Read This In All Your Spare Time….!

One of my friends recently became interested in feminism and has actually begun taking women’s studies classes and a lot of that is due to a lovely book that I had to pick up too. “The Chalice and The Blade” by Riane Eisler is not a new book nor it is necessarily an easy read. It was published in 1987 and tends to be of a more scholarly nature by no means discredits this book. In fact, this is my new fun read, although granted, I’m a pretty big nerd.

The premise of this book is to investigate the origins of a patriarchal culture Eisler beings this by going wayyyy back to begin with the Paleolithic era. However, this isn’t just another analysis of “cavemen did this and women sat in the caves cooking and having babies.” Eisler begins by explaining that anthropologists believe life was like at that time, but also interprets anthropological findings to reveal the critical importance that women and the feminine played in culture. As Eisler argues throughout the book, anthropological evidence that indicates the peacefulness and interest in life and the feminine has been reinterpreted and taught by male scholars for decades to emphasize a different, more aggressive mankind.  For example, Eisler points out that “…Our early ancestors recognized that we and our natural environment are integrally linked parts of the great mystery of life and death…. This consciousness later emphasized in Goddess figurines either surrounded by natural symbols such as animals, water, and trees, or themselves party animal evidently was central to our lost psychic heritage. Also central to that lost heritage is the apparent awe and wonder at the great miracle of our human condition: the miracle of birth incarnated in woman’s body” (pg. 3). Eisler supports this argument with multiple chapters dedicated to investigating anthropological findings through all the other period of civilization as well.

I don’t have time to flesh all of those out here, but what is largely the underlying argument of the book is that this has all been interpreted in a different manner by male scholars to reflect quite an opposite story. “…There still prevail the preconceptions of earlier scholars who saw Paleolithic art in terms of the conventional stereotype of “primitive man”: bloodthirsty, warlike hunters….Based on this interpretation….male-centered theories of proto- and prehistoric social organization were constructed…And even when new discoveries were made, these too were usually interpreted by scholars so as to fit into the old theoretical molds” (pg. 3).

The rest of the book documents the progression (or regression) of civilization through cultures the destroyed matriarchal heritage and legitimacy and established norms and patterns of violence, domination, and a new psyche built on valuing those interpretations. however, Eisler doesn’t end there, she also does a thorough analysis of models of the civilization and psyches that prevailed. Her “dominator culture” might be the most interesting, which she describes as a culture that relies on the subordination of women and the upholding of the male leadership, in family, in culture, and in war. However, based on her previous anthropological evidence and analysis, Eisler claims that a new world order is still possible, but what might that look like?

While this is a ridiculously tricky question, Eisler does have some proposals, the first being that we need to redefine how we place value assignments upon people and strive, no matter how impossible it might seem, to view men and women with equal value and completely new conceptualizations, shedding ourselves of old values completely. With the increased awareness being shed on not only women’s issues, but also on the values assigned to different gender roles, Eisler proposed that society was already progressing. Which makes me dually happy and frustrated, as we can still see the progress, but also the backsliding over 20 years later.

I highly recommend this book, not only because it was really very well-articulated, but because as feminists, understanding the progression and evolution of both civilization and women if critically important to understanding where we come from and where we can go. I know for a fact that the library has it so…. go check it out