(I'm catching up with ones I've missed). What a journey, rich with research, beginning with the womb that you somehow found! And being the tour guide for your reader. Showing what it was like with the flashlight on as well as off. And the questions meet my questions and allow the conversation with the boys who can't lift their heads and the girls who have to learn protection and the ones in-between.
A humanist, not a feminist! Fascinating distinction, and one many pro-woman, non-monotheist but not necessarily feminist men could happily admit to. That’s the sort of practical moderation that actually moves the needle and gains women more male allies. Thank you for the read.
Since many men have already accepted that feminists are trying to take something from them, they can become defensive. Also, the term leads some men to believe that a patriarchal culture doesn’t hurt them, when it does.
i feel so alienated and lost in this culture. i want to go home, and i don't even know what that looks like. it's like i need to work to let it emerge from within
Susan, Excellent. You hooked me with this "As my husband can attest, I am still enthralled by all things cave. There’s just something about being inside the mother that never loses its numinosity." Agree, I too am enthralled with Ireland and all things cave/womb/creation/rest/wonder/mystery/beauty/feminine — love this. Thank you
Get post Susan. I read this yesterday and wanted to comment but was interrupted.
I wonder... are we seeing more sacred feminine rituals, movements and manifestations in our world right now as a means to balance things? To slowly bring back these as part of our culture, letting both live side by side like they used to. As you said, societal change does move at a glacial pace. Where once there was removal, now it's time for the return.
Susan, your essay stirred something deep. I often think about how those three arrogant Greek philosophers—Plato, Aristotle, Socrates—became the first to codify patriarchy into words. They spun unproven hypotheses with such self-confidence that entire civilizations bowed to their “truths.” And once the Christian religion layered itself on top, the cement hardened.
Yet before that, there were women who reigned—Cleopatra standing eye to eye with Caesar and Augustus, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut in Egypt, Semiramis and Nitocris in Babylonia, Olympias shaping Alexander’s path, Artemisia commanding fleets. Patriarchy was not inevitable; it was enforced.
Your return to Eleusis and Newgrange makes me remember how much has been erased—and how much still lingers, waiting to be recalled.
Thanks for responding Jay! This is it exactly. Did you know that Socrates' teacher was Aspasia - a woman? She was a famous orator and teacher from Miletus, so perhaps that codification of patriarchy actually was added to Socrates after his lifetime. I wonder why so few of us know of her... There is so much that has been erased. Every piece of it is a story that should be told. The early Christian Romans embarked on a book burning and were quite clear about why they were doing it - so history would forget.
Susan, I don’t wonder why so few know it. Science has a long tradition of presenting hypotheses as facts—ancient fake news, if you will. Anything unwanted, anything that might raise questions or fail to fit the frame, gets erased or omitted. That pattern hasn’t shifted much since 500 AD. The methods are the same ones we see in the Trump regime—or in any authority eager to dominate others with its ideas.
Susan, yes—history carries the same distortions. In Germany, fields like Sociology, Philosophy, Economics, and History are all classified as sciences, yet each was shaped in institutions that excluded women. That exclusion built frameworks where male dominance became the default lens.
Outside of strictly repeatable experiments, most of what is presented as “fact” is really a hypothesis shaped by those same lenses. In medicine, for example, researchers describe “what a virus does” to the body, yet much of it remains probability—patterns of outcome, not certainty. The same holds true for how historical narratives are constructed: what didn’t fit the frame was left out.
That’s why the idea of Invisible Women resonates. It’s not only data gaps—it’s entire traditions of knowledge built on omission
History has the same problem as Science... If I stuck to the history I learned in high school and college, I would think a woman couldn't be Socrates' teacher, or for a woman to be a famous orator, for that matter. This is what Caroline Crlado Perez named Invisible Women, in the book by that name. It's eye opening, even if your pretty with it. Unfortunately, she doesn't address the default male bias in history.
I will never stop calling myself a feminist. Do I have compassion for men, and the hand they've been dealt? No and maybe yes, the tiniest bit. We've all been given brains and hearts and hopefully a conscience to go with. Discernment is a tool available to all of us. So for me, yes, depressed teenage boys is a very real thing, I witnessed it growing up. But there were a lot of depressed teenage girls, too. And I can almost guarantee that their parents were doing a damn good job reinforcing the "roles" we'd all been assigned for far too long. I'm angry about the oppressive culture I grew up in. I'm angry that we're going backward with such alarming speed.
I'm angry that men can't seem to disengage from their love affair with violence and guns, to the point where little children are repeatedly slaughtered in spaces that are supposed to be safe, and no one does a damned thing about it except dig their heels in even more. It's got to stop.
Is a gun just an extension of a penis to a man's psyche? Don't know, but I'd fathom a guess. Goddess forbid we're spared the rod, once and for all. I can't wait to read the story...I wish I could be more open-hearted about what men have suffered, but that one's really tough for me. Kind of the most sarcastic boo-hoo. Will we ever be able to teach men that being tender, soft, and loving is totally acceptable? Why do we have teach them? xo
I love this. Notice I used the word feminist in the title. I just don’t think we’re getting anywhere without compassion. I’ve watched the way these boys grow up a little and their fathers come out of their mouths. All those men were boys once, too.
I hear you, and compassion is really key, but there's space for the anger of women, too. I hate that the word woman has man in it, I hate the word female has male in it. I had a sociology teacher who told us (I never found out if this was true or her "theory") that the w and o in woman or women stood for "wife of" man or "wife of" men. I did appreciate the awareness though. And yes, I did see that you used feminist in the title. I think you're further along than I am as far as spiritual healing is concerned. My therapist is of the mind that we shouldn't hate anyone, that we must love the haters. I don't know if I'll ever be that spiritually evolved. I think I'm okay with that. I make exceptions on a case by case basis to men I love and like. They have to be special (which is unfortunate). I know it's what they've been taught for millenia, but as far as I'm concerned, it's not a pass. Because of discernment. The culture is going to have to crumble for anything new and affirming to come out of it. I think that's what we're witnessing right now in our current situation.
I agree. We are witnessing that right now. More important than being spiritually evolved is being honest. You can get anywhere without that. I share your anger about these things. It’s why I write.
I guess it's why I write, too. I'm just getting in touch with my ability to write about the things that make me angry in a way that's possibly helpful. I like what you said about being honest. I think I'm finally at a point where I don't care so much what other people think of me. Sure is freeing to let myself be ME. xo
(I'm catching up with ones I've missed). What a journey, rich with research, beginning with the womb that you somehow found! And being the tour guide for your reader. Showing what it was like with the flashlight on as well as off. And the questions meet my questions and allow the conversation with the boys who can't lift their heads and the girls who have to learn protection and the ones in-between.
Thank you Katharine. I love that you are reading them. Makes me feel connection in the dark spaces.
A humanist, not a feminist! Fascinating distinction, and one many pro-woman, non-monotheist but not necessarily feminist men could happily admit to. That’s the sort of practical moderation that actually moves the needle and gains women more male allies. Thank you for the read.
Since many men have already accepted that feminists are trying to take something from them, they can become defensive. Also, the term leads some men to believe that a patriarchal culture doesn’t hurt them, when it does.
I dare anyone to not be obsessed with the Eleusinian Mysteries! Nice work, Susan!
Thank you Maria! I’ve been obsessed for almost 20 years. A Woman’s Mystery? Come on!
i feel so alienated and lost in this culture. i want to go home, and i don't even know what that looks like. it's like i need to work to let it emerge from within
I feel that. Sometimes I am shopping countries like I used to shop Zillow during the pandemic. Except I can’t leave my family.
Susan, Excellent. You hooked me with this "As my husband can attest, I am still enthralled by all things cave. There’s just something about being inside the mother that never loses its numinosity." Agree, I too am enthralled with Ireland and all things cave/womb/creation/rest/wonder/mystery/beauty/feminine — love this. Thank you
Thanks! One more thing we share. It’s getting kinda awesome in here.
Thank you!
Get post Susan. I read this yesterday and wanted to comment but was interrupted.
I wonder... are we seeing more sacred feminine rituals, movements and manifestations in our world right now as a means to balance things? To slowly bring back these as part of our culture, letting both live side by side like they used to. As you said, societal change does move at a glacial pace. Where once there was removal, now it's time for the return.
This is what I think is happening. In the U. S. it’s going to be a dearth and rebirth, I’m afraid. I hope I’m around for the rebirth part.
ME TOO!
Susan, your essay stirred something deep. I often think about how those three arrogant Greek philosophers—Plato, Aristotle, Socrates—became the first to codify patriarchy into words. They spun unproven hypotheses with such self-confidence that entire civilizations bowed to their “truths.” And once the Christian religion layered itself on top, the cement hardened.
Yet before that, there were women who reigned—Cleopatra standing eye to eye with Caesar and Augustus, Nefertiti and Hatshepsut in Egypt, Semiramis and Nitocris in Babylonia, Olympias shaping Alexander’s path, Artemisia commanding fleets. Patriarchy was not inevitable; it was enforced.
Your return to Eleusis and Newgrange makes me remember how much has been erased—and how much still lingers, waiting to be recalled.
Thanks for responding Jay! This is it exactly. Did you know that Socrates' teacher was Aspasia - a woman? She was a famous orator and teacher from Miletus, so perhaps that codification of patriarchy actually was added to Socrates after his lifetime. I wonder why so few of us know of her... There is so much that has been erased. Every piece of it is a story that should be told. The early Christian Romans embarked on a book burning and were quite clear about why they were doing it - so history would forget.
'
But of course, she was hidden.
It’s infuriating when you realize how deeply and how big the deception is.
Susan, I don’t wonder why so few know it. Science has a long tradition of presenting hypotheses as facts—ancient fake news, if you will. Anything unwanted, anything that might raise questions or fail to fit the frame, gets erased or omitted. That pattern hasn’t shifted much since 500 AD. The methods are the same ones we see in the Trump regime—or in any authority eager to dominate others with its ideas.
It’s everything. It hurts everyone.
Yes. I agree.
Susan, yes—history carries the same distortions. In Germany, fields like Sociology, Philosophy, Economics, and History are all classified as sciences, yet each was shaped in institutions that excluded women. That exclusion built frameworks where male dominance became the default lens.
Outside of strictly repeatable experiments, most of what is presented as “fact” is really a hypothesis shaped by those same lenses. In medicine, for example, researchers describe “what a virus does” to the body, yet much of it remains probability—patterns of outcome, not certainty. The same holds true for how historical narratives are constructed: what didn’t fit the frame was left out.
That’s why the idea of Invisible Women resonates. It’s not only data gaps—it’s entire traditions of knowledge built on omission
History has the same problem as Science... If I stuck to the history I learned in high school and college, I would think a woman couldn't be Socrates' teacher, or for a woman to be a famous orator, for that matter. This is what Caroline Crlado Perez named Invisible Women, in the book by that name. It's eye opening, even if your pretty with it. Unfortunately, she doesn't address the default male bias in history.
I will never stop calling myself a feminist. Do I have compassion for men, and the hand they've been dealt? No and maybe yes, the tiniest bit. We've all been given brains and hearts and hopefully a conscience to go with. Discernment is a tool available to all of us. So for me, yes, depressed teenage boys is a very real thing, I witnessed it growing up. But there were a lot of depressed teenage girls, too. And I can almost guarantee that their parents were doing a damn good job reinforcing the "roles" we'd all been assigned for far too long. I'm angry about the oppressive culture I grew up in. I'm angry that we're going backward with such alarming speed.
I'm angry that men can't seem to disengage from their love affair with violence and guns, to the point where little children are repeatedly slaughtered in spaces that are supposed to be safe, and no one does a damned thing about it except dig their heels in even more. It's got to stop.
Is a gun just an extension of a penis to a man's psyche? Don't know, but I'd fathom a guess. Goddess forbid we're spared the rod, once and for all. I can't wait to read the story...I wish I could be more open-hearted about what men have suffered, but that one's really tough for me. Kind of the most sarcastic boo-hoo. Will we ever be able to teach men that being tender, soft, and loving is totally acceptable? Why do we have teach them? xo
I love this. Notice I used the word feminist in the title. I just don’t think we’re getting anywhere without compassion. I’ve watched the way these boys grow up a little and their fathers come out of their mouths. All those men were boys once, too.
I hear you, and compassion is really key, but there's space for the anger of women, too. I hate that the word woman has man in it, I hate the word female has male in it. I had a sociology teacher who told us (I never found out if this was true or her "theory") that the w and o in woman or women stood for "wife of" man or "wife of" men. I did appreciate the awareness though. And yes, I did see that you used feminist in the title. I think you're further along than I am as far as spiritual healing is concerned. My therapist is of the mind that we shouldn't hate anyone, that we must love the haters. I don't know if I'll ever be that spiritually evolved. I think I'm okay with that. I make exceptions on a case by case basis to men I love and like. They have to be special (which is unfortunate). I know it's what they've been taught for millenia, but as far as I'm concerned, it's not a pass. Because of discernment. The culture is going to have to crumble for anything new and affirming to come out of it. I think that's what we're witnessing right now in our current situation.
I agree. We are witnessing that right now. More important than being spiritually evolved is being honest. You can get anywhere without that. I share your anger about these things. It’s why I write.
I guess it's why I write, too. I'm just getting in touch with my ability to write about the things that make me angry in a way that's possibly helpful. I like what you said about being honest. I think I'm finally at a point where I don't care so much what other people think of me. Sure is freeing to let myself be ME. xo
You bring the dark powet of the Mother into all your work.
Thanks Charlotte. That means a lot to me. We’ve never needed that dark power more than
I was getting chills up and down my spine reading this post. Yes. Please. Tell us the story!
Yay! Thanks, Louise for everything. I’m sending out tomorrow.
So exciting! Crossing all the fingers and toes.