Finding Our Way: Rethinking Ecofeminist Politics
1994; SAGE Publishing; Issue: 48 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/1395177
ISSN1466-4380
Autores Tópico(s)Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
ResumoNowhere in the world of contemporary theory is there richer ground for leg-pulling than the realm of ecofeminist writing. For some people to be Green is to be truly green and if you want to save the world through espousing the ecofeminist line then you better get used to being accused of political naivety. Ever since Mary Daly acknowledged the help of a spider in the writing of her vast Wickedary I have had a problem with the web of ideas that has spun from ecofeminism. Is she serious? is the question uppermost in my mind when reading anything which falls into the ecofeminist canon. Biehl's work is more respectful in that it does assume the seriousness of ecofeminist theory but respect does not result in a gentle critique. There are no cheap jokes or jibes here but Biehl's view is unambiguous. Ecofeminists have got it wrong. Biehl analyses the works of a range of feminist writers and theorists which are, for the purposes of this book, lumped together under the umbrella title of ecofeminists. Charlotte Spretnak, Carolyn Merchant and Starhawk are three of those whose work, Biehl concludes, takes us along a path 'toward a narrow parochialism, primitivism, and irrationalism that will ultimately mystify and support the status quo rather than transcend it'. Biehl's merciless attack on ecofeminist theory begins with an expose of the lack of theoretical rigour in key ecofeminist texts. Facts, she alleges, are valued if they support the ecofeminist world-view, disregarded if they do not. In her view, far from being a radical force for social change, ecofeminism has largely become an exercise in personal transformation. Biehl also highlights the irony of a discourse which while focusing on religion as a locus of patriarchal power seems to be creating 'a religion in its own right' breeding its own hierarchy of shamanesses and priestesses. Biehl draws on anthropological and archaeological research to back up her criticisms of ecofeminist writing. In response to those ecofeminist writers who suggest that worship of a goddess in some way facilitates a desired non-patriarchal society, Biehl points to some obvious historical exceptions and then asks the obvious questions. Did the worship of a goddess orchestrate early social relations? Or did the social relations in the cultures themselves produce the goddess? This line of questioning leads to a key issue the role of myth. Ecofeminists, Biehl argues, appear to believe that swapping from god to goddess, in effect changing the content of myths from 'bad ones' to 'good ones' would change social reality. Many readers would see this as
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