Hi, thanks for the article. I've shared it with a couple of friends who I think it will help. Would you mind sharing your sources for the cultures you brought up that have third, fourth, fifth "gender" groups? Any other material on ancient tribal treatments of trans, non-binary or homosexual folks would be very helpful. I read a lot about ancient cultures, Mircea Eliade, Frazer, etc. and have yet to come across anything regarding it. Thanks again for the great article.
"-but as long as the left is so hostile to the concept of the sacred and so desperate to prove itself the true inheritors of “progress,” this will never happen."
This is very interesting: "Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and a titaness named Dione (sometimes thought to be Diana)." Zeus was the main god resident in the oracular oak tree at Dodona, which was likely the main oracle after Delphi in Greece. Dodona was more remote and somewhat simpler--so it didn't have splendors like the treasuries at Delphi. Yet the goddess Dione was also resident at Dodona--and it may have been that she prophesied first at Dodona. The name Dione means simply Goddess, much as Zeus means God. Paired gods, oracles, oak trees--highly productive and worth further contemplation.
Yes! Thank you, I really resonate with this. I remember years ago a friend agonizing over whether they were a "man" or a "woman," and feeling so alienated and even ashamed. I told them that I thought they were unique and beautiful and exotic, actually a wonderful thing unlike anyone else. I don't know if that was the right or wrong thing to say, but I do know that it felt so limiting to have to force someone to fit into the category of either "man" or "woman." I think it's very unfortunate that the trans activists seem to have bought into this so fully. It would seem to be so much more liberating to break free of all the strictures. I used to think we were all on some sort of continuum, but now I wonder whether we're just randomly spectacular in our own unique ways.
Even the Judeo-Christian god has radically different roles and expressions of the masculine and feminine, described particularly in the wisdom and poetry writings of the Old Testament. A holdover from ancient polytheism, I’d say, but contemporaries just consider it metaphoric or poetic. Which is kind of funny, as though the whole book isn’t completely metaphoric and poetic. But I digress.
I'd love to know your thoughts on how these Uranian forms of understanding of bodies, desire, difference and so forth, broadly speaking, can be used to reclaim our agency in more collective/politically liberatory ways. While reading your essay, I was reminded of somaterapia (I'm not sure whether you're familiar with this practice, which originated in radical groups in Brazil, but there's a documentary about it on Youtube called Soma: An Anarchist Therapy) and how it focuses precisely on the question of eradicating fascism from the body and allowing desire to flow. Do you think there are specific practices like somaterapia, or those limned by Federici, that we can employ to make our bodies - our own bodies and the social bodies they form part of - dance again?
Very interesting article, thanks for sharing your insights! It also reminded me of Plato's Symposion, where Socrates states that Original Man had four legs or something like that, and gay people were somewhat better because one loves what is similar in the higher realms. Also your point on penetration and social hierarchy is mentioned in the Symposion. Interestingly, the Greek did invent a lot of stuff and lots of ideologies, but a gay marriage was not something they thought about. As a hetero, I guess gays who marry want to be something they are not, and they would be better of in the long run if they would stick to a unique gay identity. But I have no stake there.
Now your "blaming" of Capitalism intrigued me because many blame (cultural) Marxism or at least left-wing ideology for some of the problems you mention, especially the (social) constructivism. I'm not denying the arguments you make, but it seems both modern Marxism and modern Capitalism share some responsibility. Also note how both (extreme) leftist politicians and companies are promoting this trend at the moment. It would be nice to have some kind of unified theory on this.
Do you know the jungian theory on uroboric incest? It seems some of it applies to the current situation, where young people haven't fully developed their sexual identity (polarity) yet but already become fluid-gendered, which is very different from such a development _after_ one has fully matured and explored one's main gender.
This article has inspired me to move from a free to paid subscriber. The war against body and nature (what I am now tentatively calling “the 3rd dimension”) must be exposed and digested if we are to have any hope of changing the path of destruction we are on. My current pondering is whether we fight against nature because we can not stand the idea that we are not in “control” of our pain. Rather than accept a world in which we must make sacrifices and offerings to the spirits that are beyond our complete understanding, we try to subjugate the great mystery, not by eliminating the resulting pain (climate change for example), but to give ourselves the illusion that at least we “control” the type and timing of the pain, or are at least willing to put up with it in exchange for the “goods” we get by destroying the wild and the natural. When I quit smoking, I realized that the addiction had served a similar service (if I couldn’t end external infliction of pain, I could at least deliver relief to my self inflicted or chosen cravings every time I lit up and be in control of my “pain” in this way). I don’t have the same grace with words as you. The above is an effort to say that what you clarify here is important in so many far reaching ways. Thank you!
Hi, thanks for the article. I've shared it with a couple of friends who I think it will help. Would you mind sharing your sources for the cultures you brought up that have third, fourth, fifth "gender" groups? Any other material on ancient tribal treatments of trans, non-binary or homosexual folks would be very helpful. I read a lot about ancient cultures, Mircea Eliade, Frazer, etc. and have yet to come across anything regarding it. Thanks again for the great article.
"-but as long as the left is so hostile to the concept of the sacred and so desperate to prove itself the true inheritors of “progress,” this will never happen."
That has the ring of truth.
This is very interesting: "Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and a titaness named Dione (sometimes thought to be Diana)." Zeus was the main god resident in the oracular oak tree at Dodona, which was likely the main oracle after Delphi in Greece. Dodona was more remote and somewhat simpler--so it didn't have splendors like the treasuries at Delphi. Yet the goddess Dione was also resident at Dodona--and it may have been that she prophesied first at Dodona. The name Dione means simply Goddess, much as Zeus means God. Paired gods, oracles, oak trees--highly productive and worth further contemplation.
Yes! Thank you, I really resonate with this. I remember years ago a friend agonizing over whether they were a "man" or a "woman," and feeling so alienated and even ashamed. I told them that I thought they were unique and beautiful and exotic, actually a wonderful thing unlike anyone else. I don't know if that was the right or wrong thing to say, but I do know that it felt so limiting to have to force someone to fit into the category of either "man" or "woman." I think it's very unfortunate that the trans activists seem to have bought into this so fully. It would seem to be so much more liberating to break free of all the strictures. I used to think we were all on some sort of continuum, but now I wonder whether we're just randomly spectacular in our own unique ways.
I read an article a while back where a gay man suggested “Q” as an all-encompassing designation for sexually and gender variant people. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/01/dont-call-me-lgbtq/576388/
Even the Judeo-Christian god has radically different roles and expressions of the masculine and feminine, described particularly in the wisdom and poetry writings of the Old Testament. A holdover from ancient polytheism, I’d say, but contemporaries just consider it metaphoric or poetic. Which is kind of funny, as though the whole book isn’t completely metaphoric and poetic. But I digress.
Thanks for a really wonderful essay. Federici's Beyond the Periphery of the Skin, especially the 'dancing body' essay, really moved me (in fact I wrote a brief article on it here: https://www.newframe.com/book-review-beyond-the-periphery-of-the-skin/).
I'd love to know your thoughts on how these Uranian forms of understanding of bodies, desire, difference and so forth, broadly speaking, can be used to reclaim our agency in more collective/politically liberatory ways. While reading your essay, I was reminded of somaterapia (I'm not sure whether you're familiar with this practice, which originated in radical groups in Brazil, but there's a documentary about it on Youtube called Soma: An Anarchist Therapy) and how it focuses precisely on the question of eradicating fascism from the body and allowing desire to flow. Do you think there are specific practices like somaterapia, or those limned by Federici, that we can employ to make our bodies - our own bodies and the social bodies they form part of - dance again?
Very interesting article, thanks for sharing your insights! It also reminded me of Plato's Symposion, where Socrates states that Original Man had four legs or something like that, and gay people were somewhat better because one loves what is similar in the higher realms. Also your point on penetration and social hierarchy is mentioned in the Symposion. Interestingly, the Greek did invent a lot of stuff and lots of ideologies, but a gay marriage was not something they thought about. As a hetero, I guess gays who marry want to be something they are not, and they would be better of in the long run if they would stick to a unique gay identity. But I have no stake there.
Now your "blaming" of Capitalism intrigued me because many blame (cultural) Marxism or at least left-wing ideology for some of the problems you mention, especially the (social) constructivism. I'm not denying the arguments you make, but it seems both modern Marxism and modern Capitalism share some responsibility. Also note how both (extreme) leftist politicians and companies are promoting this trend at the moment. It would be nice to have some kind of unified theory on this.
Do you know the jungian theory on uroboric incest? It seems some of it applies to the current situation, where young people haven't fully developed their sexual identity (polarity) yet but already become fluid-gendered, which is very different from such a development _after_ one has fully matured and explored one's main gender.
This article has inspired me to move from a free to paid subscriber. The war against body and nature (what I am now tentatively calling “the 3rd dimension”) must be exposed and digested if we are to have any hope of changing the path of destruction we are on. My current pondering is whether we fight against nature because we can not stand the idea that we are not in “control” of our pain. Rather than accept a world in which we must make sacrifices and offerings to the spirits that are beyond our complete understanding, we try to subjugate the great mystery, not by eliminating the resulting pain (climate change for example), but to give ourselves the illusion that at least we “control” the type and timing of the pain, or are at least willing to put up with it in exchange for the “goods” we get by destroying the wild and the natural. When I quit smoking, I realized that the addiction had served a similar service (if I couldn’t end external infliction of pain, I could at least deliver relief to my self inflicted or chosen cravings every time I lit up and be in control of my “pain” in this way). I don’t have the same grace with words as you. The above is an effort to say that what you clarify here is important in so many far reaching ways. Thank you!