++++
Friday, April 25, 2014. I read the first 1981 edition of this book – in 1981!
Women’s Reality: An Emerging Female System by Schaef, Anne Wilson (Jun 4, 2013)
This is a quick book to read and in today’s world might seem to be “old school” or at best, “retro.” In 1981 the thoughts Schaef discusses were not far from radical. It’s worth a read although I have no idea how this newer edition compares to the first one.
Schaef describes how she sees the differences between women’s reality and “the white male” reality. At the moment I am finding myself thinking that the power plays in the white male world are probably about TAKING power from somebody else not only to prevent another from HAVING power of their own but also because the absence of others’ power makes one’s own power seem — well — more powerful.
Today’s emerging powerhouse women – and I don’t mean just a few here and there — I mean the GENERATIONS of women coming into their power OUTSIDE the home — might be tempted to continue to repeat the patterns of power mismanagement that white males – to use Schaef’s description – have used throughout history.
“If you want it, take it. If you CAN take it, take it. Take it even if you have plenty. Take it even if you have absolutely no use for it. Even if you truthfully don’t want it, take it. Just take it. Don’t pay any heed to how your power-theft impacts anyone else. Don’t have empathy or compassion or consideration. Just be a BULLY and TAKE it – just because you can. And if you can’t take it by yourself, get a bunch of your cronies together and take it with joint forces.” Etc.
(Interesting, “cronies” seems to be a male – good – thing. Being “a crone” is a female – bad – thing.)
Women are beginning to move, as I mentioned in my last post, out of the impasse, passive position of being grossly and unfairly forced to disembody themselves in their life from the potential of their power. The power to starch and iron skirts, shorts and shirts hardly matters. Shining up the Westbend toaster, polishing the kitchen floor, even burping babies and kissing scraped knees on a daily basis hardly matters anymore.
But women do not have to become power-bashing, power-stealing, dominating women to be indomitable ones. Women KNOW power lies within; certainly any who have given birth know this well. Our power lies in our self as we create and recreate all the power we need just by using our integrity as we live our life.
Who said there ever was a shortage of power? Not a woman. And, looking at the rather big mess the world is in today I am not convinced that men have ever been able to use whatever power they have had wisely.
So, women. Get a hold of your power and use it for good justly and wisely. There is no possible reason to repeat the age-old patterns laid down for and before us, so resist falling into those traps. We will do it better because we are women.
++++
Here is our first book out in ebook format. A very kind professional graphic artist is going to revise our cover pro bono (we are still waiting to hear that he has accomplished this job – I think we will have to find an alternative!). Click here to view or purchase –
It lists for $2.99 and can be read by Amazon Prime customers without charge. Reviews for the book on the Amazon.com site
++++
++++
Stop the Storm 
A fantastic follow up to your earlier post today (“Irresistible: Women Coming Into Their Power”)! This is a long-overdue conversation our culture needs to have…
I held on to copies of the book for many years. The author, turns out, is not all she cracked herself up to be but her thoughts are worth noting. I’d consult it again if I still had a copy. Thanks for your affirmation, dear friend! It’s a bigger-picture of the microcosm I am noting closer to home, but certainly applies.
My mother’s mother and HER mother were both ahead of the curve on the female drive spectrum, which became greatly twisted in my own mother as it contributed to her distorted abuse of power in her home — but I do wonder if there are genetic connections to the “drive for power” that have been more obvious and “workable” for males that are now displaying themselves far more openly in many women today.