Which is why Riane Eisler called it Partnership. I like the “animate everything” and, life on land started because of the partnership of Lichen - fungi and algae, etc.
But seriously (not that cool t-shirts aren't serious). Real human mothers do give their children guns and send them off to war and teach them to hate and teach them nationalism and "parentify" them and abuse them. Real mothers, under patriarchy, don't necessarily embody the values of the mother. The matrifocal society--or matrix, or matrisphere--demands a set of values and qualities that we can attribute to mothers, of any gender, and mothering, but I'm wondering about the gap or slippage between the ideals of mothering and the reality, right now, of mothers and other parents.
It’s a really great point and what my whole next book is about. What happens to the collective mothering of each other we experienced before patriarchy within it? What happens when the grandmothers are marginalized, the mothers are both sentimentalized and scapegoated, and the maidens are under actual attack?
My dissertation research was in feminist ethics and moral psychology, so your post has me thinking about older discussions of whether motherhood values are inherent in women or actual motherhood, or arise from the practices of mothering, or neither. That part of my brain is a bit dusty, but apparently these matters still hold my interest. Can't wait for the book, obvs.
What a beautiful, all-encompassing, and hopeful perspective. I love how it can be immediate. Instead of changing the world, I can practice viewing it through this lens. We are all mothers or have been mothers in the matrisphere. My granddaughter was my mother, the cashier was my mother, a man who betrayed me was my mother. And maybe he still is since my time with him birthed a new part of me.
Which is why Riane Eisler called it Partnership. I like the “animate everything” and, life on land started because of the partnership of Lichen - fungi and algae, etc.
And why Marija Gimbutas avoided the term "matriarchy," preferring to call this social system "matristic" instead.
Absolutely
But seriously (not that cool t-shirts aren't serious). Real human mothers do give their children guns and send them off to war and teach them to hate and teach them nationalism and "parentify" them and abuse them. Real mothers, under patriarchy, don't necessarily embody the values of the mother. The matrifocal society--or matrix, or matrisphere--demands a set of values and qualities that we can attribute to mothers, of any gender, and mothering, but I'm wondering about the gap or slippage between the ideals of mothering and the reality, right now, of mothers and other parents.
It’s a really great point and what my whole next book is about. What happens to the collective mothering of each other we experienced before patriarchy within it? What happens when the grandmothers are marginalized, the mothers are both sentimentalized and scapegoated, and the maidens are under actual attack?
My dissertation research was in feminist ethics and moral psychology, so your post has me thinking about older discussions of whether motherhood values are inherent in women or actual motherhood, or arise from the practices of mothering, or neither. That part of my brain is a bit dusty, but apparently these matters still hold my interest. Can't wait for the book, obvs.
What a beautiful, all-encompassing, and hopeful perspective. I love how it can be immediate. Instead of changing the world, I can practice viewing it through this lens. We are all mothers or have been mothers in the matrisphere. My granddaughter was my mother, the cashier was my mother, a man who betrayed me was my mother. And maybe he still is since my time with him birthed a new part of me.
“Taking on the mother without a little “archy” at our sides can feel scary.” Indeed, this is the rub, the abyss we must cross.
Aho! Thank you for this, Perdita, and for the "animate everything," Sophie . . . sums up and affirms what I've long felt inside.
Ok, but where are the cool t-shirts?
This is my chosen reality 💕