Al’s Greek Recipes

1 | Mark Alford

December 6th, 2008 at 9:12 am

I’m sure that you have answered this in other blog entries, but being male (and therefore lazy), I’ll ask and hope that you’ll forgive me. Who do you think is the best goddess for feminist representation? I will not even venture a guess myself since I was told already by a professor in college that since I was male, I would always be wrong in feminist studies.

2 | Ailia

December 6th, 2008 at 9:12 am

Terri - I am actually gonna write another entry on Athena because I think there are instances in which she IS “a more ‘goddessly’ goddess” - they’re just not particularly Athenian. Thanks for reading!

Mark - I am HORRIFIED by your professor’s comment. What an incredibly sexist thing to say! My best feminist professor in college was a man (Kirk Ormand) and I shudder to think what he might have done with his career if he’d been told that. Ridiculous! To answer your actual question, however, I don’t think there’s a perfect answer to that question. Greek mythology, as you know, varies greatly depending on the time period and the location of the mythographer. Thus, as I mentioned in response to Terri, there are some examples of Athena being just as rockin’ a rep for women as anyone might be. On a personal level, however, I prefer Aphrodite, principally because my particular brand of feminism has a bent towards gender and sexual agency, and she was definitely involved on those fronts. On the other hand, I used to think that she was the WORST, so there you go. When it comes down to it, ancient Greece was a patriarchal society and the myths were recorded by people who benefited from that system, so it’s not the best place to go looking for feminist figureheads (unless you want to reclaim them and reinterpret the myths, which some do)!

3 | Grian/Lee

December 6th, 2008 at 11:12 am

Fascinating post. I’ve always though Athena had a patriarchal spin to her. I think it’s completely plausible to think she was “reinvented” later by more patriarchal forces and was at one time more “Goddess-y”, but I don’t know if we’ll ever really know for sure.

4 | Aquila ka Hecate

December 6th, 2008 at 11:12 am

I’ve never taken to Athena - always seen her as a purely patriarchal construct.
That she was ‘always for the male’ makes me avoid her.
Thanks for giving me more detail into her background.
Is there a possibility that she is a twisted version of a more ‘goddessly’ goddess? I’ve always wondered.
Love,
Terri in Joburg