These guys must have known they'd be putting themselves in the firing line for some serious ribbing but went for it anyway. I kinda respect that.
The "Dear Woman" youtube video made by a group of men who call themselves 'conscious men' has gone viral and is a collage of "conscious men" reading a manifesto of "consciousness" built around their belief of the sacredness and power of the Feminine. Since its upload, the responses that hate it go beyond passionate! Their youtube comments ability - disabled.
Some of the men who have blogged/vlogged in response think that their male counterparts in the vid are 'pussy begging' and trying to curry favour with women. Some responses to the 'dear woman' vid are ill-thought out justifying some of the aggresion that is meted out on women globally as , 'women made men this way!'
Are these riled guys are projecting what they know of themselves on to their 'conscious' brethren and are making wolf calls for 'real-man' masculinity who would chew up these "conscious men", all in the name of natural selection and getting a mate. But so what if a couple of guys want to speak out against the supression of women and fore Feminine acknowledgement and empowerment? And, if they don't like it, write your own manifesto, make your own video.
Then there are women blogging/vlogging who don't want to be patronised by some random self-appointed 'conscious' guy telling them how they honour their 'nurturing nature' and their innate ability to commune with 'Mother Earth. Oooo.... they really touched a nerve there.
The haters, male and female , are taking offense by
assuming these guys are attempting to speak for them, but could these 'conscious men' just be throwing a net out around the planet, thinking global, to catch the attention of the human community? And those who fall out, biting and tearing at the mesh of the net? - oh well :o|
Of course, 'conscious guys' need to watch out for that messy messaiah complex but their endeavours make me think of Monks who live in extreme isolation and sit in prayer 24/7 for peace for one and all. Ok , so no one asked them to give up their lives to do this but, in their minds, someone's got to be sending out pure positive vibes to battle all the pure negative thoughts and intentions wreaking havoc across the globe.
Admittedly, these guy's approach and delivery comes over new-age flaky (flaccid) and spending more than a couple of hours with a few of them, no matter how nice they might be, would probably drive me a little crazy but then anyone trying to articulate a new way of communicating or learning to speak a new language would be clumsy and a bit weirdly articulated. It's like trying to speak Chinese or Yoruba with an erroneously placed intonation and saying a cuss word instead of 'wallet' or something.
When I first began listening, I thought, "Please! Kill the violins and why are you talking like that?" But then I really listened, ignored the wishy washy-ness of the apologies and 'unpacked' the points they were trying to make. Personally, I think they're onto something. Especially the part about "moving forward [together] in a new era of co-creation." The vid goes on to break down how masculine energy has dominated in economics, religion, politics and sexual empowerment. Worth a hearing. Ignore the packaging.
If you make it to the end of the video, tell those of us travelling light what you think. It's open season on Forum Feminina.
Are these riled guys are projecting what they know of themselves on to their 'conscious' brethren and are making wolf calls for 'real-man' masculinity who would chew up these "conscious men", all in the name of natural selection and getting a mate. But so what if a couple of guys want to speak out against the supression of women and fore Feminine acknowledgement and empowerment? And, if they don't like it, write your own manifesto, make your own video.
Then there are women blogging/vlogging who don't want to be patronised by some random self-appointed 'conscious' guy telling them how they honour their 'nurturing nature' and their innate ability to commune with 'Mother Earth. Oooo.... they really touched a nerve there.
The haters, male and female , are taking offense by
assuming these guys are attempting to speak for them, but could these 'conscious men' just be throwing a net out around the planet, thinking global, to catch the attention of the human community? And those who fall out, biting and tearing at the mesh of the net? - oh well :o|
Of course, 'conscious guys' need to watch out for that messy messaiah complex but their endeavours make me think of Monks who live in extreme isolation and sit in prayer 24/7 for peace for one and all. Ok , so no one asked them to give up their lives to do this but, in their minds, someone's got to be sending out pure positive vibes to battle all the pure negative thoughts and intentions wreaking havoc across the globe.
Admittedly, these guy's approach and delivery comes over new-age flaky (flaccid) and spending more than a couple of hours with a few of them, no matter how nice they might be, would probably drive me a little crazy but then anyone trying to articulate a new way of communicating or learning to speak a new language would be clumsy and a bit weirdly articulated. It's like trying to speak Chinese or Yoruba with an erroneously placed intonation and saying a cuss word instead of 'wallet' or something.
When I first began listening, I thought, "Please! Kill the violins and why are you talking like that?" But then I really listened, ignored the wishy washy-ness of the apologies and 'unpacked' the points they were trying to make. Personally, I think they're onto something. Especially the part about "moving forward [together] in a new era of co-creation." The vid goes on to break down how masculine energy has dominated in economics, religion, politics and sexual empowerment. Worth a hearing. Ignore the packaging.
If you make it to the end of the video, tell those of us travelling light what you think. It's open season on Forum Feminina.
1 comment:
I struggle with this piece full-bodily-heartily and intellectually. I actually do want to chew them up and I am not exactly an alpha-male. If I even wanna give it that much attention. I am not even going to go into the esoteric flakiness of it. Wait, actually that’s part of it. You referred to narcissism, if you ask me a lot of this new age aesthetic is a product of exactly that. That’s why the guy actually felt it’s ok to forgive HIMSELF for the history of male domination. Forget about being political, forget about collective struggle and action, its all about healing our own souls and for each to become a celestial temple and as long as we “keep it clean” - be it through “ethical” consumerism, “pureness” of thought etc or in this instance spirited gender harmony-(whatever that means) it will all be good. really? I tend to believe that social change, and that’s what women and men need, not praise for some projected supremacy of being, that social change is a messy thing, not a pure one. It’s struggle, not harmony. I don’t want my partner (either gender) to worship my gift of the feminine. I want respect on eyesight. The gift of the feminine? Please. What exactly is different about their idea of “feminine energy” compared to Victorian ideas of the feminine as the supposed pure domestic goddess of calm, nurture, beauty and morality?
“Destructive actions of the unconscious masculine in the past”? Jeez. sorry i raped you it was my unconscious energy, let me have a yoga session so i can find back to my real divine self? WHAT. I am ranting I know but its winding me up. I can take the unconscious bit as so far as I am certain that gender binaries imprison the minds on both sides. All societal divisions that are maintained to keep hierarchies intact do so, race, class, gender. That male aggression (as a fact, not a state of being), just like female subjugation are roles in which we are grown into by societal norms and expectations. To some extent they are cages we grew up in and breaking them up is a life long journey. and a tough one. But its not about worshipping the respective Other, especially not if that worship just turns gender roles upside down and swops inferiority with superiority. It’s not about forgiveness. The notion of the Other remains. We have to start at the base and challenge the very notion of defining male female as binary opposites to break up the rule of divide and conquer.
So men wage wars and women plead peace? Or maybe its just that women have rarely been in the positions historically to stage wars and instead were busy trying to fix the broken homes that war has left them with. From the Amazons, Cleopatra, Nzingha and in various armed struggles in history women have fought and even initiated wars. Not to speak of this country, Thatcher, the respective queens. Or where those male females?
And what is all this let’s start anew thing about? Sorry but no, history provides no blank sheets, it’s layer over layer over layer and we have to deal with it. This doesn’t mean we cannot reinvent ourselves, generation to generation, in personal relationships and even eventually heal – if only to face new pitfalls and coercions; But the ‘conscious men’ - no, I don’t think they show the way.
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