A Young Feminists Perspective

Riane Eisler is the best selling author of several books including The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics, The Power of Partnership, Tomorrow's Children, Sacred Pleasures, and The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future; the latter being what we will be discussing here. She holds degrees in Sociology and Law from the University of California Los Angeles. Riane is also a member of the General Evolution Research Group, the World Academy of Art and Science, and World Business Academy; she is a commissioner of the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality; co-founder of the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence; and president of the Center for Partnership Studies. In recognition of the lasting importance of her work she was awarded with the Humanist Pioneer Award and the first Alice Paul ERA Award.

Her work has touched millions and continues to open minds across nations.

In her book The Chalice and the Blade Eisler helps us take a new look at history and what it means for our future. She explains that the first agrarian societies were matrilineal and equalitarian transforming into a patriarchy/dominator society only after many waves of Kurgan invasions forced them to change. She then goes on to explain this transformation, how we got to the dominator or archaic society we live in today, and how we can use this information to transform our future.

Riane begins her introduction by briefly explaining her childhood in Austria and how the Nazi takeover of that country prompted this and all her future works (xiii). She goes on to inform us that as she pursued her education, her focus on the future convinced her that, "we are rapidly approaching an evolutionary crossroads-that never before has the course we choose been so critical."(xiv) Riane makes it clear that the course we should choose is one similar to that found in prehistory where a female deity was worshipped and aspects of the female were valued as much, if not more, than those associated with the male (xvi), a prehistory that she uses the word "partnership" to describe, rather than dominator.

To make this point Riane relies most heavily on the archeological data of British archeologist, James Mellaart-whom directed the excavations of Catal Huyuk and Hacilar: two Neolithic, Goddess worshipping cultures which give us the model for this "partnership" society (xv-xvi). Riane is clearly schooled in feminist theory and also relies heavily on the work of University of California archeologist and well-known author, Marija Gimbutas. Both of these professionals findings and literature have and are being heavily debated.

Throughout the introduction to The Chalice and the Blade we are introduced not only to new information like that mentioned above but also to a knew way of viewing our past and therefore our future. Riane writes of a society built on "linking" rather than "ranking" and so we are introduced to Riane's "Cultural Transformation theory" (xvii). This theory proposes there are two basic models of society: the dominator model, which values one half of society over the other by using a "ranking" system, and the second is a "linking" or partnership model, where diversity is not used in a ranking or hierarchal order.

Riane also posits that it was the partnership model of society that we were originally evolving to as a species that is until the "cataclysmic turning point when the direction of our cultural evolution was quite literally turned around." According to Riane, "invaders from the peripheral areas of our globe" came with their "... power to establish and enforce domination" (xvii) and they did just that.

Riane states that "today we stand at another potentially decisive branching point" and the primary dilemma is our patriarchal/hierarchal social system that likens masculinity to violence, domination and force (xviii). She then goes on to further describe the partnership model for society, how to go about implementing that, and the reasons we need it so badly.

It's difficult for me to critically analyze this book or even the introduction because unfortunately Riane doesn't put in any other viewpoints. There are no "naysayers" for me to agree or disagree with. I feel that this book could've been much more interesting and enlightening if she had taken some time to add even a few paragraphs to the different views of this subject. It seems that everyone she quotes and every reference she makes is to material that supports her thesis. That is fine and good but I would really like to hear the other side of this argument, I'm sure there is one and I'm left wondering why Riane would leave it out.

Did she leave out the other arguments on purpose? Was she afraid her theory wouldn't stand up to them? What purpose does her leaving them out serve? Maybe she did it because she felt that she was already giving her reader an awful lot to consider and she didn't want to overwhelm her, maybe she did add naysayers and I failed to recognize them although I doubt that. This is a subject that Riane is obviously well disciplined in, and like any person who is very knowledgeable about a topic, perhaps she expected her reader to be a little more informed than I.

I feel that Riane's feminist roots, her depending on other feminist works, and her feelings about patriarchy perpetuating violence may have given her a bias towards patriarchy to begin with. Perhaps that is part of the reason why there is nothing in her book about any positive aspects of patriarchy (if any exist) or of opposing viewpoints on the subject.

I am relieved to see that I am far from the only woman who believes that we need to reawaken the feminine, and I'm sure, I'll have plenty of time and opportunity to find opposing views to that argument. Today I can feel proud to be in a present where I can voice my opinions, educate myself, live my life the way I want to, and hope for an even better future- not only for women but for men as well.