Saturday, October 22, 2005

HOW’d the Amazons GET THEIR NAME?

Those Without Husbands: How the Amazons Got Their Name” was a fascinating paper presented by Vicki Noble at last month’s Matriarchy Conference.

A few tidbits:

o The Amazons were the last remnants of the old Goddess societies. They did not kill their boy babies. Their groups included not just women, but men and women both.

o Marriage was a tool the patriarchals used to “colonize” us. In the old Goddess days, women didn’t marry. When the patriarchals took over, however, they forced women to marry them. This, says Noble, is how the Amazons got their names. (“Amazon” means “women without husbands.”)

o Women, says Noble, should be governing society, and there’s a biological basis for this. Like Bolen (see yesterday’s post), Noble cites the recent UCLA study showing that men and women react differently to stress. With men it’s “fight or flight.” With women, on the other hand, it’s “tend and befriend.” (So, who do you want running your world – people who either fight or run away from bad stuff? Or people who form bonds and tend to one another?)

o Men would be *calmed*, says Noble, in a society with strong female bonding and female governance.

Go HERE to hear Vicki’s whole presentation. I predict you'll like it.

1 comment:

obliq said...

It is difficult in the world for any good to happen when bad is the lowest common denominator.

Any free country lead by a woman can gain no ground with a country ruled by the iron fist of a man.

Hillary Clinton or any woman for that matter will never be president of the United States while this union depends on countries like Saudi Arabia, Bharain, Qatar, Brunei, or any other muslim state that looks upon women with less value than a camel.

Women have to play the game the way men do if they don't want men to win, because it's our game and we made the rules. That is the unfortunate aspect of society at-large.

Cases in point:

Pakistan has the surreal article in its constitution that allows the military to stage a coup and take over the country. That's how Musharef came to power. He overthrew Pakistan's first female president.

A while back Sweden experienced an unprecedented situation. For the first time in history, the offices of the President and Vice-president were both held by women (the offices are elected independently). Several months later, the President was stabbed to death while shopping (yes, by a man). She had no bodyguards because assassinations are so rare in Sweden (she was the first President ever assassinated).

Switzerland is a true democracy. People in the individual cantons vote directly on issues affecting them. But women couldn't vote until 1971. Switzerland has been a democracy since 1290 when it became the first independent nation in Europe after the collapse of Roma.

I saw a program recently about outcasts. I was apalled to see that in Ghana, women accused of witchcraft are banished from their villages. Their fate sealed by a chicken with a slit throat. If it died feet down, the woman was cleared of the charge. if it died feet up, well, the outcome was not so good. The thing I noticed was that most of the women were women of property (house and some livestock) with no husband.