Where will we say, Stop?

“When are the women, and the Feminine within women and men, going to stay, Stop?”

– Alice Walker

In Alice Walker’s 2006 book We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For, she tells the story of the Swa people of the Amazon:

“The Swa people are indigenous people who’ve lived in the Amazon rain forest for thousands of years. They tell us that in their society men and women are considered equal but very different. Man, they say, has a destructive nature: it is his job therefore to cut down trees when firewood or canoes are needed. His job is to hunt down and kill animals when there is a need for protein. His job is to make war, when that becomes a necessity. The woman’s nature is thought to be nurturing and conserving. Therefore her role is to care for the home and garden, the domesticated animals and children. She inspires the men. But perhaps her most important duty is to tell the men when to stop. It is the woman who says: stop. We have enough firewood and canoes, don't cut down any more trees. Stop. We have enough meat, don’t kill any more animals. Stop. This war is stupid and using up too many of our resources. Stop.’⠀

She then asks of our societies today, ‘When are the women, and the Feminine within women and men, going to stay, Stop?’⠀

Now, I share this not because I think there should be distinct roles for gendered men and women. No, we're at a point in modern society where we have more complexities to navigate than chopping wood for the fire and looking after the domesticated animals, I think we’re at a point in time where we should be exploring the masculine and feminine in each of us, regardless of our gender identification or sexual orientation.  

I share it because there’s many of us starting to say ‘Stop’ isn’t there?

Stop the misogyny, the racism, the inequity, the disconnection of business and compassion, the dissociation from ourselves, from our bodies, from each other, from the Earth body.

In honour of IWD today, for women, for the Feminine in men, the invitation for me and for you is - where will you, and I, say, stop?

Wishing us courage as together we rise, for good.