Michaela Ondrašinová
Masaryk University
From a Housewife to a Woman-Goddess? Women Circles and a
(Non)Transgression of the Gender Order
In my presentation, I will discuss a connection between certain currents of contemporary alternative
spirituality (more specifically, women spirituality) and a transgression of the social/gender boundaries.
As a basis for my discussion, the ethnographic data from Czech women circles will be used. In this
field, it was possible to encounter the elements of the spiritual discourse such as looking for a “natural”
or “awakened” femininity, a criticism of “patriarchal” society or concepts of a “woman-Goddess” and
“divine femininity”. I will show that these concepts – although bearing a potential to lead to the
disruptions in the established gender order – can be used in a way that rather contributes to a
consolidation of this order. In this sense, my contribution can be related to the assertion made by Anna
Fedele and Kim Knibbe (2013) that it is necessary to critically examine the claims of contemporary
spiritualities about the emancipatory or liberating nature of their practices.
From a Housewife to a Woman-Goddess? Women Circles and a (Non)Transgression of the Gender Order
In my presentation, I will discuss a connection between certain currents of contemporary alternative spirituality (more specifically, women spirituality) and a transgression of the social/gender boundaries. As a basis for my discussion, the ethnographic data from Czech women circles will be used. In this field, it was possible to encounter the elements of the spiritual discourse such as looking for a “natural” or “awakened” femininity, a criticism of “patriarchal” society or concepts of a “woman-Goddess” and “divine femininity”. I will show that these concepts – although bearing a potential to lead to the disruptions in the established gender order – can be used in a way that rather contributes to a consolidation of this order. In this sense, my contribution can be related to the assertion made by Anna Fedele and Kim Knibbe (2013) that it is necessary to critically examine the claims of contemporary spiritualities about the emancipatory or liberating nature of their practices.