People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute. - Daria
Let's see if I can get my brain off racism long enough to discuss another subject near and dear to my heart: Magick & Gender.
For as much as the Pagan and Occult community loves to think of itself as some loving, tolerant, all-inclusive extravaganza, I often find it's perceptions of gender to be archaic and disturbing. Part of this may be attributed to the cultures in which one's particular magickal practices derived. But sometimes it is actually our modern perception of these cultures and rituals that leads to this great divide.
How is gender defined?
In the West we traditionally tend to conceive of gender as bipolar and conflate it with sex. If you have a penis, your sex is male, your gender is male, and you are expected to exemplify male gender roles. If you have a vagina, your sex is female, your gender is female, and you are expected to exemplify female gender roles. This uber structured outlook leaves little room for
anomalies. Anyone who's familiar with daytime TV has probably seen one of the many heart-wrenching talk show episodes where a parent was forced to choose a sex for their hermaphroditic child that was later regretted, or given
no choice at all. Many people may also consider themselves
transgendered. They may feel that their sex does not match their gender and/or that the Western bipolar classification system does not adequately describe their internal gender. For some, this means fully or partially transitioning from male to female (MtF) or female to male (FtM) by wearing specific clothing, taking hormones, getting mastectomies or implants, or having gender reassignment surgery. It should be noted that one's internal gender does not indicate one's sexual orientation.
In non-Western cultures we often find a more expansive
taxonomy. Many cultures recognize a
third gender that may refer to trans peoples, eunuchs, intersex peoples, and many other types of internal gender/outer sex organ combinations mixed with specific gender roles. In some primitive cultures we may see up to 6 unique genders. Many of these cultures have a very rich concept of third gender. These are not merely cases of
gender dysphoria, but individuals happy in their own bodies who have taken on a specific gender role in their society that is (usually) not determined by their physical sex.
An example of third gender that I've always found fascinating is the Native American
Two-Spirit. The name comes from the idea that certain individuals had two spirits (assumedly one male and one female) occupying their bodies. They often fulfilled a
shamanistic role in their tribes and dressed in articles of clothing pertaining to both sexes. It's also important to note that their partners did not view themselves as homosexuals, signifying that these tribes drew a distinction between physical sex and mental/socially-constructed gender.
How does gender affect magick?
A variety of issues crop up when we mix gender and magick. In some cases occult practices aimed for an equality of the sexes, nixing gender roles in regards to these practices. In other cases gender and/or sex have limited the options available to an individual and created pre-conceived notions about their ability to perform certain functions.
You're probably familiar with the concepts of male and female energy. But how does this apply to people? Does your energy match your outer sex? Does it match your inner gender? And have we fallen into the Western dichotomous trap of assuming there are only two options? I'm of the mind that your energy matches your internal gender, perhaps flavored by the particular archetype you're most in tune with at the time. For those whose gender and sex are the same, it may seem bizarre that I've come to this conclusion. You might feel that your physical body is inseparable from the energy that said body contains. But for those who've ever felt that disconnect from their bodies, it can be quite a different story. You might also argue that anyone can harness both male and female energy. While I wouldn't necessarily argue against this (at least not without further thought or research), I believe it would at least take a conscious effort to change from one to the other. My concern for now is just the natural state of your energy.
Now I know everyone might not use or believe in this type of energy model, but let's run with it for a moment as it creates very real consequences for our fellow magickians. A lot of fertility based or Gardnerian influenced pagan religions seem focused on a dichotomous gender and energies. Although the Goddess is sometimes elevated above the God, the two are always present in some manner. These religions often divide tasks based on gender roles. A female sexed High Priestess represents or "becomes" the Goddess in ritual with the role of the High Priest being performed by a man. Whether by design or coincidence, they are placing emphasis on the physical body being your connection to the divine rather than your internal spirit or energy. Now sure, in most cases the external and internal match up so it doesn't matter. But how often do we check to make sure before we assign or take on these roles? This begs the philosophical and theological question of which is more important: matching our physical representations to Deity or matching our internal ones?
Dianic Wicca and Feminist Wicca
Many Dianic/Feminist groups would point to the physical. In
Drawing Down the Moon (2006), Margot Addler describes the beliefs of the Z. Budapest stream of thought as:
All that is male in nature is seen as a variation of the Goddess, coming from her, birthed from the wombs of women. And women's wombs are seen as the source of creation, and the source of women's power, whether or not women have had a hysterectomy. As a result, Dianic Wiccan feminism is basically "essentialist" as opposed to the view that most of the differences between men and women are culturally produced. Most Dianics in this tradition do not accept transgender or surgically altered men as female, a controversy that has raged throughout the women's movement for years. (p. 126)
This rigid view of gender creates many problems. It emphasizes the archaic Western view of gender qua sex that we are only now barely
escaping from. It promotes the idea that transgender women are not "real women," further scarring an already
downtrodden class. It promotes an "essentialist" view, denoting an innate mental/spiritual difference between the
physical sexes which may be construed negatively. And what people often forget: all these ideologies don't necessarily stay in the circle. They are often expressed in every day life and the interactions group members have with others. For a group that aligns itself with
feminism, a movement concerned with breaking down the barriers of gender roles, it seems that they are actually promoting gender role distinction. Why? I think the historical time line may provide a clue. Budapest created her stream of Dianic Wicca in the early 70s, riding the coattails of 1960s second wave feminism. The "essentialist" view is an unfortunate anachronistic leftover of 1960s second wave feminism. Why are so many Dianic groups stuck in the past?
There's a store about an hour away from here that's owned by a woman who belongs to a feminist coven. While I am unsure of their stance on trans women, I do know that they don't allow men of any sexual orientation. A few years ago
my friend asked why that was and she gave an answer along the lines of "we don't have guys... parts get in the way." I kid you not. Now I can understand the appeal of a same sex or same gender coven: a sense of camaraderie, being able to explore women's (blood) mysteries comfortably, being united and focused by similar life goals. But these weren't the reasons given. So what are these
parts that are getting in the way? Are we saying that their penises are going to mess up the energy of the circle? Then once again we have the idea that the outer package dictates the energy contained within. Or are we concerned with the stereotypical male way of thinking interfering with the atmosphere? If it's the latter, we're doing a great disservice to half the population, claiming we know how they think and behave solely because we know they have male genitals. Which in turn leads to the exclusion of trans women (at the very least, those who are pre-op) and those of other genders that do not have natural born female bodies. Conversely, this allows anyone of any gender contained in a natural born female body to infiltrate the circle. I suspect that a person with a female body who identifies as male, strolling in there with their uber masculine energy and thought patterns would wreak a lot more havoc than a mere penis. (And if that fails, they can always bring a strap-on).
The Glass Ceiling of the Occult
Another consequence of the essentialist view, that reaches beyond Dianic/Feminist covens, is the belief that one sex is spiritually superior to the other. A friend of mine once stated quite bluntly that women were more spiritual than men. Now I'm sure a lot of us are familiar with jokes about women dragging their husbands to church against their will, but that's not the implication as it pertains to the magickal community. Perhaps this is another by-product of the pagan/polytheist revival's close ties to the feminist movement, but we often encounter this stigma that women are the spiritually superior.
Women have women's intuition. Mothers have eyes in the back of their heads and closer bonds with their children. The Goddess is #1 and she's in every woman. And let's not forget the awkward shock some women have when they find a straight man interested in magick. But why is this opinion so pervasive? It may be partially traced back to the stereotype of men being associated with science and math whereas women are associated with emotions and intuitive thought. By twisting this into a positive association, women empower themselves in the metaphysical field. But how is this any better than the glass ceilings in math, business, and science that women have fought so hard to crack? Should women really allow themselves to benefit from and feed this erroneous stereotype?
Now, not every conflict between gender and magick is the result of Western thinking and history. Let's shift our focus to the other side of the world for a moment. Not too long ago another
blog mentioned a
Tantric ritual that was only for those with a penis.
(Editor's note: Apparently this was a case of vague wording, leading me to interpret the word wang as its American slang meaning. I apologize for the misunderstanding but I will be leaving the following discussion in my essay as I believe it has merit whether or not I have a particular incident to point to.) I find it interesting that this is coming from a culture with a fairly established
third gender. Since neither the ritual itself or further explanation was provided, it's left me speculating as to why this ritual would be limited to men. As far as I know (thanks to two days of desperately brushing up on the subject) only
left-handed Tantric practices incorporate actual sex. Many practitioners prefer a more internal approach. So is an actual penis really needed or was that merely an unfortunate word choice by the author? While historically a culture may have constructed things in terms of gender roles, we are now at a point in history where we are trying to move beyond that. Symbolism, visualization, and even prostheses can help one achieve a role or ritual originally designed for the opposite sex. Yet many of us insist it be done by someone of the appropriate sex. Why? Are we superstitious, believing that it won't work because we are not following instructions to the letter? I say we can't know until we try. We're dealing with things written before modern perceptions of sex and gender. It's like refusing to take a cruise around the world because your ancient text says that the world is flat.
But let's backtrack to unfortunate word choices for a moment. If the intent of the ritual was designed for male gendered persons but not requiring an actual penis to be used at any point, then we are being deceived by word choices and forgetting about all our intersex and female bodied males. Wording in old and/or foreign texts can often be deceptive. Many authors share the viewpoint of their time period and culture when it comes to topics of sex and gender. This can lead to erroneous perceptions about the abilities of certain people to perform certain roles, and we may mistake this for well-researched fact. We also have the issue that many languages assign genders to their words and even have different words or
phrases for females and males to use when speaking. Take my blog name for instance. The default way of saying "the grey cat" would be
il gatto grigio, which is of course male. By changing my noun to female -
la gatta - I must also change my adverb to the appropriate gender -
grigia. There is no truly gender neutral way of saying "cat." But, if my memory serves me correctly, words like "car" have only one gender option in Italian. It's always female. Each language has its own pitfalls where gender is concerned and it's not something we often give thought to when interpreting what we read.
When is a cauldron just a cauldron?
A common pagan stereotype that you'll often find at gatherings is what I call the "ren faire type." Serving wenches, bards, and swashbucklers carouse around the grounds in pseudo-period garb, playing a role that may or may not be historically accurate. This can be an extremely fun and creative exercise, but of course I'm going to spoil things for you by explaining just how it can be abused.
A lot of people in the magickal community are interested in connecting with the past. All kinds of points in the past, and not just my ren faire example. They want to revive or reconnect with ancient cultures, practices, and religions. But sometimes, in order to slip into character, they recreate past (
or what they think were past) gender roles and situations. I emphasize what's in the parentheses because people's perceptions of historical cultures and materials are often influenced by the current culture and their own biases. A hilariously sad example of this was pointed out by
V.V.F. in her blog. In regards to a poem where the male and female roles were later switched when it was turned into a call-and-chase song, she writes:
As often happens, various Neo-Pagan groups have adapted it to their own tastes across the years. Why were the gender roles suddenly swapped? The fellow witch who helped me unravel this mystery speculates: "...it reads to me as written by a (probably male) neoPagan who missed the deeper Wiccish-pagan themes of Graves (or of Fitch's or whatever derivative work he was familiar with), and reframed it in context of the dominant paradigm to which he was accustomed, in which men feel desire and have agency to act on it, while women are objects of desire and can only react." And ain't that the American way?
This is the English way as well, and many other countries that supposedly made strides towards equality over the past decades. The feminist movement has reached a plateau and perhaps is actually sliding backwards in many respects. Laurie Penny writes, "The truth is that feminism stands at a crossroads. In 2010, women face a choice between completing the social revolution that our foremothers began in the last century or bowing to the demands of the conservative right," (
Penny Red). She goes on to say, "Feminism was meant to be about a total overhaul of society's rules about work, family, sex, money and power." (I strongly recommend reading the entry in its entirety.)
Denouement
As long as the dominant culture remains unchanged, we will continue to see inequality, gender stereotypes, and ignorance in all facets, including the magickal community. We often pride ourselves on being more educated, more open-minded, and more inclusive than society at large, yet our treatment of sex and gender is just as bad if not worse in so many cases. It's time we put our money where our mouths are and actually strive to have a more enlightened perspective and treatment of sex and gender. We can be the forerunners of this revolution like the visionaries we so often claim we are.
