What Men Want? Initial Thoughts on the Male Goddess Movement

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" What Men Want? Initial Thoughts on the Male Goddess Movement "
David Green

Document Type	:	AL
Record Number	:	1081115
Doc. No	:	LA124744
Call No	:	‭10.1163/18785417-00202007‬
Language of Document	:	English
Main Entry	:	David Green
Title & Author	:	What Men Want? Initial Thoughts on the Male Goddess Movement [Article]\ David Green
Publication Statement	:	Leiden: Brill
Title of Periodical	:	Religion and Gender
Date	:	2012
Volume/ Issue Number	:	2/2
Page No	:	305–327
Abstract	:	This article examines the sociological dynamics of a number of contemporary Pagan men who venerate goddesses. Rejecting both mythopoetic and normative Western social constructions of masculinity, the Male Goddess Movement (MGM) equates social problems with traits usually associated with masculinity such as aggression and competitiveness. The MGM is built around the interiorization of the female antitype as a form of liberation from these dogmas of masculinity. In this respect ritual practice centred on Goddesses becomes of central importance to the performance of non-essentialized and enchanted forms of masculinity. This interiorization and ritualization has importance for both theory and practice. In sociological terms the MGM marks a new form of gendered religious practice which deliberately resists epistemological labels such as ‘modern’ or ‘postmodern’. Within Contemporary Paganisms it marks a new second wave of masculinist consciousness which, contrary to mythopoetic constructions of masculinity, seeks to dismantle essentialist forms of gender difference. This article examines the sociological dynamics of a number of contemporary Pagan men who venerate goddesses. Rejecting both mythopoetic and normative Western social constructions of masculinity, the Male Goddess Movement (MGM) equates social problems with traits usually associated with masculinity such as aggression and competitiveness. The MGM is built around the interiorization of the female antitype as a form of liberation from these dogmas of masculinity. In this respect ritual practice centred on Goddesses becomes of central importance to the performance of non-essentialized and enchanted forms of masculinity. This interiorization and ritualization has importance for both theory and practice. In sociological terms the MGM marks a new form of gendered religious practice which deliberately resists epistemological labels such as ‘modern’ or ‘postmodern’. Within Contemporary Paganisms it marks a new second wave of masculinist consciousness which, contrary to mythopoetic constructions of masculinity, seeks to dismantle essentialist forms of gender difference.
Descriptor	:	antitype
Descriptor	:	essentialism
Descriptor	:	Goddess
Descriptor	:	masculinity
Descriptor	:	mythopoesis
Descriptor	:	Paganisms
Location & Call number	:	‭10.1163/18785417-00202007‬