long, which I was disappointed about.
Yes, yes, YES. I read a journal article years ago on how under Mao, China had no advertising – just propaganda and slogans. One famous slogan was "whatever a man can do, a woman can do." The purpose was to put women to work in traditionally male occupations in order to grow the economy. The end result was that women worked alongside men at work, then went home and did all the labour there too. (Ironically, as the government de-centralized the economy and put many Chinese men out of work, they then used Western-style advertising to nudge women out of the workforce and back into the home...freeing up jobs for men). The author concluded that the slogan really should've been "whatever a woman can do, a man can do." I have remembered this ever since I read it.
Ooooh what a great example! Thanks for this Leah!!
I love this so much, and not just because you quoted me (though thank you for that)! After years of "career feminism," focusing on women winning at patriarchy, I'm really embracing "care feminism," which is far more about elevating and celebrating what we've traditionally considered "feminine." Like replacing all pulpits with circles -- what a beautiful image!
Oh I love that terminology “career feminism” to “care feminism” - thanks for that and for all your work on this issue!
This. All of this. Hierarchy is a symptom of patriarchy but there just has to be a better way. A feminine way. Thank you for continuing to think and write about these issues.
I feel this. My partner is still a member of the Lds church. When it was time to do back to school blessings, and I was out of the church, I knew I wanted to be involved. I was not ok with another year of being excluded as their mother. But I didn’t want to do it like the patriarchy/priesthood did it. I wanted something that felt and looked different. I realized I don’t like the standing over of these blessings, as it comes off as power over, so I chose to kneel by my seated child during their mother’s blessing and hold their hand, which to me signifies power with. I did not want to just tell them the things I was blessing them with, so instead I 1-asked them if they wanted a mothers blessing to begin with (this is about them) 2-asked them to choose a Crystal from my collection to create the direction for the blessing. This was their consent and participation in their own blessing, making it more about them choosing. I looked at the qualities associated with the Crystal they chose and wrote up a short blessing around it. Then i sat next to them and held their hand as I read it to them, all eyes open. My spouse would do his, and then I did mine, 5 times, one for each kid. It was interesting to feel and see the differences. I agree that the goal must be to restructure.
Wow! Consent? Holding hands? Power with instead of power over??? Soo so beautiful Melissa!! Thank you so much for this example!
Love this. I like to imagine how I would bless my children and other people. It rarely involves hands on head and standing behind them. Face to face and on the same level, connecting in a more nurturing way is what I always start with.
Another great article, Celeste! Can you help me with knowing how to respond to men who say that the WNBA are not paid as much because they’re not bringing in as much money? That’s their argument and honestly I’m not sure how to respond.
I can respond to that, because it is an argument that ignores the government's role in developing men's sports. The government invested heavily in popularizing basketball, particularly through athletics programs in public schools. Boys were able to play basketball first at school, then in regional programs, at the university level, and so on. The government also marketed the sport to the public in order to create an audience for it.
Athletics for girls did not receive anything close to the same amount of funding, at least until the passage of Title IX. The government has not spent a fraction as much money popularizing women's basketball as it did for men's basketball. It has not created an audience for women basketball players to the same extent that it did for men.
There is often a blanket assumption that just because the state is not an actor in a particular market today, it never was. This is often false. The government is typically a VERY active actor in various markets simply because unlike companies, the state does not need to turn a profit. It can invest in and create markets that it deems of value to society for whatever reason. In this light, girls deserve just as much investment from the state as boys. Women's sports deserve just as much investment from the state as men's sports. And women and girls haven't received a fraction as much as men and boys.
That is just the starting point for my response to why athletes in the WNBA deserve to earn the sort of money that enables them to have a professional career without resorting to playing in Russia during the offseason.
Yes! Thank you so much for writing all this out Leah!!! So often we ask why should women athletes get paid as much as men when they don’t bring in as many viewers? Without ever asking WHY don’t they bring in as many viewers in the first place? And that has everything to do with who and what we invest in like you said Leah - thank you!
I recognize that in most cities, women’s sports don’t bring in as much revenue as men’s but I see the tide changing! I live in Las Vegas - home of the Las Vegas Aces, Two-Time WNBA Champions! They play to a packed arena every single game! I’m not even a basketball fan and I LOVE seeing the support they get. I think it’s ironic that owner Mark Davis has more wins from his Las Vegas Aces than he does his Las Vegas Raiders - who seem to stink up the field!
Even when women's sports are more popular, such as women's soccer or tennis, it can make little difference – they still often earn less than their male counterparts. See Megan Rapinoe.
Thank you for reframing this subject for me-I love it!
Exactly! This is the world I long for.
As Germaine Greer said, the opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy but sorority and fraternity. I agree with you both, we’re best off to shed these hierarchical notions.
This is why regarding my work on the Sovereignty Goddess, and much more that I do, my goal is to take down the entire system. Change it completely. Bring in the round table system instead.
YES to circles.
Let me clarify my comment it wasn’t about the pay for professional athletes because that’s a completely different discussion for me. I think they are all grossly overpaid and it’s ridiculous. Seriously it’s just a game… That you wrote regarding women and patriarchy and reversing roles with the men and we would have a completely different system 100%. Thank you for articulating that, hopefully women will catch that vision and work toward that not simply just ascending the current ladder in the LDS church
AMEN 🎉
Thank you for writing this. You’ve articulated one of several reasons why I struggle with the concepts and ideologies of feminism. Thought-provoking and enjoyable read!
Thanks Vashti!
Outstanding article, Celeste. I'm going to dwell on some of the questions you raised. I appreciate your contribution to this conversation. Thanks!
I agree with you and Martha. In my most spiritual place (my shower) I’ve been dreaming and planning what a matriarchal priestesshood would look like. I don’t want men’s priesthood. I want a parallel and equal matriarchal structure. I want women and men to come together in a way that makes us greater than the sum of our parts. I want women to celebrate, ritualize, and oversee birth and death and make menstruation a sacred cycle. I don’t know what else. I’m still day dreaming, but thinking about this is way more nourishing to my spirit than imagining how to fit into the patriarchal priesthood.