Points
of light and the Androgyne
i) More voices means more power to the group
- The patriarchy is not an alliance, more a code
of battle that respects his rivals right to fight. It is composed of
'points of light' in great number. Although each point is individual, it is
granted freedom (to flourish or perish) by belonging to the whole. Thus, every
action of an individual within the fully composed 'face' is more powerful than
it would be individually.
- Without a collective face, without a voice, an
individual entity can rarely be heard, or understood.
- The lack of a large number of women in philosophy
is why her face is only half-formed. This lack of number disempowers all of
the points of light that make up this face.
ii) Our romantic imagination is oppressing the
'female'
- How powerful the human imagination is! It can add
so much romance to the world, yet often at the cost of missing the real
picture.
- A value system is always formed, sometimes
outside the ordinary dictation of nature (for instance, what is considered
'beautiful' can be completely removed from any natural instincts - for better
or for worse).
- Appeals to 'human nature' are often made by those
who cannot fully define what they actually mean by the cliché.
- The new reality created by the mind is easily
reinforced by the self-obsessed creature. The romance of illusion replaces
reality when it becomes second-nature.
- The warped view of the 'female'-other is more
appealing than the human-she (at least, to this perverse mindset). She is
mysticized as something simultaneously greater and less than human - she is one
day admired, another day feared. On no day is she an equal. And in
reality, the power of mystical femininity is no real power at all.
- A different value system emerges for woman and
man, man and woman. This becomes habit, then tradition. Traditions have the
habit of being accepted unquestioning and being enforced by mass dis/approval –
the power of brute mental force!
- The true egalitarian starting point of different
genders, linked, equal, in an intimate alliance, is polarized by that most
horrid of things - platonic perfection. Unrealistic ideals create unreachable
goals and beautiful phantoms that nullify the magic of this 'dull' world - we
stand now in the shadow of false gods.
- The face of the Patriarch is full, his voice a
resounding echo of power. The Matriarch is not yet complete. She is still
dancing to his tune, playing his game, powerful only within its confines.
iii) With equal respect for the outcomes, we
discover an equal choice
- So long as 'female' is seen as a romanticised
entity, more so than her 'male' counterpart, the true nature of her cannot be
seen. Nor can she be truly understood, or respected, whilst we maintain these
delusions.
- Soon (when?) Matriarch shall be complete, beside
Patriarch. She can match him and both will dissolve into an Androgyne. Between
the binary extremes of gender can fully emerge near-infinite possibility.
- From this point the individual will be free to
design itself between the broad barriers and guidelines of the many genders
that inhabit our sphere of experience.
- Such is the nature of our inevitable progress.
By Selim 'Selim' Talat
The Philosophy Takeaway 'Gender' Issue 26
