The Reality of a "Men's Movement": Where Critical Discourse Dances with the Soul
As one who is committed to self-growth and collective healing, as well as critical academic conversation, I often feel torn between these two worlds, which are unfortunately too often at ideological odds with one another, and rarely agree. I recently read sociologist Michael Kimmel's Manhood in America: A Cultural History (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012, 3rd ed.), an extended critique of American masculinities since the American Revolution, including the way masculinity has been d
Touching Ecstasy: Dionysian Women's Initiation Rites at Pompeii
I recently attended Erica Lorentz' lecture at Smith College (Northampton, MA) on the Dionysian women's initiation frescoes at Pompeii, Italy. Her reflections were based upon her background and training as a Jungian analyst, first hand encounter with the images in Pompeii, and Linda Fierz-David's work Women's Dionysian Initiation: The Villa Of Mysteries In Pompeii, recently re-issued under the title, Dreaming in Red: Reading the Women's Dionysian Initiation Chamber in Pompeii
The Dark King: Archetype of an Emerging Masculinity
Our current culture has more opportunities for increased consciousness, personal growth, and collective healing than ever before imaginable. This makes the 21st century a potent time for actualizing a shared vision of healing for both men and women so that violence and traumas from the past need not be repeated but repaired on both local and global levels. In order for men to rise and meet their female counterparts as equals, however, I believe that many men must first make
