Male and Female

This is a post in response to a post, in response to another post, about this original post! I love the blogger world-especially if it really makes me think about something. I love the first post, not so much the next one and I guess we had gotten totally off-topic by the last one-even though it was beautifully written as attested to by the hundreds of comments she received. So here are my thoughts, because it is my thoughts that reside here at colleendown.blogspot.com.

The original post at TomatoNation asks the question, “Are you a feminist?” (You can push the pause button here and go and read that post.) In response to Ms. Bunting, I must answer, “Yes, I am a feminist.” 1. I believe in the political, economic and social equality of the sexes and 2. In whatever small way I have been afforded I have organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests—mainly in the form of writing, but hopefully in raising children who are also sensitive and respectful to the social equality of the sexes. As a mother of four boys and as a wife to a wonderful man, can I also say I am a masculinist who believes just as strongly in the political, economic and social equality of men and would fight just as passionately to see their rights defended as I would my daughters. (I have been known to take on a few elementary school teachers over the years in the process.) The English vocabulary has not yet invented a word to describe what I truly am in my core, so for lack of a better word let me say I am a “YinYangist.”

Wikipedia (a source I was never allowed to quote in school) says it best. “Yin/Yang is used to describe how polar or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn.” Yin/Yang is manifest in hot/cold, east/west, dark/light and in male/female. In looking at a Yin/Yang symbol you will see that each side also contains a smaller portion of the other. Every light, yang, strong, male side also has an aspect of the feminine in gentleness and tranquility. Likewise every dark, feminine, life-giving yin also has strength and courage at its core. I also love this from Wikipedia, “Yin–yang are bound together as parts of a mutual whole. A race with only men or only women would disappear in a single generation; but men and women together create new generations that allow the race they mutually create (and mutually come from) to survive. The interaction of the two gives birth to things. Yin and yang transform each other: like an undertow in the ocean, every advance is complemented by a retreat, and every rise transforms into a fall.”

To a yinyangist as myself, there are no “archals.” In marriage, church and life there should be no hierarchies; patriarchal, matriarchal or anarchical. Balance is a foundational principle of design. It only makes sense that the “Great Designer” would use this principal in the creation of this world, “male and female created he them.” This point was brought home to me recently, as so many points are driven home, through a work of art. We went to see the performance Mystique by Reperatory Dance Theater as they sought to explore mysteries of East/West, Male/Female, Historic/Contemporary, and Yin/Yang. Most of the works were by Michio Ito, a Japanese choreographer who sought to bridge the east/west divide through his dance. He was a highly sought after dancer in the United States until he was deported in the early days of World War II. Michio Ito developed a form of dance that included both male and female movements, lines and curves, inward and outward movements. It was incredibly beautiful to watch and transcended any discussion of what part of the dance was more important, it was simply wholeness.

So back to the original post-I am a feminist and will speak out where I see continued inequality of the sexes. I have a special place in my heart for those “iron-jawed angels” who fought for my right to vote. I applaud Nicolas Sarkozy and his fight to ban the Islamic veil in France in the name of women’s dignity and I agree with a recent Newsweek article encouraging the Pope to break up history’s oldest and most elite “all male club” that has brought so much heartache to so many children’s lives. I have seen so much progress since I was born in the “I Love Lucy” days, but hopefully my daughters will see more and my granddaughters will only know the beauty of the dance.