eiblyn | Men and Paganism

I responded to a prompt on a yahoo group I'm part of. The question was, "What role should men play in Wicca and paganism?"

I think that we as a religion must strive to uphold and celebrate men as much as we celebrate women. It seems to me many times that the emphasis that paganism has on women is a backlash reaction. So many people come to paganism from Christianity (which as most commonly practiced, has a tendency to exclude women) that it effects where our energy goes to the most. If I come from an exclusionary religion and am leaving it for that reason, I'm going to spend a lot of time immersing myself in what I felt was missing from my past religion. But in order for our religion to be strong and healthy, it must define itself without the use of another religion as an example. We have to stop saying "Look we're not Christianity!!" and start saying, "This is what we are."

When we look at things in these terms it is inevitable that we will include men more than we previously have. We take our example from nature. Humans are a sexually reproducing species. We are physiologically different but equally as important for the continuation of the species. Therefore, it stands to reason that the genders should be equally important in spiritual roles. This doesn't mean that we should not have different roles for those of different genders if appropriate. I have a hard time seeing most High Priests performing a Menarche Ceremony for a young woman as well as a High Priestess, but that may be my own bias. And that may come from growing up in a culture that says that those types of things are both unimportant and something to be hidden from the world.

I think women need to try really hard to work on our own baggage when it comes to men in religion. Having a man in a religious leadership role does not mean that women are oppressed. Nor does it mean that paganism is excluding women from power. Our own fear is often crippling us from an equal partnership with some of our greatest companions and allies.