Last year at PantheaCon a big light was shown on the issue of diversity in the Pagan community, specifically gender acceptance and diversity, thanks to a ritual that was held during the conference. The ritual was a Dianic women only ritual which seemed to be missing one caveat. By “woman” that means you had to be born a woman, not a trans-woman regardless of where in your transition you might be. Transgender attendees were turned away at the door because, quite plainly, they weren’t “woman enough.” The uproar this caused sent a ripple through PCon and the call was made to address these issues of diversity, unity, and acceptance. So this year the theme for PCon was declared “Unity in Diversity”. And for the most part the Pagan community seemed to be excited to see where this might take us next. That was until people started to see the program for this year’s event and saw the description of Sunday night’s ritual that Z. Budapest was holding this year:
Did you catch that? Genetic women only. Once again her ritual is exclusive to women only, but this time it’s even more clear what kind of women will be welcome; only those who were born women are welcome to be honored as Goddess and as woman in her ritual. This is the PantheaCon Fail.
Why is it a fail? How can you purport “Unity in Diversity” and yet support public rituals that are exclusive at your public event? Why accept the proposal for a ritual that is going to knowingly exclude people at an event where diversity is part of the focus? Is it just because it’s Z. Budapest? That can be my only assumption.
Now, let’s break this apart for a second. I am a woman. I was born female. I am all for women only space and women only ritual. I am also all for men only ritual space. Hell, I’d be all for transgender only space if it was desired. Why? Because we all have our own Mysteries related to gender and gender identity to explore and we have the right to explore those things and honor them in private space. But this is something that should be done in private space, not at a public event.
Z. Budapest can hold all the Dianic cis-woman events she wants and it wouldn’t matter to me in the slightest. She has every right to do that and given that her line of the Dianic tradition calls for women only space, that’s fine. But this is something that should be done in her own time, in her own space. Exclusive rituals like this truly have no place in the public realm. It makes those that do not fit the bill feel less than and left out. And in the case of trans-women in the Pagan community who want to be able to ritually honor their femininity and their Goddess-self, to not allow them into such a right only creates more divides in the community.
I understand there are other issues at play here too. It’s a skyclad ritual at a public event and safety may be on the minds of some people. Why might that be? Well clearly based on a blog post from Z. herself a few days ago just before going to PCon she seems to view all men as a danger to all women and that this is apparently just in their nature, specifically in their brains, by the very fact that they are male.
Z. talks most specifically about a very unfortunate incident that happend at Yale University in the fall of 2010. A group of initiates to the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity marched in front of a freshman women’s dorm and chanted “No means yes, yes means anal.” The problem with the blog post that Z. made is, as she sometimes does, she took the event somewhat out of context and didn’t explain the whole situation. It was part of hazing/initiation with the frat, not that this in any way excuses what happened, but unlike how she portays it it wasn’t an act to try and assert dominance and place fear in the hearts and minds of the women on campus. She also fails to mention that after the event happened the school banned the fraternity from campus use, activity, or recruiting for five years. DKE is a well known and well established frat at Yale best known for being the frat that George W. Bush belonged to. This event wasn’t a random assembly of men on campus to express hate toward women on campus.
But the best part is how she explains her views that this act by these men demonstrated that they are all, in fact, closeted homosexuals who were mentally having sex with one another by joining in this chanting march together. She specifically points to their use of the word “anal” and asserts that anal sex is a homosexual act and since all these men were together thinking about anal sex at the same time they were truly thinking about anal sex with one another. Really? I mean…really?
Z. Budapest has some ideas about feminism and spirituality that are hard to deny are becoming antiquated in today’s world view, especially in the Pagan community. I think that Pagans want to see equality for all in the community (and, for the most part, in general society) whereas it seems Z. is still fighting the feminist fight of the 60s that seems to attempt to raise women above men. And in my opinion it often looks as though in order to achieve this women first need to be put down, things twisted to seem more damaging than they might truly be, in order to provide a platform for the women to “rise above their male oppressors” as it were.
Needless to say, I don’t agree with Z. Budapest and her views. I never have. But don’t let that be mistaken with the fact that I do have respect for her for what she has done in the past with regard to bringing Goddess spirituality to a higher place and for the work she did to reverse laws against psychics in the 70s. But in the case of the PantheaCon situation I don’t feel a ritual like her’s belongs there. It is exclusive, designed to single out those that don’t fit a certain mold, and creates a rift in the community in more ways than one. But, let me be clear in saying I do not hold Z. Budapest to blame for that! That is her tradition and it is her right. The fault lays in the hands of PCon for allowing this ritual and these hurts of last year to be brought back up in a year when “Unity in Diversity” is supposed to be the theme.
David Salisbury of Capital Witch wrote on his personal blog calling for a boycott of PCon until rituals and events that intentionally exclude others are eliminated from the conference agenda. Maybe Z. Budapest shouldn’t be holding rituals at PCon and should just do workshops. Maybe her time with PCon has passed. It’s not for me to say, but what I will say is that I agree with David. The organizers of PCon sent a clear message to the community with this. Who you are means more than who you impact with what you do. And we need to let them know that’s not acceptable.
I have just returned from the Con and I was appalled and greatly saddened by Z.’s behavior as well. The thing that outraged me the most was Z.’s request of the PantheaCon staff to have a guard present at the door of each of her events for a “groin check”! No, I am not kidding!!! The staff did refuse, but at the point when this request was made, Glen (from the Ancient Ways store who hosts the Con) should have stepped in and said, “That’s it, enough, no more. You cannot have an exclusive ritual at a public venue, you cannot continue to exclude, harass, belittle, and hurt our family in the greater Pagan community.” But, she didn’t.
I am a Dianic elder priestess of well over two decades and given what has been happening in our community, I am ashamed to admit it. (Oh yes that’s right, Z. says that I am not a Dianic since I wasn’t initiated by her or one of “her specially ordained priestesses”, nor have I paid money to her to get ordained through her online course.) Shame on you Z. for creating such a hateful space while calling yourself a Priestess of the Goddess.
These comments are completely false and inflammatory. First, Z only had one event: a skyclad ritual self-blessing, so no “groin check” was either requested or necessary–because groins and breasts were stars in the show. Second, Glen Turner sat outside the door herself along with dozens of Dianic supporters to make sure these womben were safe. The protestors have made threats of violence against the Dianics and, in fact, did not remain “silent.” Third, if you don’t want to celebrate the blood mysteries that’s fine, but you must at least understand what they are about in order to be Dianic. Do some research before opening your mouth and quit riding on Z’s coat tails. Do something constructive instead of creating more divisions to promote your own agenda!
Dianic Panic – I would like to see proof of the accusation of violent threats by the sitters. That is inflammatory. There were 89 people sitting in meditation and in the hall and I have not heard anyone else speak of such words.
Further, the ritual in question mentioned nothing about blood mysteries in its description. Read the top of Rowan’s posting fully. It was to bless the sacred bodies of all women. All women except those who do not fit in Z’s twisted cookie-cutter mold of what she thinks a woman should be, apparently.
You can continue to follow Z’s dinosaur bigot philosophy, that is your right, but I’m going to join the rest of the Witchcraft movement in this century.
> Further, the ritual in question mentioned nothing about blood mysteries in its description.
I dunno… The fact that it’s a Zsuzsanna Budapest rit kind of defaults it to being all about “menstrual mysteries”. The bulk of her spiritual message revolves around “moonbleeding” and having a womb. In some way or another, she tends to tie up a majority of her spiritual messages to either menstruation or simply being a womb with a body surrounding it.
so what happens to us womben after we have had a hysterectomy? Are we then simply women?
Pretty much this. If I don’t let my enemies (misogynists, anti-choicers, MRAs) define me by my biological function, why should I let my “allies” do the same?
So, “womben” is the most ridiculous word I’ve ever heard. Thanks for the laugh!
More ridiculous than “wombynne”? 😀 (Gotta make it more feminine!)
“in fact, did not remain “silent.””
On that, you are both wrong and right. I was sitting in front of Z. There was chanting, both from women waiting to enter the ritual, and from a group at the end of the hallway. That chanting ceased while Z spoke. There was the largely silent group strung out down one side of the long hallway. The only sound I heard from them was sobbing.
I think I should add, as has been reported by others, the chanting was an alternation of Z’s “We All Come From the Goddess” with Thorn’s “Divine Twins”.
1.) Z. did originally request a groin check – I know this directly from the PantheaCon staff.
2. ) It was a peaceful PROTEST outside the door of Z.’s ritual, NOT support.
See:
http://way-of-the-rabbit.blogspot.com/2012/02/reaction-response-and-resolution-on.html
3.) Congratulations Dianic Panic, you have become what you and Z., and her followers claim to hate the most – narrow-minded, bigoted, and sexist! In other words, REPUBLICAN!!
1.) Z. did originally request a groin check – I know this directly from the PantheaCon staff.
omfg I don’t even
Pretty much this. If I don’t let my enemies (misogynists, anti-choicers, MRAs) define me by my biological function, why should I let my “allies” do the same?
More ridiculous than “wombynne”? 😀 (Gotta make it more feminine!)
1.) Z. did originally request a groin check – I know this directly from the PantheaCon staff.
omfg I don’t even
This comment is more addressed to the people commenting on this post, than the post itself (tho the observation on public space is relevant to the article itself):
I was not there that night, so I don’t know what happened. However, observing from afar, it saddens me to see this rift; at once, I am encouraged by the unifying movement of the people who sang T Thorn Coyle’s Divine Twins along with We All Come From the Goddess in peaceful protest of the ritual, continuing their work to bridge the gap.
I support transwomen and ciswomen, transmen and cismen, all having access to their own ritual space in PCON (or any other gathering) if they choose to do so, as long as communal rituals are available to go alongside the private ones. It’s not up to Z. to designate that space, it’s up to the trans community.
That Z. asked for a groin check says something different to me than what seems to be acknowledged here, and is being overlooked in these comments: it says to me, she was that concerned that people would not respect her request for sacred ciswomen space. Her request was hurtful to others, no doubt. Having met Zsuzsanna and having been initiated by her, I do think it is important for all to remember, she laid some incredibly important framework for us to keep building on. No, she’s not perfect; she is very human, and she will freely admit that (I’ve heard her say so). Just because she is my teacher doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything she says. Her human-ness does not give anyone an excuse to perpetrate war on her or her students. It means that we must strive even harder for open, loving dialogue.
I would also like to kindly point out, PCON is not an entirely public ritual space. It is attained by those who have the resources to purchase tickets and who have access to means of travel to be there. It is a community.
To those who wonder about what happens when we no longer have a womb, I would recommend looking at a copy of Z.’s Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries; she addresses the pain of releasing the womb, and making peace with the transition. You are still a woman according to her, because you were still born with a womb. Also, women are not merely walking wombs to Z. The womb simply lends a certain added dimension to the consciousness, which in reality is no better than a man’s – just different.
I don’t agree with all of Z.’s opinions, and I don’t condone the actions she has taken out of emotional defense and a place of fear; but I am exceedingly grateful that she had the eggs to do what she has done through the years. I think that work deserves our honor, and to belittle anyone’s beliefs is not fair discourse.
Faye,
I’m only going to address your comment on public space here because I am planning to write a follow up to this post in a few days. I will say that I agree with many of your points, especially that you aren’t always going to agree with people, especially those in your own trad or those who have taught you. That’s what being a human with a brain and free will is all about.
However, with regard to public space, PantheaCon is absolutely public space. Public doesn’t mean free. Just because you have to pay to attend and some people have to pay to travel to it doesn’t make it private. Public means anyone with the means to attend can do so. You don’t have to be a member of a specific organization or tradition to attend PCon. If that were the case then it wouldn’t be private and this wouldn’t be a discussion within the community to the level that it is. At that point it would just be a matter of people who felt passionate about the situation to just not renew their membership, stop supporting the organization, and not return. But that is not PCon. Yes, it’s a community but a community built not only through the work Glenn and others have done over the years but also by the PUBLIC Pagan community that come year after year, paying to attend, and supporting what is being done. PCon is a public Pagan conference, not a private Pagan event.
This comment is more addressed to the people commenting on this post, than the post itself (tho the observation on public space is relevant to the article itself):
I was not there that night, so I don’t know what happened. However, observing from afar, it saddens me to see this rift; at once, I am encouraged by the unifying movement of the people who sang T Thorn Coyle’s Divine Twins along with We All Come From the Goddess in peaceful protest of the ritual, continuing their work to bridge the gap.
I support transwomen and ciswomen, transmen and cismen, all having access to their own ritual space in PCON (or any other gathering) if they choose to do so, as long as communal rituals are available to go alongside the private ones. It’s not up to Z. to designate that space, it’s up to the trans community.
That Z. asked for a groin check says something different to me than what seems to be acknowledged here, and is being overlooked in these comments: it says to me, she was that concerned that people would not respect her request for sacred ciswomen space. Her request was hurtful to others, no doubt. Having met Zsuzsanna and having been initiated by her, I do think it is important for all to remember, she laid some incredibly important framework for us to keep building on. No, she’s not perfect; she is very human, and she will freely admit that (I’ve heard her say so). Just because she is my teacher doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything she says. Her human-ness does not give anyone an excuse to perpetrate war on her or her students. It means that we must strive even harder for open, loving dialogue.
I would also like to kindly point out, PCON is not an entirely public ritual space. It is attained by those who have the resources to purchase tickets and who have access to means of travel to be there. It is a community.
To those who wonder about what happens when we no longer have a womb, I would recommend looking at a copy of Z.’s Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries; she addresses the pain of releasing the womb, and making peace with the transition. You are still a woman according to her, because you were still born with a womb. Also, women are not merely walking wombs to Z. The womb simply lends a certain added dimension to the consciousness, which in reality is no better than a man’s – just different.
I don’t agree with all of Z.’s opinions, and I don’t condone the actions she has taken out of emotional defense and a place of fear; but I am exceedingly grateful that she had the eggs to do what she has done through the years. I think that work deserves our honor, and to belittle anyone’s beliefs is not fair discourse.