Family

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Two fascinating examples of women’s resistance to oppression

An excellent historical example of increasing patriarchal domination of women, and their ensuing resistance, is feminist historian and professor Ulrike Strasser’s “Bones of Contention: Catholic Nuns Resist their Enclosure.” The PĆ¼trich nuns of Munich were established in the 13th century. Like all nuns at that time, they were not cloistered and therefore served extensively in…

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Wisdom worth listening to: Daughters of Mother Earth

Daughters of Mother Earth: The Wisdom of Native American Women, edited by Barbara Alice Mann, offers us a view of ecofeminism rooted in indigenous women’s teachings (one caveat: when I use “we,” I am recognizing that I, like the Whites being written about, am speaking from a position of social privilege which is and should…

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St. Louis: everyone’s charming old auntie, part 2

The temperatures here in St. Louis are, in a word, psychotic. It may be either pleasantly warm, muggy and hot, or pouring rain outside — but the air conditioning will be blasting in any building you enter. I can’t decide whether to swelter in my sweatshirt outside, or shiver in my shirtsleeves inside. Constantly taking…

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St. Louis: everyone’s charming auntie, part 1

Sadly, flying has become more of an annoyance than an adventure. I’m not surprised most of the airlines are struggling, considering their attempts to sneakily ding you with constant, unrelenting fees stacked on hidden fees. Fortunately we deliberately packed light so all our luggage was carry-on, and I always travel well-stocked with good books. Also,…

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To Tend and Befriend, part 4

Actually, the physical and mental health benefits of social ties with women are experienced by men and women both — and for married men, these benefits occur even when the women are not present (85-86). As Taylor poetically notes, “women are heavily involved in stitching up all the little rips and tears in the social…

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To Tend and Befriend, part 3

The myths about male dominance and female submissiveness are not the only current social issues, however, that I believe merit thoughtful scientific consideration — or rather, already have been studied, but should definitely have the derived data become part of the general public’s knowledge base. For example, as mentioned in previous postings, there is currently…

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To Tend and Befriend, part 2

I cannot politely say why I think it is that white, Western, and usually male anthropologists feel the need to insist — in the face of constant data to the contrary — that hunting is more masculine, more dangerous, and more prestigious than gathering. However, I find it tragic that such blatant lies about human…

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Women & World Religions comps booklist

Later edit: This bibliography has been seriously revised and updated due to professorial input. Check out the new version here.   There! That’s all the reviews of all the books on my booklist for last semester’s Ecofeminism comps class. I figured posting the original versions, before they were edited down to fit into the comps…

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Relational Reality & Tending the Soul’s Garden

Subtly weaving the suggestion to always perform right action — based on the sometimes unrecognized fact of personal relatedness with all life — into one’s daily living patterns is one of the most powerful culture-changing tools I am aware of. In this vein, two of the most significant works on praxis within the category of…