At the Xena Warrior Princess Convention in Pasadena, CA

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

The Devi has been very good to me this weekend and I am grateful.

 

All weekend I have been thinking of this passage from the DM (Coburn):

 

4.21

With what may this prowess of yours be compared? Where is there (such

a) form, exceedingly charming (yet) striking fear into enemies?

 

Compassion in mind and severity in battle are seen in you...

 

 

When the question is posed why does XWP have such a fierce and loyal

fan base, I think that in our culture we are missing that aspect of

the Female Divine that is uncompromised, fierce and beautiful. And

heros take the aspects of divinity that we revere and channel them in

human form; accessible and fallible, thus endearing.

 

I am thinking of you all.

 

Bright Blessings,

 

prainbow

[Guest guest]

"prainbow61 <paulie-rainbow" <paulie-rainbow wrote:

Namaste,

 

The Devi has been very good to me this weekend and I am grateful.

 

All weekend I have been thinking of this passage from the DM (Coburn):

 

4.21

With what may this prowess of yours be compared? Where is there (such

a) form, exceedingly charming (yet) striking fear into enemies?

 

Compassion in mind and severity in battle are seen in you...

 

 

When the question is posed why does XWP have such a fierce and loyal

fan base, I think that in our culture we are missing that aspect of

the Female Divine that is uncompromised, fierce and beautiful. And

heros take the aspects of divinity that we revere and channel them in

human form; accessible and fallible, thus endearing.

 

I am thinking of you all.

 

Bright Blessings,

 

prainbow

 

Hello,

 

It is a sign of the state of the male centered mindset that all strong female

types are either, Comic Book Charicters, Demons or witches, or wives.

 

Lets look at our Disney where the lead female roles are almost always womyn

whoes stregnth lies in finding a husband, but not just a husband but a rich

husband, thus the womyns value is the mans value. Outside of this the remaining

promenant femyle roles in the film are the witch. Cinderella was a hero for

landing the prince, and her step sisters were seen as the evil womyn who were in

competition for the vert same princes hand, thus the value of everyones roles

revolves around the prince. In Snow White, she becomes a hero by cleaning house

and taking care of the men as they go to work, until she also becomes married to

the prince, in Snow White we all know the other femyle role was her step mother,

who hated her, because she was more beautiful and thus competition for men. In

The Little Mermaid, the mermaid is a hero for daring to dream of loving a humyn

man, and her value is in winning his heart (Note I have read that in the

original she fails and turns into see foam), the other womyn in the movie are

her blindly obedient sisters, and the witch. If you look at these movies that

shapped a lot of people minds as they grew up the only single womyn are witches.

Imagine a Snow White where she becomes a hero by going out and instead of

working to clean the miners home, works in the mines with them, or generally

does something self supporting and self worthy.

 

When we look at mythology, we have Venus, the goddess of love. Regardless of how

she was historically viewed she is viewed in the modern era by many as an idea

set for womyn to attrack male attention.

 

The only really strong womyn in mythology is of course in the eyes of many, a

demon. Lillith, the one who dared to tell Adam no, the one who dared to own her

own sexuality. The power of femyle sexuality is something very strong and very

deep. It has to be a demonic force to a male centered world because it is

something males will never understand or be able to control.

 

Sadly little is changing to open the door to this power, people talk about

womyns right to orgasisms as if this were something that could be questioned. No

one asks if men have this right. The models of womyn are still the same as they

were 50 years ago, married, mother... (not to demean those very important

stations in life if that is what you feel is right for you.)

 

I was going some where and I got lost... sorry... my point is gone off without

me.

 

D.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

, "D."

<thesanepoet> wrote:

>

> It is a sign of the state of the male centered mindset that all

strong female types are either, Comic Book Charicters, Demons

or witches, or wives.

 

Hi D: I know Xena fits the comic book type. And it's true the show

probably would not have been as popular if the team was made

up of Andrea Dworkin and Sheila Kuehl. And women buy into

cultural notions of how women should look and act, etc.

 

However, it is important and necessary to be strong in the face of

other people's attacks. If justice and love aren't the way of the

land, I want to work to bring them into being. Xena is a role

model for women to stand up for what they believe in. And Xena

was not a wife, a witch, or a demon. She still managed to be a

decent role model, and Gabrielle, too, moreso than probably any

other female characters on television!

 

Or do you disagree with that?

 

And do you also recognize a connection between Xena and the

Devi-Mahatmya, as prainbow mentioned?

[Guest guest]

Hi D: I know Xena fits the comic book type. And it's true the show

probably would not have been as popular if the team was made

up of Andrea Dworkin and Sheila Kuehl. And women buy into

cultural notions of how women should look and act, etc.

 

However, it is important and necessary to be strong in the face of

other people's attacks. If justice and love aren't the way of the

land, I want to work to bring them into being. Xena is a role

model for women to stand up for what they believe in. And Xena

was not a wife, a witch, or a demon. She still managed to be a

decent role model, and Gabrielle, too, moreso than probably any

other female characters on television!

 

Or do you disagree with that?

 

 

Hello...

 

I agree with what you are saying very well, I think of the power puff girls as

another example of femyle power shaping the world as you say to bring about

justice and love. My point is that as much as you and I agree on these points

(well maybe you don't agree about the Power Puff Girls), as far as them being

examples to give girls, and womyn the thought that they too have power and can

fight for truth and justice. It is another story if we are going to walk outside

of this circle and tell the world, look womyn can be strong, see Xena, they will

say, "but she's a comic book charicter". My point was not to demean Xena but to

point out that her role is created to a comic book image in order to make it

easier to pass off. It is as if it is ok for young girls to run around the house

and pretend that they are super-heros, just as it is ok for young boys, but at

some point they are both expected to "grow up" and for males that means becoming

a "man" which has in it the ability to protect the family through their own

strength. While when girls "grow up" they are forced into a place of ballance

where they are expected to find a mate. When this happens they show their

strength and fight through the male, supporting the male, keeping the house

while he goes off to fight, and it is expected that as boys the super-hero ideas

be placed aside, but they aren't really given a replacement(Barbie?).

 

I don't know much about the goddess's right now, I am here to learn, so I will

not comment on the last question.

 

Interesting article in Time Mag. about homeland security. It talked about how

men and womyn view the threats from terrorists and how to reach security. It

says that womyn are more focus on what can I do, what is the government doing to

protect my family, my kids, my house, my community, and it discribes it as a

defensive posture. It points out that the government can dump as much money as

it wants into security but it can never make sure every single family is 100%

safe. Which is why the males tend to look at the same picture and say, we have

to go get those bastards before they get us. There idea is to eliminate every

terrorist in the world that might threaten us, or in Bush's words, "rid the

world of evil". The articule then points out that just as we can never make

every person safe, we can never root out and kill every person who may be a

threat to us. In the same issue was a quote from a congressman, Howard Coble of

North Carolina, "Some probably were intent on doing harm to us, just as some of

these Arab-Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us". He was talking

about the internment of Japanesse in WWII and defending it as a good idea.

 

Ok...

 

D.