Mary Daly
"The Burning Time Revisited: Rekindling the Fires of Radical
Feminism"
a report from the Re-Imagining Gathering
by Doug King
posted 11-1-00
Mary Daly, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the
Department of
Theology at Boston College, where she teaches Feminist Ethics. Her
courses are accredited for both graduate and undergraduate students,
and are offered for cross-registration through nine theology schools
and universities in the area. Mary is well known for her many books,
beginning with The Church and the Second Sex to the most
recent, Quintessence ...Realizing the Archaic Future: A Radical
Elemental Feminist Manifesto. In the past 30 years, Professor
Daly has lectured at over 300 colleges, universities and public
gathering all over the world. Her most recent lecture was at
"Festival of 2000 Women" in Frankfurt, Germany. She has also
appeared on radio and television.
(From the Gathering program book)
While the other speakers at Re-Imagining were thanked
with standing ovations at the end of their presentations, Daly was
welcomed with one before she even started. Her significance to the
feminist movement is that great, and her presence at this
"Millennial Gathering of the Re-Imagining Community" was that
important.
She began by proclaiming, "I'm really here to
summon you, to offer you an invitation -- from the call of the wild and
the world of the weird." She went on: "I'd like to make the
seemingly absurd proposal that radical elemental feminism is the
politics of the 21st century." Quite clearly, in the
face of gentle questions being raised by voices representing the
"Third Wave of Feminism," Daly was calling her audience to
remain steadfastly committed to the radical (and angry) vision that she
has articulated over the last couple decades.
Weaving together snippets from many of her books, her
feminist redefinitions of words like courage and nemesis and patriarchy,
and insights from contemporary science, Daly seemed to be building a
case that the world, still dominated by patriarchal systems and
attitudes, is moving steadily toward a future in which humanity will
render itself obsolete and the natural world will be destroyed. The only
hope, she said, is for "wild women" who are unafraid to
confront the evils of patriarchy, and who will live out of "the
unseen fabric of connectedness," affirming the wholeness of all of
reality.
Acknowledging that she had not heard Rebecca Walker's
talk in the morning, nor read her books, Daly took the trouble to
comment that "I disagree with the phrase 'Third Wave feminism,'
because the generations must be linked and not separated." There is
no real difference between the generations, she implied, except that the
younger feminists don't appreciate the battles fought by the women who
have gone before them.
So while she no longer feels any need for a
patriarchal God, said Daly, the image of the goddess is still meaningful
as "a great metaphor for the unseen fabric of connectedness."
In the time for discussion after her talk, Daly was
asked to explain the meaning of "grace," as in the title of
her latest book, Amazon Grace. Grace, she said, is the
assurance that we are not alone, "that our foremothers are with us
... and the angels!"
Rebecca Walker then rose to respond as one of the
founders of the Third Wave. Beginning with a very warm affirmation of
Daly's work and all she has meant to younger women, Walker continued by
saying that "I was dealing with young men and women who were
turning away from feminism and activism. It was important to us that we
connect to the Second Wave," but also that we find new forms of
feminism that would appeal to people for whom the earlier struggles were
finished. She asked Daly to comment on whether the two "waves"
are really incompatible. Dr. Daly's response was very brief, and then
Thandeka rose, asking Daly to give a more serious response to a serious
question.
Daly's response seemed to offer impressive
confirmation that there really are differences. "We're not
enemies," she said sharply, "but I'm not dead yet lady!"
She went on to add that "You have a great mother!" (Walker had
never in her own presentation mentioned her famous mother by name.) She
then made some reference to "right wing women pretending to be
feminists."
Thandeka stood again to try to make a bit of
understanding possible between the waves, insisting that the younger
women are not denying the significance of people like Daly, but
suggesting that both mothers and daughters need to be heard by the
other.
