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Stumbling into a Cultural Feminist Myth?
Jul. 5th, 2011 11:01 pmhttp://radicalhub.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/re-membering/
The essay is fascinating in its own right, but it also explains why transphobia and/or femmephobia might tempt cultural feminists. To Mary Daly, the central patriarchal myth had the male hero defeat the primal female goddess, dis-membering the female and replacing it with the sterile submissive feminine. In effect, you could say the patriarchy unsexes and ef-feminates the primal female. And in so doing makes her feminine.
I haven't examined this from every angle, but it seems as though they suppose that femininity, birth control, and all forms of transsexualism turn people into the castrated dis-membered female. I think it makes more sense to regard transsexualism as an attempt to embody the discovered self - creating one's own originality - whether re-membering or re-inventing. And some cultural feminists called out the attack on femininity for reinforcing androgyny.
The essay is fascinating in its own right, but it also explains why transphobia and/or femmephobia might tempt cultural feminists. To Mary Daly, the central patriarchal myth had the male hero defeat the primal female goddess, dis-membering the female and replacing it with the sterile submissive feminine. In effect, you could say the patriarchy unsexes and ef-feminates the primal female. And in so doing makes her feminine.
I haven't examined this from every angle, but it seems as though they suppose that femininity, birth control, and all forms of transsexualism turn people into the castrated dis-membered female. I think it makes more sense to regard transsexualism as an attempt to embody the discovered self - creating one's own originality - whether re-membering or re-inventing. And some cultural feminists called out the attack on femininity for reinforcing androgyny.
