Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Love - Herstory



In the beginning, Eve was Adam’s companion, his equal. So the bible says. In many hunter-gatherer societies, women were generally the gatherers of plant foods, while men hunted meat. When they were tired of hunting meat to eat, they cracked the women over the head with clubs and had their way with them.

In Greek history, women were reduced to a possession were fathers paid men to take them off his hands. Women were traded for money, cattle and other items far less valuable, in the form of a dowry.

Now property of the husband, she was not allowed to share in social events, walk the streets alone or to be educated. It was common for the husband to lock his wife in the home when he went out.

In Mosaic law, the vow of a woman might be disallowed by her father or husband but divorce was a privilege of the husband only. 

A wife's sole duty was to bear male children and work in the home and yet she had to compete sexually for her husband with prostitutes and slaves in the home. Most female children were sold into sexual slavery at birth

Speaking of slavery, African-American women were enslaved and then given to every Tom, Dick and Harry on the plantation. So needless to say, monogamy does not appear to have ever been a natural human state. There has been proof, all along that men desire to be more promiscuous, but most of us still hold them back because we are choosy. 

In more recent history, the gender roles of women have changed greatly. For poorer women, especially among the working classes, working in the home and raising kids remains, but for economic necessity, they seek employment. 

Through economic change and the feminist movement, in part a struggle for equal rights irrespective of sex, our secondary characteristics are involved in nurturing of children or attracting a mate.

After decades of servitude, responsibility, propriety, and necessity, women were not used to expressing and following our dreams. Well it is time we learn. 

In today’s society, we have lost sight of our birthright. We have to realize our value and use it to our advantage. Remove the past stifles and bounds of our sex and honor ourselves for the mothers of humanity that we are.

Women are Aphroditians. Aphrodite(a-fro-DYE-tee) is the Greek goddess of love, beauty and sexual rapture (Not to be mistaken for Roman mythology’s Venus, the goddess of love and beauty). 

Like Aphrodite, we are goddesses who give life, joy, love, beauty, fertility, grace, restoration of life, immortality, prosperity, and charm. We are goddesses of sexual love. 

Aphrodite’s birth was the result of the god Cronus castrating his father, Uranus. Upon tossing the genitals into the ocean, from the aphros ("sea foam") arose Aphrodite. 

The Aphrodisiac, a festival in her honor, was celebrated in various centers of Greece. Her priestesses, representing the goddess and sexual intercourse, were held in high esteem. Fond of gaiety and glamour, Aphrodite gave love and both mortals and gods loved her. Her story is one of an undying generosity of love and beauty. Aphrodite fought for love and primary function was to preside over what was essential for the survival of the community, reproduction

Think about it. We too have stories of love as we preside over our essential survival of the heart. We are emotional creatures, listening to the heart, hearing the logic, then hoping for a spiritual connection that will cancel out the trouble of working out the bad character traits in ourselves and in those we love. 

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