the mystique of feminine

on one of my walks i passed a local realtor’s storefront in which there was a human size statue of lady liberty with an american flag wedged between the folds of her dress and a book or plaque with July IV embossed on it… my immediate thought was… liberty is feminine socialist… patriarchy is masculine fascist…

i have a strong preference for the feminine socialist spirit which i make evident in my appearance… you know, project the change you wish to see…

i used to believe the world would be a better place if women had power in numbers equal to men… i believed they would bring feminine socialist spirit to governance… then came Lauren Bobert, Marjorie Taylor Green, Kristi Noem and others… i was forced to reassess my women in power thesis…

i hadn’t read bell hook’s Feminist Theory yet… if i had, i might have known better… here are some things she has to say about gender differences and women in power…

The difference between the sexes is not whether one does or doesn't have a penis, it is whether one is an integral part of a phallic masculine economy

and…

Many participants in feminist movement sincerely believed that women were different from men and would exercise power differently.

and…

Although women do not have the power ruling groups of men often exert, they do not conceptualize power differently.

so… more women in power, while important, is not the solution… those that get there rise within a, now, morally bankrupt capitalist patriarchal structure… they exercise power as defined within that social, political and economic system…

and yet…

i feel certain that feminine qualities of perception and interaction must find a way to make themselves known and felt… that “feminine socialist “soft power” needs to come to the front…

men should learn that embracing feminine qualities is not a failure of manhood… to be egalitarian, nurturing, centered on power with, not over, does not make a man incapable of manliness… anymore than a woman’s being assertive and authoritative makes her incapable of being womanly if she wants to be… the qualities of masculine and feminine can be embraced and enacted by men or women… we need a culture that values a fluid masculine/feminine spirit…

i hear there is a masculinity crisis… i agree, but i have a different idea about what that crisis is… the dominant social myth of manhood in our culture is lonely, one dimensional, violent and toxic… it is power over, not power with… it is narcissistic, petty and revenge oriented, as we see with the current administration… our society is so focused on this power over mythic model that there is virtually no other way for men to be and be respected… those that eschew the lonely macho cowboy model are not offered frictionless, socially viable, alternative models… thus… a crisis…

toxic, patriarchal masculinity walks hand in hand with capitalist system… all that matters is exploitative physical might… this is a morally bankrupt system of engagement with people and planet…

this morning i read about the dismantling of everything that suggests we are in a human made climate crisis… this, of course, serves fossil fuel interests…

it is morally bankrupt to center fossil fuels when deadly floods and wild fires of epochal proportion are raging across the landscape… it is morally bankrupt to abandon nutritional assistance and health support to poor people, at home and abroad, while giving deficit mushrooming tax breaks to the wealthy, and telling people the benefits will trickle down… we have at least 30 years experience with this model… it doesn’t work for most people… it makes a few people wealthier while the rest become poorer and more desperate…

i believe in feminine socialist soft power… i believe in the mystique of feminine… not the mystique which places women in a position of powerlessness and sexual objectification, but the mystique of mystery and power that is intuitive, inclusive and tolerant engagement with the world… i believe in the wild witchy power of feminine… i believe in the dangerous to toxic masculinity and therefore severely repressed sacred power of feminine…

the yinyang conceptual model of the cosmos maintains yin, the feminine power and yang, the masculine power, are inseparable qualities… together, in balanced relationship, there is a world of peace and harmony… however, a problem with the soft power of cohesion, empathy, humility and sensitivity is that the violent power of patriarchal masculinity overwhelms it… feminine socialist power brings flowers to the gun fight… raw, toxic patriarchal power only understands and respects raw toxic patriarchal power… we become trapped in a vicious, amoral, brutal and broken yang dominated cycle…

even so, i hope for feminine socialist soft power revolution… my approach is to be the feminine i want to see… to be my authentic self… i don’t suggest wearing dresses and lipstick is the way most men should go… rather, i believe a society that embraces my gender authenticity is open to feminine socialist soft power… being my feminine self is my revolutionary act…