It started with Lilith. She would not be ruled by Adam. She
was relegated to demonic forces.
Next came Eve. Temptress. Responsible for the fall of all of mankind, as mankind was as inclusive as it was. It’s her fault that there is
pain in childbirth, not to mention menstrual cramps.
Jezebel. A strong woman with a feckless husband who was
indecisive and paranoid. We remember her as a worshiper of pagan gods. Men
celebrated her death from a fall as she was eaten by wild dogs.
Sweet Mary. Mary Magdalene. Lover and devoted follower of
Jesus. The first evangelist. Announcer of the Resurrection. She becomes a
prostitute in a century where women are pushed out of leadership from the
Church because Pope[1]
begins with P, and y'all so does Penis.
Inquisitions: Spanish, Papal, and otherwise. Powerful women
in Ireland, and healers in Salem. Maria[2],
Alice[3],
Tituba[4].
Thinkers, activists, leaders, poets, thealogians. Julian,
Sappho, Eleanor, Dorothy, Eva, Flannery, Sylvia, Mary, Audre, Alice, Gloria,
bell, Elizabeth, Maya, Hillary, Coretta, Beyonce, Malala, and Emma.[5]
We have known robbery, theft - not just at the hands of men
who fear us because we are powerful, but by women who perpetuate patriarchy
because they are afraid not to be favored daughters, church handmaids, or
gracious ladies.[6]
One day...We hope and pray, and work for ONE DAY when
powerful women will not be called…
Whore.
Bitch.
Dyke.
Witch.
Slut.
Cunt.
Butch.
ONE DAY we will all step into the powerful river that is our
birthright.
One day these names and these threats that are meant to make us afraid and
intimidate us back into silence will lose their hold on us. The tide is
turning. We are connected as we have never been connected before.
We remember who we are.
We are not afraid.
We
do not live in fear.
ONE DAY is today.
[1]
Pope Gregory the Great, in a sermon confused Mary Magdalene with the woman who
washed Jesus’ feet in Bethany. In that sermon she became a prostitute and it
stuck.
[2]
Maria Cazalla was arrested in 1524 for regularly attending a meeting on the
exposition of the Scriptures.
[3] Dame
Alice Kyteler was the first person in Ireland accused of and charged with
witchcraft. She was a wealthy woman and business owner.
[4]
Tituba, an enslaved Barbadian woman, was the first to be accused of practicing
witchcraft during the 1692 Salem witch trials.
[5] Julian
of Norwich, Sappho (Greek poet from the Isle of Lesbos), Eleanor Roosevelt,
Dorothy Day, Eva Peron, Flannery O’Connor, Sylvia Plath, Mary Daly, Audre
Lorde, Alice Walker, Gloria Steinem, bell hooks, Elizabeth Warren, Maya Angelou, Hillary
Clinton, Coretta Scott King, aka Queen Bey, Malala Yousafzai, and Emma Watson.
[6] A
reference to feminine scripts that women tend to follow that perpetuate patriarchy
from The Dance of the Dissident Daughter
by Sue Monk Kidd.
