Wisdom from Sonia Johnson:
not sure which book this is from....
p.34 - no need to compromise, ever
[Sonia] "Consensus doesn't work, either, at least not among women who are trying to be non-hierarchical because it always
happens that some women's opinions are valued above others. It also implies that a decision must be made, and decision-making
assumes linear time and the necessity of control. All this is sadomasochistic/sexual/patriarchal stuff."
"But there's a problem with making your own decisions and going for them. What if your having what you want interferes
with someone else having what she wants?"
"My theory is that if we don't compromise, if we simply hold out, a third option will present itself. And not just a
third, but a fourth, a fifth, a sixth, or more. Our current dichotomous world has come directly out of the male mind. Women's
world, the real world, is just the opposite. In it, we don't just have two choices, our choices are infinite, if we just stay
open to them."
p.35 - resolving issues not by "decision-making" but by coming together physically
[Jean] "I'd been struggling with consensus in a group I belonged to, and was unhappy with the results. Remembering that
Chenoa came from a matriarchal tribe, I asked her how the Hopi women made decisions."
Chenoa told her that every month when the moon fell, every woman who wanted to and was able came together in a specified
gathering place. Jean asked what 'when the moon fell' meant and Chenoa told her it meant ovulation time - the moon being the
ovum - and that all the women in the tribe menstruated and ovulated together ...
Once gathered, Chenoa went on, the Hopi women held one another, stroked one another, hugged and kissed one another, licked
one another all over, and rose together into the night sky.
[Jean] "That sounds lovely, but how did you make decisions?" ... It took her years to realize that what Chenoa had been
trying to tell her was that the Hopi women didn't 'make decisions'. They didn't have to. Their coming together during a power
time in their cycle - fully, deeply, as one - resolved everything.
"That's women's way," Sonia agreed, eyes shining. "We'll be like that together again."
*****i'm building a menstrual hut right now. hope it's done before i go crone*****
