Hens Cackle, Stags Rut

I went to a Hen Party this last weekend and I got to thinking about the difference between the names of the female pre-wedding party and its male equivalent Stag party.

Hens and stags and the language we use.

Hens are domesticated, caged and perceived to be silly creatures. They fuss and peck, cluck and cackle. 

 

The perception of the Stag however, is that of the noble wild beast, roaming free in the bush and cutting a fine figure as he stands proudly alone on the craggy peak. Stags roar, strut and rut.

 

These background associations lie underneath and unnoticed in our popular expressions.

But if we listen to those undercurrents we get a picture of how sexism is propped up in our language.

When listening to what we are saying, there are two major discords I loathe hearing.

The first is the sexism inherent in our speech and the second is the use of animal names to denigrate a woman.

Animal Farm was a book and then a movie that used farmyard animals to mirror human activity. However, our daily language doesn’t mirror back animal behaviour but instead reflects a horrible picture of humans.

We abuse and disrespect animals all the time in our speech, which isn’t actually surprising given the way we actually treat animals in our society.

It also suggests to me that despite humans having an inordinately high opinion of themselves as civilised, rational creatures high in the evolutionary tree, so far above the rest of the animal kingdom – we are in fact just another animal with a very thin veneer of civilisation.

I wonder if animals have all kinds of derogatory names in their language for humans - given what we do to them and our shared habitat. (According to WWF the world has lost half its wildlife in the last 40 years)

So we (other women as well as men) call a woman we don’t like a “cow”. Cows are still worshipped in India and once were in Europe (this very word is the name of the great Cow Goddess Europa!)

Cows are beautiful sensitive creatures who give us food and clothes. They are farmed for their milk and dairy products and sacrificed for their meat and leather.

This practice of calling women a “cow” to vilify her has arisen in our society over the last 30 years. Concurrently so too has the barbaric practice of factory farming  become more prevalent. Farming animals as “product” with not an iota of appreciation for their sensitivities as sentient beings, has dangerous side-effects. In a society based on violence, denigration of nature and lack of respect for the weak and powerless, the powerful more and more despise anyone below them in the pecking order. I believe that misogyny in our language reflects this trend.

So here’s a list of words we use for women – all of which are belittling, demeaning or just plain despicable - or refer to women as sexual creatures.

Bird, chick, hen, dog, bitch, fox, vixen, cougar, cat, kitty, pussy, nag, porker, goose, bunny, beaver, queen bee, mother hen.

Silly girls are birdbrains

There are not so many words for men, who get called stud, stag, ram, goat (old goat), alley cat, ape  – all of which are more or less admiring of sexual prowess and not usually degrading.

To call a woman a dog is to insult her to the max. A man is more likely to be named a ‘sly old dog’ as a term of affection or grudging admiration. A woman is ‘catty’ or in a ‘cat fight’. A man is an alley cat – quite a different feel for the cat association.

Should we be thankful for Catwoman? (who is of course a beautiful sex object.)

Other non- animal words are interesting too from a gendered viewpoint.

Women get called girls regularly although this is changing since the 1970s Women Movement (Just lately on radio, the ToppTwins discussed how it was permissible for other women to call them girls, but they considered it was totally not on for men to call them girls. If women can call the shots in this way, then times have changed. When I was growing up, ‘Girls’ were what grown women were regularly called by men.

We call women and men boys and girls “guys” these days. The word ‘guys’ is being taken over by women as an ungendered expression. But this type of change never occurs the other way. Hey Dolls! is not an expression that is going to be used  in addressing  the men in the audience for some time to come.

‘Babe’ is as close as it gets, and we only ever use that word for a man if we know him pretty well.

Women are called dolls, sluts, babes, dames, tarts, dishes (the food association),  twats, bitches, witches, vamps, mean girls, bad girls, bimbos, fag hags, old bags, tricks, hussies, whores, tramps, slappers, hoes, floozies the village bike.

Like animal names they are all in the main, derogatory and abusive. Sexual knowhow is not celebrated as for a man, but becomes an insult.

The male equivalents are rather different and make a much shorter list.

Dude, He’s the Man, sugar daddy, babe- magnet, all refer once more to the man’s sexual talents (sigh). 

Where are the male equivalents to bimbo, bitch, whore, etc etc ?

Homeboy or bro are often being taken over to refer to both sexes like ‘guy’.

Gigolo or stud – are these actually terms of abuse? – I think not, except for maybe gigolo.  And there’s not really a female equivalent that I can think of for this term.

Cock, dick and prick refer to the masculine sex, but seem to have become only mildly abusive (maybe it’s because they flop).  Whereas bitch has become shortened to ‘b’ and now can refer to men as well as women as an insult just because it IS a female word.

And then there’s a word that is probably the most obscene word we have and the most taboo.

Breaking taboos has become de rigeur during my lifetime and so the use of this very worst word you can call someone –of both sexes – has grown more popular. More women are using this to insult others they really hate.

Cunt

Primordial Goddess setting at Judy Chicago's Dinner Party

Admittedly it makes a terrific explosive sound in the mouth that can be spat out with force and venom – a marvellous sounding expletive.

It is an old word and one that has been considered obscene in the English language before Shakespeare’s time. In Sumeria (ancient Iraq) Kunta meant “the one who has female genitalia – the Queen who invented writing”.

A cunt is the part of a woman’s  body that we use to make love and sex - as well as the place where babies are born from. The life-giving part of our body is being used as the very worst word in the language. 

Virginia Woolf's plate

It has replaced Fuck as number 1 abuse word. Fuck means to make sex or love. This word at least is something men and women do together. But cunt is all female.

What is wrong with us?

Cunts are deep, warm wonderful places of mystery and life. Women are the life-givers of our species. This is deep misogyny of the language and language is meant to be our highest form of expression as humans. Do we hate women – and by extension ourselves - this much?

Susan B. Anthony's plate

Obviously yes.

Can we reclaim the word – I’m sure we can together. But we do need to find an alternative to insult the people who do us injury.

Something hard that stands up to useage.

'Prick' just doesn’t stand up to cunt.

'Cock' has that great ‘k’ sound one needs in a satisfying expletive but it doesn’t the oomph either and anyway we can use ‘cockup’ in polite company these days.

Suggestions please – it’s a great conversation piece for a Hen’s party (cackle cackle!)

So to end on a joyful note and to revert to our animal theme – let us remember all you glorious women and lovely ladies – that there is one insult we can use solely for the males we loathe. Please forgive me all you beautiful piggies out there….

George Orwell in his masterpiece Animal Farm, did name the evil mastermind of Fascism  – Napoleon. He was a pig!

A Male Chauvinist Pig (MCP) is the lowest form of human and just because there is so much piggery in this misogynist world – let us reclaim this wonderful epithet and use it when necessary and right!

And remember all you hens - at the next Hen’s party, the best way of enjoying yourself is to dance and cackle! Chicks live in cages - women are free.

Georgia O Keefe, Petronilla de Meath, Hypatia & Trotula

Autopsy

As I mentioned in my post on 17^th September Predicting Election Results with Tarot predictions are notoriously challenging. I am sure economists and weather forecasters who deal in futures would agree.

So I – and the tarot class – were sadly wrong in thinking that it would be a “Yes” vote in the Scottish elections. The Scots were brave, but not brave enough. 

 Let’s pick over the entrails to see where we went wrong. Becoming a mistress – or master – of a craft takes persistence, but hindsight is the best learning tool we have.

The biggest mistake we can make – and we did! – is not to be a clear channel for the cards.

Often when we are reading for individuals we also make this mistake.

Orpheus as Oracle

Reading is a Service Profession and Readers want what is best for our client. We want to offer hope. But if our feelings are focused on “fixing it” - then we have become a muddy river that will not allow the waters of the oracle to flow cleanly through.

This makes reading a political question even more challenging, as most of us have strong convictions and fears around outcomes in big elections.

We all wanted the Scots to win Independence from Westminster!

And our biases shone through in our interpretations.

Another challenge in predicting objectively is one that I often find in Astrology. An astrologer works to open spiritual options for their client. They help the person by encouraging them to make break- throughs from a stuck negative position that often has been unconsciously adopted. An astrologer wants an individual who is facing hard decisions, to make their choices from a more self-aware and conscious place. The astrologer – or Tarot reader – confirms a client in their courage and a stronger belief in themselves.

But when predicting mundane events, it seems to me that the symbols of tarot or astrology are manifested in a much more negative fashion. The symbolic language is filtered only through the Reader who works in isolation from the “client” ie the mass of people the question is about. So the prophetic powers of the craft are utterly reliant on the purity of the medium.

Added to this, human individuals behave differently when in a group. Humans are a herd species that steadfastly follow their animal nature. If the herd is frightened or uncertain they will stampede blindly following unreliable instincts.

The group mind appears to work at the lowest common denominator of the symbols involved in predictive work.

I suggest a reader has to interpret the more negative meanings from their symbolic language – tarot cards or astrology - when trying to predict a decision made by the greater collective.

So turning to Scotland – the cards reflect the accuracy of the event, BUT we predicted the ‘yes” vote would win.

We completely under-estimated the power of Card Number 1, the mood of the people; the King of Pentacles.

Illuminati Tarot

Traditional meanings of this card include - Conservative, hidebound, love of comfort and the status quo.

Kings are the part of ourselves that are the least likely to change!  Pentacles are the Earth suit and think about security – both economic as well as the need to be feeling rooted. The mood of “Let’s hang onto what we have” prevailed on the day. 

This kind of character is most aligned with the “No” vote’s The Hierophant. Westminister comforted the King’s anxieties and appealed to the populace’s more conservative nature. The leap for independence was just too great a risk for this electorate. The Establishment was the safest bet.

The 7 wands certainly argues for the fight Westminster put up at the last moment and yes the traditional meanings of the card indicate success is possible if you stand strong.

As for the “Yes” vote. Well that historical figure Queen Zenobia (in the Tarot of Delphi deck)  is in chains. Once her lands were lost to the Roman Empire, she never regained her freedom and died in captivity.

 

The lovely Ace of Wands of the Gaia deck does indeed represent the emergence a Scottish desire for independence; a fledgling plan too young and not strong enough to break through the intransigence of the King of Pentacles and The Hierophant. A new start though.  46% of the people won’t forget or resign themselves to passive surrender.

The Princess of Wands has taken up the baton and although youthful, feisty and gorgeous. She will grow – the future belongs to a Free Scotland!

 

The NZ General Election

Despite my own astrological reading of the election and its leaders, which seemed overwhelmingly to be in favour of the incumbent National Party, I had allowed myself to be positive about the Left’s chances after studying this tarot layout. Mostly this was influenced by the colour coding and a desire for the Right to be defeated.

The mood of the People is The Empress.She is surrounded by trappings of consumerism and materialism with her back to the beautiful natural setting she finds herself in and which is actually the foundation of her power.

A complacent figure who ‘loves” the folksy John Key as leader. The electorate voted with their personal feelings about his personality. The Empress symbolises the feeling nature and the vote’s outcome was certainly based on a mood (of anxiety)  rather than on logic. The Empress represents a patrician notion that the authorities can be trusted to create security and keep at bay instability.  The Empress wants to continue business as usual, fuelling economic growth with our agricultural produce (food and land), despite her marketing brand of 100% pure NZ being total fabrication.

Clean waterways? In the picture she has her back turned to her waterfall.

She promises the Empire she rules will keep providing the voting  electorate’s comfortable lifestyles, so they can  ignore the very real poverty of a large number of citizens around them. Sweep all that under that large carpet of a dress she is wearing.

This Empress believes in an old myth that Aotearoa is the land of milk and honey. The tarot card represents Mother Earth, yet our kiwi electorate is oblivious to the environmental rape of her land, extinction of species, granting permissions to frack and mine to continue with fossil fuel economies. 

The abuse of her women and children, the cutbacks to education, health and welfare go unnoticed. I would say 66% of the voters are complacent “mothers” of their own land and people. The other 33% of voters are Green and/or are worried about their land and rights being sold down the river into foreign ownership. The Maori party who also pulled The Empress have their Whanau Ora – looking after families – plans to be continued.

Traditionally, The Empress means unleashed productivity. Her husband, the Emperor represents boundaries, limits and regulation. He “husbands” her productivity. A belief – or rather a fantasy - of limitless and endless economic growth is at the very heart of the capitalist system. None of our political parties discussed the core assumption the Empress takes for granted. She and her complaisant New Zealanders trust we can go on forever under institutions that ignore the basic reality - there has to be a finite end to the way we are conducting business. Boundless growth is not sustainable and antithetical to the reality of any garden.

The National Party was represented by the 8 of Swords.

Oh dear this will teach me to pay more attention to the old Myths. Andromeda is pictured in this card. Her name means “ruler of men”.

Because of the hubris of her family (Judith Collins and Team Key) Andromeda was stripped naked and chained to a rock (under duress from accusations of mass surveillance of domestic citizens and smear campaigns of gross proportions, not to mention corruption of a cabinet minister stripped of position – all of course staunchly denied by the virtuous heroine!).  Then offered to the monster (of public opinion and the great ‘poll of polls”) However she was rescued by a hero (hurray for the good old one million voters!) who married her. Although there was a fight at the wedding, the rival for her hand was turned to stone by the Gorgon’s head (the Opposition in post- election paralysis ). Perseus prevailed and the marriage produced a lineage! (yikes  - gird our loins all those on the Left!) of 6 sons and 1 daughter – oh dear sounds just the correct percentage of men to women in Key’s good ol’ boys networks. It would be funny if it weren’t tragic.

The Labour Party pulled The Hermit and this is resonant. Socially isolating themselves, they refused to back anyone else on the Left – turning down the Green's early request to join forces. Then they actively overthrew Hone Harawira in the North with one of their own. It is strange and sad that this Party, founded on the rights of the working class, has so lost contact with its roots. It has become ingrown, tunnel-visioned and navel-gazing. The Party is depressed.

Winston Peters looks like the Kingmaker in the 6 Pentacles, but on the night despite his largish vote, he proved to be superfluous, because of the enormous shift in the popular Right-leaning consensus. Actually the card does reflect Peter’s habitual choosing one side and then another, then back again. He’s all about making deals and exchanging favours but enjoys being the one in control. He certainly felt short-changed on the night – a traditional meaning of this card. And yet he had ungenerously interfered in the Te Tai Tokerau electorate, putting his weight behind the Labour Party candidate, denying Hone’s place in the sun.

The Internet-Mana party coalition was symbolised by The Threads of Fate. The Fates measure, spin and cut all our destinies. In this instance the thread was fatally cut with Hone Harawira’s ousting. His political death ensued. Kim Dotcom was flung by Lady Fortune from high to low .......Oh how the mighty fall! 

But the Rule of Nemesis is to harvest what we sow. The extreme shifts of the great ever-turning Wheel are not over yet.

The United Party’s Knight of Swords is hilarious – a white knight charging to the rescue of Andromeda? More like Don Quixote  tilting at windmills. Peter Dunn achieved the same amount of votes as the Legalise Marijuana Party, but sadly thanks to the vagaries of MMP, he takes yet again his seat in parliament.

As for The Fool – yes indeedy the Act Party won in Epsom and a young naïve Babe in the Woods takes his place in the Beehive. He may prove to be an entertainment if nothing else.

The outcome is the 6 Swords and as we commented earlier, the ship of state moves forward with an impeded view of the future. Black clouds hang ominously over the helmsman’s head. The weather is in an indicator of climate change which the Nats deny and ignore. With storms brewing, has this Party the capacity to navigate into the future with honest policies that don’t sink the ship? The passengers in the boat look anxious .The Empress seems resigned; the child (our future) seems worried.

The mists swirling round the boat’s bottom suggests smoke and mirrors at the base of the vehicle. The National Party will no doubt do all in its power with ongoing dirty politics and backroom deals to distract the populace from the leaks in their – and sadly our foundations.

And to finish The Fool from the Tarot of Delphi deck.

 

This is me. I  pulled this card, while writing this piece. 

The painting is Orpheus Returning from the Shades by W. Richmond.

In the picture, Orpheus emerges howling, unsuccessful from his quest in the Underworld. Later in his story he is torn asunder and becomes an oracle. His name partly signifies prophesy. The word Orpheus makes up a complex of meaning - meaning “to lament or sing wildly” as well as being connected to the English word “orphan”. I do feel foolish, orphaned, howling into the wilderness after surviving the shock results of Saturday’s election.

The Tarot Fool symbolises idealism, folly, the wisdom to see the absurdity of life in all its futility and paradox

Thanks to the Tuesday Night class of fellow Fools, for their invaluable input and wisdom about these Tarot readings we read together.