Joss Whedon: Honorary Pagan

The man who gave us witty, brave, conflicted Buffy and the sexy, kick ass gals of Firefly has something he wants to say:

What is wrong with women?

I mean wrong. Physically. Spiritually. Something unnatural, something destructive, something that needs to be corrected. How did more than half the people in the world come out incorrectly? I have spent a good part of my life trying to do that math, and I’m no closer to a viable equation. And I have yet to find a culture that doesn’t buy into it. Women’s inferiority – in fact, their malevolence -- is as ingrained in American popular culture as it is anywhere they’re sporting burkhas. I find it in movies, I hear it in the jokes of colleagues, I see it plastered on billboards, and not just the ones for horror movies. Women are weak. Women are manipulative. Women are somehow morally unfinished. (Objectification: another tangential rant avoided.) And the logical extension of this line of thinking is that women are, at the very least, expendable.

Goddess Bless Joss Whedon. I hereby dub him an Honorary Pagan.

Pass it on.

And do check out the link he gives to Equality Now. As Whedon says,

...it’s no longer enough to be a decent person. It’s no longer enough to shake our heads and make concerned grimaces at the news. True enlightened activism is the only thing that can save humanity from itself. I’ve always had a bent towards apocalyptic fiction, and I’m beginning to understand why. I look and I see the earth in flames. Her face was nothing but red.

For more on this issue, read an earlier post titled: Recovering From Our Culture: Why Words Matter

Note: I first saw this link at Hecate's (AKA She Who See's All) blog. Thank you, H.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch:

Kestryl Angell is a Pagan writer to watch. She is proving to be a resonant voice for common sense. So far she has posted several articles at The Witches Voice. (see links below).

Teachers take note; you might want to point your students towards these four essays:

On Being A "Plain Clothes" Witch

Taking It To the Pentagram

Seperation Anxiety ....or Growth?

The Power of Words

Sia

Photo: Actress Gina Torres (Amazon Extraordinaire ) as Zoe in Firefly

Off the Shelf

Firefly: The Complete Series (DVD) - Joss Whedon (Creator)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale - James B. South (Editor