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WHAT IS TIIE FEMININE ?
"Feminine" is an adjectivederived from femina, Latin for women. It describes
somethingthat is "of women or girls; having qualitiescharacteristicof or suitableto
women;gentle,delicateetc."
However, when I refer to the "the feminine" as a noun, I do note an innate
universalpatternin the humanpsyche,which jung called an archetypeand which is not
restrictedto one genderbut is presentin both women and men. In this context.also.
the Masculine"is not restrictedto men but known as the animus.
The feminineand the Masculine,then,are not aboutour sex organs;they are about
the structureof our consciousness.
They are two ways of seeingand reacting to our
experiencethat are distinctfrom eachother,expressedin differentimages,behavior,and
emotionalresponses.
For example, the Feminine aspectof ourselvesmight reacts to an illness by
contemplatingit for symbolic meahingsand nurturing it slowly back to health; the
Masculinemight respondby moving quickly with an invasiveprocedureto remove the
symptoms.Both approaches
hold valueand arecalledfor underdifferentcircumsrances.
In psycho spiritual traditionsthe world over, the Feminineand the Masculineare
root metaphorsfor the built - in polarity of oppositesthat exists in the natural and
symbolic worlds, much like the well known Chinesequalitiesyin and yang, which lie
embeddedwithin one anotherinsideof a largerwhole. As Jung saidof the Feminineand
Masculine. This primordial pair of oppositessymbolizesevery conceivablepair of
oppositesthat may occur, hot and cold, light and dark, north and south,dry and damp,
good and bad,consciousand unconscious".
Jungian analyst Marion, Woodman has pointed out that these opposite traits
function like the poles of a magnet. Oppositesattract;likes repel. Psychologically,if a
personremainsunconsciousof onepole,thenhe or shegivesup the ownershipof this trait
and losesits gifts by projectingit outside,suchas womanprojectingthe Masculineonro a
man. The woman becomesdependenton that outer person to carry the Masculine
principle.
When this particular projectionoccurs with large numbersof people, as happened
in our society,then men are burdenedwith carryingcall of the qualitiesof the Masculine,
such as analytic thinking, independence,
and goal-orientation.The woman are denied
thesequalitiesand chargedwith carryingfemininetraitssuchas feeling,interdependence,
and process-orientation. The men,in turn, aredeniedthesequalities.
On the other hand, if a personis awareof both the Masculineand Feminine poles,
then thereis a harmoniousdynamicwithin the psyche. As a result,a fuller development
of a wide rangeof capacitiesbecomespossible.
.
The feminine prefersprocessto product,meanderingand enjoying the pleasure
of the journey, ratherthan, like the Masculinestyle, determininga goal and
moving directlytowardit in a straightline.
o
This process- orientationinvolvespresencein the body- in this moment- full
emotionaland sensoryacuity, a permissionto follow one's bodily experience,
ratherthanto listento thinking alone.
The Femininealso involves receptivity,while the masculineis quick to act.
Today,Woodmannotes,our sensoryand psychicreceiversare closeddown to
defend againstwidespreadbrutality. We have becomeafraid and untrusting
and cannotsurrenderto receivelove. But the femininereceives-from the cry
of the plant to the cry of the soul.
o
For, whereasit is the natureof the hierarchicaland separatistMasculinearchetype
to create a world in its own one - sided and divisive likeness,it is the natureof the
feminine to recognise,experience,receive and nurture the whole. As the Masculine
differentiatesthe opposites,the feminine fostersrelationshipbetweenthem as they live
and manifest at each level of being - as sexualcommunication,as the complementary
energieswithin each human soul; as the two modesof thinking, the analyticaland the
connective;and as the two polesof the universe,matterand spirit.
discriminates,controls,conquers,.
endures,overcomes,
The Masculine,separates,
strives,and creates,the Femininereceives,allows, yields, absorbs,dissolves,unites,
connects,and gestates.As Edward C. Whitmont says,the qualitiesof the Femininestand
in contrastto the qualitiesof the extroverted,materialistic,highly structuredpatriarchal
tradition.
While the Masculine is exclusive,the feminine is inclusive; while the first is
objective,the secondis subjective,while is the first dominatedby thinking. The secondis
dominated by feeling. While the Masculine seeks perfection, the feminine seeks
completion.
Above all, the feminineplacesthe highestvalueon relationship. Consistentwith
the Masculine'sfascinationwith the infinite is its tendencyto view relationshipin terms
of purpose and accomplishment. In contrast,relationshipis an end in itself for the
feminine spirit, and it feels violatedwhen a relationshipis being used primarily for any
other purpose,even a worthy one.
factorsinvolved in feminism,on
We havetouchedupon someof the psychological
the nature of the feminine, and on the need to differentiatemore clearly between the
Feminineand woman. As long as a woman doesnot distinguishand differentiateherself
from the feminine, shewill continueto experiencemen as saviorsor oppressors.
The taskthat is beingaskedof us is that we makea quantumleap out of the duality
of matriarchy and patriarchy. When women are releasedfrom being holders of the
relating function, we will have more creativeenergyto go forth. When men are released
from being bullies and heroes in reaction againstthe powerful mother figure, they will
have more energyto go forth.
So the task of transformationis not to be left on women's shouldersjust becauseit
is our voice that hasseeminglybeenrepressed.The voice of the Masculinealso hasbeen
repressed,and it too needsto be reborn.
Feminine are qualities that belong to both men and women. Anyone who
identifieswith only one of theseoppositescannotreallydeveloppsychologically.
What does "feminine" really mean? What is its role in the evolution of human
culture? How does it relate to the female half of humanitv? Above all. what are its
implicationsfor the future of all of us, both womenmen ?
Theseare someof the questionsfor which I havetried to find answersas,drawing
from many disciplines,I have worked to reconstructa genderholisticpictureof our past
and presentand bring together a new vision or blueprint for a future when so - called
feminine valuesare restoredto social governance.Part of the confusionhas been that
thesequalitieshavebeenexiled to one gender. As a result,the oppressionof women and
of the so - called"Feminine"havegonehandin hand.
I say so-called feminine because,clearly, men are alsg capable of caring,
nonviolence,and compassion,and women can be just as identified with so - called
masculinevalueslike conquestand dominationas men havebeentaughtto be.
Feminismhas taught me to examinethe implicationsof gender,and of difference
in general,to help me and othersseethe ways in which peopleare "expected"to be, and to
differentiatethesefrom how they are and how they would like to be. This is an exercise
in awareness,
a bringing to consciousness
of the underlyingstructuresI use to createa
woman or a man from my beliefsand imagination.I havecometo be alertto how my
Prejudicesmay silence,eliminate, or destroy another'sor my own subjectivity- the
ability to go on beinga self - recognisedunity of intentions,desiresand identity.
Women are beginningto realisethat men have beendefining feminity - through
their consciousexpectationsof what women can and cannot do and through their
unconsciousprojectionson women. This has resultedin a distortedview onto only of
women but of the man's inner feminine side as well. Women first need to become
consciousof thesedefinitionsand projectionsand say which describethem and which do
not. Men can help in this processtoo. For if they are sensitiveto the Feminine,receptive
of it.
and listening, they can add their own experienceof femininity to our understanding
But ultimatelywomen have to tell their own storiesout of their own personalexpedience
and feeling, but with an eye to the universalas well. When women begin to feel confident
and to expressthe valuesof their own way of being,then they will enablethe healingof
the Masculine.
Becauseour culture, too, is structuredaround the Masculine principle, many
peoplefind little value in conventionalfemininequalities.For men,this meansa rejection
of those parts of themselvesthat might be nurturing, receptive,and care taking, and a
conespondingover developmentof thosepartsdeemedmasculine. In addition,it means
that most men seekthoseburiedqualitiesoutsidethemselvesin women,while at the same
time unconsciously
devaluingthem.
To identify with a particularaspectof our nature is to narrow and limit our
personality. Such identificationsas we have been discussingalso lead to a polarisation
and split betweenthe Masculineand Feminine. So the woman who must be assertiveon
her job feels very unfemininewhen she has to be forceful, "like a man". But for the
woman who realizesthat she does not have to behavelike a man in order to assume
responsibilities
that were oncethe provinceof men, a door is openedto tap in to the roots
of her own phallic or yang power,which is as basicto her as are the more womb like, yin
qualitiesof her nature.
Paradoxically,the more a we.manidentifieswith the archetypalfeminine qualities
of her nature,the more dependentshe becomeson a man to make her feel whole and
feminine. The sameappliesto the "macho"male who, as we all know, needsto be ableto
rescuethe pure, soft, innocent,helplessmaidento completeand confirm his image. For
both womenand men, the way out of this type of dependency
is for the ego not to identify
with eitherthe feminineor the Masculine.What I meanby this is t[at both feminineand
Masculine,like yin and yang, are universalqualitiesof the soul to which we must have
accessin orderto feel and to expressour totality. The ego that identifiessolely with either
onelosesthiscapacity.
Above all, we must confrontthat inner masculinevoice that continuallymakesus
feel ashamedand inadequateaboutthoseaspectsof ourselvesthat appearweak, helpless,
dependentand impotent when viewed from some perversemasculineperspectiveof
strength,intelligence,and potency. While the Feminine may not have the power or
inclinationto afterthe courseof nature,its relationshipto naturegivesit a strengththat the
Masculinelacks.
Self - affirmation of women means, first and foremost, acceptanceof their
differentnessfrom men, rather than identification,imitation, and competitivenesswith
them. Only by first finding this basic feminine stancecan they also claim their Yang
elementand give expressionto their masculinedrivesandcapacities,
in their own ways,as
women.
HUMAN POSSIBILITES : A GENDER - HOLISTIC VIEW
To somepeople,the ideaof a societyin which womenand "feminine" valuesplay
leadingroles immediatelyelicits the picture of a world wheremen, ratherthan women, are
subordinate. Indeed, when the first evidenceof prehistoric societiesthat were not male
dominantbeganto be unearthedin the nineteenthcentury most of the scholarsof that day
automatically concluded that since they were not patriarchies,they must have been
matriarchies.But matriarchyis not the oppositeof patriarchy,It is, rather,the flip sideof
dominatormodel of society- a way of structuringhumanrelationsin which the primary
principle of social organizationis ranking, beginningwith the ranking of one half of
humanity over the other.
The real alternativeto patriarchalor male - dominant society is not a matriarchy
partnership
but a
model of social organization,in which the primary principle of social
organization is linking rather than ranking. Here beginning with the most fundamental
difference in our species, that between male and female diversity is not equatedwith
either inferiority or superiority,and more "feminine" valuessuch as caring,nonviolence,
and compassioncan be given operationalpriority.
Perhapsmost important,this gender- holistic picture of our cultural evolution
showsthat we as a specieshavechoices,and that one of thesechoicesis a way of living in
which "feminine" valuesand women play a centralrole in both our psychic and social
structures. For if we reexamineour cultural history from a perspectivethat takes into
accountthe whole of humanity(both womenand men)and the whole of history(including
prehistory) we being to see that underneaththe great surfacediversity of human social
organizationlie certainpatternsthat are otherwisenot visible.
I believe this concurrenceis not coincidental. "Feminist consciousness"
is a
phrasethat beganto gain currencyin the 1960s. On a personallevel, it refersto a new
way of looking at ourselvesand at the world in which conventionaldogmas about
women's divinely or naturally ordainedsubordinationare no longer accepted. On the
social level, it refersto the resultof a specialgroupprocess;a coming togetherof women
not only to ask new questionsaboutthe natureof reality,but to supportand nurtureone
another in a new social sisterhood. On the cultural level, it refers to the mounting
recognitionthat the subordinationof women and of "feminine" values like caring and
- and increasinglysuicidal- socialsystem.
compassionlies at the coreof an aberrated
ln the sensethat they are contemporaryresponses
to the potentiallylethal danger
that the dominatorsystemposesto our planetin our high - technologyage,the massive
changesin consciousness
reflectedin the contemporarywomen's movementare new and
radical. But. as we haveseen,the emergingfeministconsciousness
alsohavevery ancient
roots.
Today, with the coming end of patriarchy,the Feminineis like a root shootingup
is
throughthe crackedconcretesurfaceof the culture. The evidencefor the reappearance
apparentin our growing concernswith deep ecology, the Goddess,even the newly
forming men's movement.Therefore,the Consciousfeminineis the next imageto pull us
forward on the humaniournev.
As our own feminrn. nu,ur., evolves within the collective imagination and
manifestsin us and in society at large, the Feminine principle is transformed. The
andoffersus new meanings.
archetypebreathesnew life, takeson a new countenance,
Excerptsfrom: Zweig Connie,To be women,l990,JeremyP.ThatcherI'A