I got involved in an interesting discussion* on the relationship between Wicca and feminism. Some people have an experience of Wicca as anti-feminist and I think that’s worth addressing.
First, some people contend that Wicca denies leadership positions to women:
But Wicca as a whole can and does, usually in the form of “But women are so holy, we can’t let them sully themselves doing any thinking!”
Sorry, no. I’m doing this for twenty-five years and I’ve never seen it. I’ve seen sexism, yes, and we’re going to get to that, but I’ve never seen anything called “Wicca” that prevents women from leading. In some traditions, including my own, roles can be assigned based on gender, but that’s almost always favorable to women. In many branches of Gardnerian Wicca (the oldest tradition in the U.S.), women can lead covens alone, or in partnership with men, but men cannot lead alone. In fact, we often struggle with the discomfort and complaints of men who aren’t used to not running things. I don’t think the people I was talking with were lying, but wow. Never seen it. “Priestess” is the default in Wicca. Most of our important writers, poets, and ritualists are women.**
But that doesn’t mean that Wicca can’t be sexist. » Read more..
