At the very moment in history when the Great Mother resurges through the earth, balancing civilization's masculine and feminine energies, lifting undaunted women of power to lead us into a new age, a considerable show of male insecurity also rises as a counter-force which, in the end, will only make Her stronger, because it is a manifestation of weakness.
In Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and wherever Muslim fundamentalism takes root, cowardly men, scared of their own sexuality and insecure about their own mental powers, insist on the genital mutilation of girls, and prohibit the education of women. I call upon my Muslim-American friends to speak out strongly against these spineless fundamentalists.
Meanwhile, throughout the United State, Christian fundamentalists and right-wing politicians attempt to pass laws restricting women's rights and choices, threatening female health, and attacking the female body, even as they demand 'submission' of women in their churches. American men, especially Christian men, must speak truth to power wherever these cowardly misogynists take over houses of government.
And in secular American culture, in our military and on our college campuses, we have an epidemic of sexual violence against women (more often than not fueled by alcohol) which has nothing to do with religion: it is yet another manifestation of male insecurity, of men who feel their dominance shrinking away in the face of WomanPower and EarthWisdom.
It is time for American males to be truly masculine, not macho; truly men, not testosterone-laden, adolescent fraternity brats. It is time to be prophets of peace, not slaves to the culture of war. Time for us to stand up against the misogynists and quietly say, "Your time is over."
All glory to the Great Mother and the Green Man at the Feast of Beltane, when male and female energies reach their joyful balance.
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