Patriarchy
has stolen our cosmos and returned it in the form of Cosmopolitan
and cosmetics.
...they
rob us of everything: our myths, our energy, our divinity, our Selves.
Overcoming
the silencing of women is an extreme act, a sequence of extreme acts...it
requires Amazonian Acts of Courageous Battling.
"There are
and will be those who think I have gone overboard. Let them rest assured
that this
assessmment
is correct, probably beyond their wildest imagination, and that I will
continue to
do so. "
SIN BIG
By Mary Daly, The New Yorker, February 26, 1996
EVER since childhood, I have been honing my skills for living the life
of a Radical Feminist Pirate and
cultivating the Courage to Sin. The word "sin" is derived from the
Indo-European root "es-," meaning
"to be." When I discovered this etymology, I intuitively understood
that for a woman trapped in
patriarchy, which is the religion of the entire planet, "to be" in
the fullest sense is "to sin." Women who
are Pirates in a phallocratic society are involved in a complex operation.
First, it is necessary to
Plunder--that is, righteously rip off--gems of knowledge that the patriarchs
have stolen from us.
Second, we must Smuggle back to other women our Plundered treasures.
In order to invent strategies
that will be big and bold enough for the next millennium, it is crucial
that women share our
experiences: the chances we have taken and the choices that have kept
us alive. They are my Pirate's
battle cry and wake-up call for women who l want to hear.