Happy Mother's Day!

First, I would like to wish a Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful Mothers out there.  You are, after all, literally the reason why the human race even exists at all, despite the fact that the work you do is grossly undervalued in so many way by our twisted capitalistic and patriarchal society.  In other words, your beautiful feminine energy is essentially what keeps the rest of us alive.  

Thank you.

I would also like to note and lament how, for all the shallow platitudes America likes to throw around about "Mothers and apple pie", we are still a nation that perpetually continues to screw over Mothers and pregnant Women in so many ways.  Recently, Guru Rasa von Werder shared a poignant and in-depth article from Vox with us that illustrates the various ways in which that is true.  This article should be food for thought indeed.  Our patriarchal and capitalistic society clearly has a "cult of motherhood", in which the "ideal" of motherhood is so highly vaunted, worshipped even, but in practice actual Mothers themselves get about as much genuine respect as Rodney Dangerfield.  Both during and after pregnancy, so many Mothers are routinely discriminated against, overworked, underpaid, and even outright criminalized in many cases.  And meanwhile, there is to this day a powerful faction of mostly male politicians that is doing everything in their power to deny Women their right to choose whether or not to get (or stay) pregnant in the first place.  Indeed, the rank hypocrisy of our misogynistic and pharisaical system is so thick you could cut it with a knife.

Meanwhile, old Buckminster Fuller (who, not coincidentally, believed that Women should rule the world) must be spinning in his grave right now.  With today's technology and innovation, there is literally no legitimate reason why we as a society need "everybody and their mother" (literally!) to "work for a living" unless they really wanted to.  There are more than enough resources in the world for everyone on this planet to live like a millionaire, but the greedy oligarchs who control such resources apparently don't want to share.  Combined with the outdated scarcity mentality that men tend to favor (as opposed to the abundance mentality that Women tend to favor), those same oligarchs have also done everything in their power to sabotage any alternatives (i.e. free and renewable energy) to their own evil system that they force upon the rest of us.  So why make them even richer?

Additionally, just as we should "dispense with the absolutely specious notion that everybody needs to earn a living" (in Bucky's words), so too should we jettison the equally specious and outdated idea that everybody must procreate as though it were a civic duty.  Not only does today's technology make much useful human labor redundant, but the world is grossly overpopulated and will only get more so in the coming decades, and despite the abundance of the world's resources we are chewing through them like there is no tomorrow while destroying the planet.   And the main cause of that overpopulation is--wait for it--MEN.  Because they are the ones who, both historically and today, force, coerce, deceive, and/or brainwash Women to have kids that they otherwise would not want or are not yet ready for.  Men like to "get 'em while they're young" and then use them as serial breeding slaves, essentially, and all the euphemisms in the world do not change that fact.   It is really no coincidence that the two most effective (and ethical) ways to reduce overpopulation and excessively high birthrates are 1) female empowerment and 2) poverty reduction, while everything else is a mere sideshow.  Because when Women actually have a free and genuine choice on when or whether or not to reproduce, they usually make the right choices overall.  After all, they are the ones who have the most "skin in the game".  So let the planetary healing begin!

MAMASTE

Happy May Day / Beltaine, Everyone!

Today, May 1, is May Day, also known as the Celtic and Neopagan holiday of Beltane.  It has a rather long history and symbolizes many things, but it is most notably a day to honor the Goddess, which includes the Goddess in every Woman.   Elephant Journal describes it rather nicely in their article about the holiday:

Halfway between the Vernal Equinox and the Summer Solstice falls May Day—the original holiday of sex and abundance.  If you’ve ever wondered, as I used to, what the hype was around May Day—as in why I always heard about ‘May Day’ but never seemed to witness anyone actually celebrating, here’s why. It’s deeply rooted in pagan nature and hedonistic sex worship and celebrations. As Christianity spread and the Church extended its reach and control, these pagan and Divine worships of masculine and feminine equality had to be forgotten.  May 1st is Beltane in the Northern Hemisphere, the day we honor nature’s oldest love story.  And we all love a love story.   This is a holiday of union, between man and woman, God and Goddess—a celebration of the divine balance in the union of Divine masculine and feminine. Because once upon a time, the two were honored as sacred parts of the one Divine balance.

Indeed.  And among Neopagans today, Beltane is (usually) primarily about honoring the Divine Feminine, where as Samhain (October 31) is primarily about honoring the Divine Masculine.  Thus, I propose that we shift International Women's Day (currently March 8) to May 1, and shift International Men's Day (November 19, coinciding with World Toilet Day, lol) to November 1.  The latter, of course, should not be seen as a day to celebrate men, but rather as a day of atonement for the evil that men do, and have done for thousands of years now--a sort of all-male equivalent of Yom Kippur to essentially apologize to the Divine Feminine.  

Another holiday I would like to propose is Waterloo Day, on April 30, the day before May Day.  That would symbolize the (hopefully) eventual surrender of men to Women, which I personally predict will occur on April 30, 2030--the end of an error.  Just as that day symbolizes the end of the "darker half" of the year and the beginning of the "lighter half", so too shall it symbolize the end of the 7000 years of darkness known as patriarchy and the beginning of the new earthly paradise known as Matriarchy.  Note too that April 30, 1975 was also when the Vietnam War officially ended, and also in 1945 when a certain little painter from Austria did the world a huge favor by offing himself.  And the song "War Pigs" by Black Sabbath was originally going to be called "Walpurgisnacht", which is another name for May Eve, or April 30.  One idea for how to celebrate Waterloo Day would be for the men to get up on a platform or podium, give a concession speech as though stepping down from power, and have all the Women heckle and throw rotten tomatoes at them.  

So have fun and enjoy the festivities, wherever you are!

How To Destroy Paradise In Five Easy Steps

While many of us wonder just how exactly  we got into this mess that is patriarchal dystopia, as there are a number of theories, one can also do an interesting though experiment in reverse engineering.  That is, if you had total power (and malevolence) and found a truly utopian society somewhere in this world untouched by patriarchal "civilization", how would you destroy it in the quickest way possible?

Here is how I would do it.  I would harness the destructive power of divide-and-conquer by utterly poisoning gender relations.  I would require both Women and men to attend a twisted sex ed lesson, separating the sexes so each is given their own separate, gender-specific session.  And I would teach them the following highly poisonous ideas:

1. Sex is a commodity that men "take" from Women.  In fact, it is a type of currency.
2. A Woman's worth is thus considered inversely proportional to her level of sexual experience, while the reverse is true for men.
3. Women would learn that men only want one thing from them (sex), while men would learn that Women only want one thing from them (money/resources).
4. Each gender would learn to feel utterly entitled to what the other has to offer, as per the logic of the exchange economy.
5. And each gender would learn that the other is "dangerous" and "needs to be controlled or else they run amuck", and of course NOT to share with the other what they learned today.

And within a matter of hours, paradise will be well and truly lost, perhaps forever.

Do any of these ideas sound familiar?  They should, since this is the very "commodity model" of sexuality that is part and parcel of patriarchy.  So let's end it yesterday, full stop.

How To Really End Human Trafficking For Good

Human trafficking, particularly sex trafficking, has been in the mainstream news a lot more than usual lately thanks to the highly-publicized arrest of Robert Kraft (owner of the New England Patriots) for soliciting a prostitute in a South Florida "massage parlor" that was essentially a front for a brothel now suspected of human trafficking.  In other words, he was arrested for being a "john" in a crappy brothel in which the prostituted Women were very likely forced, coerced, deceived, and/or brainwashed into providing sexual services for men.  Which is literally another way to say, PAID RAPE, to one degree or another.  It is a modern-day form of slavery.   And this is hardly an isolated incident, but a widespread global scourge that shows no signs of ending anytime soon.

Two years ago, I had written an article about the nuanced nature of prostitution under patriarchy and capitalism, and my views in principle have not changed very much since then.  I still prefer full decriminalization, but I would no longer oppose the Nordic Model either, as that would still be a step up from the abysmal failure that is the status quo in the USA.  But we must not harbor any illusions about the true root of the problem (i.e. the systemic intersection of capitalism and patriarchy), and must tackle it directly as follows:

1. At the very least, stop criminalizing the sex workers/victims themselves, and stop treating them as "less than" in any way, shape or form.  They need to be completely decriminalized, respected, and exit services must be made abundantly and widely available.
2. For any acts that meet the internationally recognized definition of human trafficking of anyone, and/or involve people under 18 providing sexual favors for money or other consideration, ZERO TOLERANCE, period.  That goes for both the supply side (pimps, procurers, and traffickers) as well as the demand side ("johns") who knowingly and willingly participate in such evil.
3. Go after the organized crime syndicates that engage in such reprehensible activities, and get them where it hurts the most, by going after their money.  We have the tools (such as RICO) to wipe these evil organizations out already, yet their seamy underworld persists thanks to a corrupt and/or indifferent "overworld" that all too often enables it.  You can't have the former without the latter.
4. Go for a true Nordic Model in ALL ways, particularly the robust social welfare programs that are the crown jewels of such countries.  In fact, expand this even further to include a Universal Basic Income for all as well, ideally financed by money creation and/or highly progressive taxation, and we would truly remove the chronic desperation that drives so many into the flesh trade to begin with.  It would also go a long way towards smashing the greater kyriarchy, including patriarchy and capitalism.  So what are we waiting for? 
5. And last but not least, whatever remains of the sex industry needs to be fully taken over by the better half of humanity.  History has shown that only Women can be trusted with something like that.

In other words, we really need to see the forest for the trees.  Anything less would be uncivilized.

In the meantime, if in your travels or in your neighborhood you ever happen to notice any sort of red flags that may indicate the presence of human trafficking, do NOT hesitate to call the National Human Trafficking Hotline ASAP.  And fellas, seriously, don't be a "john", be a MATTOO instead.

 

A Must-Read Article About Male Sexuality

Writer Megan E. Holstein wrote a recent article, "The Two Ways Men Express Lust", that should be a must-read for everyone.  While I do not always agree with everything this particular author writes in other articles, which can be occasionally problematic and even a little cringeworthy at times (who isn't, really?), this article is spot-on for the most part.  She articulates very well the nuances of male lust in a way that does NOT throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater, a perspective that is very much needed today.

In a nutshell, there is a world of difference between men who love sex with Women versus men who view sex with Women as a conquest (cf. Riane Eisler's "partnership" vs. "dominator" models). The former is natural and healthy, while the latter is downright toxic.  I would go so far as to argue that the latter is, even when consensual, on the same spectrum as rape and sexual assault, and for such conquerors, slopes can be much slipperier than they appear.  But we must not conflate mere sexual desire with the desire for conquest, lest we either end up vilifying male sexuality across the board (which can backfire mightily), promoting rape culture, or more likely a bit of both.

Very much worth a read, regardless of how you may feel about some of the other articles she writes.

The Three Biggest Casualties of (Gender) War

Every war has casualites, and the 7000 year long gender war (which we call "patriarchy" to make it sound nicer) is certainly no exception.  There are many such casualties, and the three biggest ones are as follows:

1. The first casualty is TRUTH.  And that is not just a clichéd statement, but is practically axiomatic.  If people really knew the truth, the continuity of the war will be called into question.  So the truth is deliberately hidden and replaced with lies, half-truths, and omissions whenever possible.  Eventually it leads to a "post-truth" society and world, in which the truth becomes essentially irrelevant in what passes for discourse.
2. The second casualty is INNOCENCE.  Not as a euphemism for ignorance (for which there is still plenty), but in the most general sense, which includes the capacity for trust.  And that is a result of the first casualty, truth. Not to mention all of the actual and horrific atrocities of the war itself as well.  This results in jadedness, bitterness, and cynicism, which in the case of the gender war seriously poisons the relationship between Women and men, and also vitiates what remains of the sisterhood between Women as well.
3. The final casualty is LOVE.  And not just in the romantic sense, but in the most general sense to include all forms of love, all the way down to and including friendship.  In fact, friendship is probably the biggest casualty of all.  When both primary genders regard the other as being inherently dangerous/evil and needing to be controlled, that kinda precludes all but the most superficial and/or authoritarian relationships between the two.

Thus, the gender war, like all wars, ultimately hurts everyone and thus needs to end yesterday.  And the only way to end it (without the entire planet being killed) is for us fellas to, paraphrasing the late Emperor Hirohito, "accept the unacceptable" and surrender to Women.  The sooner we finally cap the game, the better.  So what are we waiting for?

What "Liberated" Gets Right--And Wrong At The Same Time

The new documentary, Liberated: The New Sexual Revolution, is a textbook example of how one can be both very right and still very wrong at the same time, to the point where the latter utterly vitiates the former.  The film, produced by the Christian anti-trafficking group Exodus Cry teaming up with Netflix, is a profoundly disturbing look at the intersection between "hookup culture", rape culture, and pop culture among young Millennials, particularly college students.

First, let's discuss the things they get right.  There should be no doubt amymore that rape culture exists, and not only among college students or young people either.  So much of it is exposed on display in this film, in ways that are both shocking and banal at the same time.  And it is very pervasive indeed, infecting the general culture as well, while fueling and being fueled by pop culture in the process.  That much is certainly true, no argument from me there.

That said, the film (and its commentaries) really starts to coast--scratch that, takes a nosedive--when the filmmakers' apparently conservative Christian and neo-Victorian biases rear their ugly heads in the following ways:

• This cherry-picked sample of a few groups of Spring Breakers in a rather notorious location is hardly a representative sample of an entire generation or culture.
• It is questionable whether "hookup culture" even exists, since Millennials are actually having LESS sex with fewer partners than the most recent previous generations (Baby Boomers and Gen X).  That is true for both students and non-students as well.
• The idea that casual sex of any kind somehow must be inherently objectifying, exploitative, and otherwise linked to rape culture is fallacious, says a lot about the people saying it, and only goes to show that when one looks upon sexuality with evil eyes, that can artificially turn it into something evil.  (This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy by then blatantly misunderstanding and misusing sexual energy as a result of such beliefs.)
• The concept of consent is unfortunately effectively relegated to secondary at best in this film, which is both agency-denying and victim-blaming at the same time in its zeal to conflate rape culture with "hookup culture".  Thus, it ends up being demeaning and infantilizing to Women as a result.
• If you torture the data enough, they will confess to anything.  Especially when all you have is anecdotal evidence.  The plural of "anecdote" is NOT "data".
• And finally, the idea that "hookup culture" somehow acts as a "gateway" to human trafficking is really, really reaching here, and reeks of a desperate attempt by Exodus Cry to link two unrelated agendas.  Nevermind that during the actual Victorian era proper, human trafficking was rife despite (or perhaps because of) the priggish sexual mores then.

Of course, the biggest flaw of all is the most glaring omission:  PATRIARCHY.  That evil system is the real root of rape culture, human trafficking, and so many other social ills for thousands of years, yet the makers of this film seem to ignore its overarching role.  Perhaps that is because they are steeped in, I dunno, a patriarchal religion?

What really exists within patriarchy--which still exists by the way--is not really a "hookup culture", but rather a persistent culture of negativity around sex and relationships generally, as Amanda Hess notes.  And neither abstinence nor the protection racket of patriarchy is the solution.  The only real solution here is respect.  And the only solution to rape culture is the eradication of patriarchy, period.

For a better documentary about rape culture itself, I would recommend The Hunting Ground instead.  Don't waste your time with this film though.