Violence need not be physical — there is also emotional and psychological violence that causes scars which remain for decades. Girls who bully in school do not use in physical violence; instead, they “use backbiting, exclusion, rumors, name-calling and manipulation to inflict psychological pain on targeted victims,” according to Rachel Simmons in her book Odd Girl Out: The Culture of Hidden Aggression in Girls.
Arguably, Walker’s perception of violence and sex is itself a myth produced by traditional, patriarchal attitudes towards women as passive, weaker, and needing male protection. This stereotyping is further evinced in a comment that “teamwork and encouragement” are the natural way women work whereas “hierarchy” is the natural way in which men work. There may be anecdotal evidence to support this, but the plural of “anecdote” is not “evidence.”
Studies by Marianne Schmid Mast at Northeastern University in Boston have shown that women assigned tasks form a hierarchical system just like men do. The primary difference is that they form them a bit more slowly than men — in a second meeting rather than in an initial meeting.
Other stereotypes appear as well. For example, Walker claims that women seem to better understand
Walker’s book consists not simply of her own writings but also excerpts from interviews with other women. This gives voice to a wider range of people and provides more diversity in attitudes towards religion. Unfortunately, there is no indication as to just who is talking and, for example, when the same women is quoted more than once on different subjects.
Both Walker and the women who were interviewed seem to share in a tradition of cultural pessimism which has taken many forms in the West during the last few hundred years: Western civilization is tired, worn, degenerating, and nearing an inevitable collapse under the weight of its own failings and errors. Such pessimists, however, are also optimists because they look forward to this collapse.
Why? Because after the collapse, a new and better system will emerge — not a civilization, but rather a “culture.”
These ideas and attitudes are not unusual in American religious tradition — they have been a common staple for alternative spiritualities since the earliest days of spiritualism. In her essay “Women in Occult America,” Mary Farrell Bednarowski describes some of the basic themes which keep reappearing in “occult spirituality” in the United States. The three basic themes she identifies are:
- First, there is an indictment of male-dominated Western society as both “unnatural” and as antagonistic to woman’s very nature. Second, there is an insistence on the need to heal the Cartesian split in the universe, to reintegrate spirit and matter, mind or soul and
To her credit, Walker does not try to argue that a “Goddess” must necessarily be a real, living entity. Instead, she argues more for a symbolic Goddess which will provide a more positive image for humanity. On the other hand, some of the women quoted in her book do believe in a real, living Goddess, as do many other Goddess-followers.
Walker also offers interesting critiques of traditional Western religious attitudes towards women, family and society. This is, however, limited by the fact that her perspective is almost entirely centered on the West with relatively little attention is paid towards non-Western deities. Because of this, her generalizations about religion, gods and goddesses are not justified. Taken along with all of the other problems, it is difficult to recommend this.
