The term “Ecofeminism” meant nothing to me before I read Warrens introduction to Eco feminism & Laura Hobgood-oster’s outlook on the historic and international evolution of ecofeminism. Throughout both readings I noticed that both Warren and Hobgood have explained their take on ecofeminism. As I kept reading Warren states 8 different woman-nature connections “that ecofeminists claim link the twin dominations of women and nature.” One of them particularly being Symbolic connections, i.e some ecofeminists look at the theory of language in some cases such as the term “Mother nature”, Ynestra King a feminist teacher, writer and oral historian brings attention to the term. She puts into perspective is Mother nature “potentially liberating or simply a rationale for the continued subordination of women.” Which she’s basically asking you if the term Mother nature is a compliment or is it a social construct of patriarchy used to place women into a subordinate category under men. Does it allow man to give woman the responsibility of a mother because she is female? OR is it another way of proving to us women and nature are both under patriarchy since the beginning of time.
If we are thinking about the beginning of time we think of the book Genesis, in Hobgood’s essay she explains that in the beginning ecofeminists analyzed the patriarchy within religion. “For example, they interpret the creation stories in the book of Genesis, foundational for Judaism, Christianity and Islam, as demonizing both woman (Eve) and animal (the snake).”
Since the beginning of time women were portrayed as gullible and easily influenced. In the book of Genesis the tale of Adam and eve as stated above Eve was demonized as well as the snake. From that instance we recognize the dominance being put into play. Women are depicted as vulnerable and Eve she is defined by man as not having the means to fight off the the snack from getting into her head.
Let’s PAUSE the story automatically pushes women as evil and demonic, therefor who else if left to be in charge? Ah yes, men. If I were to take Hobgood’s perspective and merge it with Warren’s I believe what I would be left with is this image:
The picture above is a character from the film Moana, In the film this woman Tefiti gives birth to life through a stone used as her heart later on Maui(demigod/male character) is shown in a flashback taking the heart of Tefiti to give man the power of creation AKA dominance. With doing that he causes Tefiti to turn into Teka(on the left of the picture), this symbolizes man ripping the key of life(nature) from woman. By the end of the movie we see that ONLY Moana can return the stone heart without being harmed in anyway leading us to the belief that Moana herself is the heroin and that only woman can restore natures true balance back to its origin. This reminds me of the symbolic connection that Warren was talking about. The agenda of society is to make woman and nature inferior to man although through Moana we can see from an ecofeminist perspective the relationship between woman and nature. Moana and Tefiti share a touch of the nose and foreheads implementing that Moana understands the pain and torture Tefiti had to go through without her heart(which held the power of birthing life into the world), only women can understand Nature’s true feelings because they share the same oppression when it comes to living in a patriarchal society. Ecofeminism was created to reclaim the, in the words of Warren, “women-nature connections”. Ecofeminists fight against the patriarch and are implementing taking back the power that allowed man to look at woman as their inferior, with their lack of education. When men refer to women they refer to them as different names such as ‘chicks and foxes’ while nature is referred to as ‘raped and conquered’. When they speak about nature they always say ‘she’. That within itself should allow you to see the link between Women and Nature.
Articles used to generate my post:
https://thereitis.org/warrens-introduction-to-ecofeminism/
Thank you, and please come back again xoxo Gossip girl!
I love the relationship of a Disney movie and ecofeminism. Disney has a BIG impact on young children especially young girls. Disney does not have many/if any movies that focus on a male prince. It is always a woman who needs a man for saving. I think, Moana, is a great example of the change in dialogue for woman, how we are one with nature, and that the earth’s troubles are our troubles.
I was never the biggest fan of the movie, but looking back on it, it was a great example to use. It clearly illustrates the comparison of women to nature and men pushing that strength down. It also is great how it shows that only women can have the unbiased opinion of making themselves and nature equal in comparison to men. This was a great example to use.