Avignon, Aboriginals, Washington DC: Patriarchy on Trial

Today, December 19, was not a good day for Patriarchy. 

It is the day 51 men in Avignon, France, were declared guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot and were sentenced to jail.  Her ex-husband, Dominique, was sentenced to the maximum 20 years in jail for organizing regular rape sessions and inviting other men, ranging in ages from 22 to their 70’s, to come to his home periodically to rape his wife whom he drugged for the occasions.

It is said the trial “shook France” and started a massive open discussion on rape and women’s rights.  Gisele has become “a symbol of female strength around the world,” writes the New York Times and a “feminist hero.”  She asked for an open trial so that the world can learn what they did to her.  And so women can know they are not alone; and men can learn that patriarchy and power-over is neither manly nor right. 

That those who abuse women—does this include our president-elect who owes $93 millions of dollars to his sexual abuse victim?—must take responsibilities for their actions.

Most moving to me was the scarf that Gisele wore regularly to the trial created by aboriginal women far away in Australia signifying solidarity.  These women, members of the oldest tribe of humans on earth, also know about patriarchy’s shadow. 

Also this morning, a friend wrote me of a dream she had last night.  I was in a crowd outside the gates of Trump City.  A rocket-like missile was shot up into the air and it turned and plummeted to earth landing right beside me.  The earth shook.  It didn’t detonate. It was meant as a warning (raping the earth!!). I was with a man and child. He was told he and child could leave.  I could not.  Very unsettling.  The dream lingers.  God/dess help us all.

She included news about “the witch trial for Liz Cheney. Trump won’t be satisfied until he sees her burning at the stake.”

Let every man know that true manliness is not about power-over or the domination that rape signifies.  This applies to deposed Syrian dictator Assad and Putin raping Ukraine (or trying to) and powerful men wanting to slip sleeping pills into the minds of American citizens so they can kill democracy and imitate Putin’s oligarchs.  

True manliness and true virility is about virtue (vir means man in Latin). Let us teach our boys and men about that.  Let us teach our unsupreme court judges as well as politicians and billionaires who buy them and run the media the same.

Also this morning I received a letter from a co-worker who was fired 30 years ago for reading about the goddess in her job at a Presbyterian church.  She reminded me of my struggle with patriarchy back then when I was silenced by the Vatican.  It is true that the first two so-called “heresies” then Cardinal Ratzinger accused me of were these: “1. He is a feminist theologian.  2. He calls God ‘Mother.’”

The rising fascism at home and abroad today is a patriarchal movement—all fascism wants to control women and women’s bodies.  The so-called anti-abortion movement is a cover up for that political truth. 

Vigilance is called for.  And truth-telling.  And courage. Thank you, Gisele.

Thank you to all those women around the world and men too who know that the future is to stand up for Mother Earth and the divine feminine.  To stand one’s ground.  Like my friend’s dream teaches us.

* Catherine Porter, “Dominique Pelicot and 50 Others Guilty in Rape Trial That Shook France,” New York Times, December 19, 2024.

See Matthew Fox, The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine.

And Fox, Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic—and Beyond.

And Fox, Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul & Society.

And Fox, Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election.

Banner Image: “No Community, No Culture, Has the Right to Silence Their Women.” Protestors at the 2018 Vancouver Women’s March speak out. Photo by Sally T. Buck on Flickr.

Queries for Contemplation

What is your response to the news about Patriarchy and Power-over from Avignon and the Australian Outback and Washington D.C. today?

Recommended Reading

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine

To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature,  to the Spiritual Warrior….These timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to connect to their deepest selves and to reinvent the world.
“Every man on this planet should read this book — not to mention every woman who wants to understand the struggles, often unconscious, that shape the men they know.” — Rabbi Michael Lerner, author of The Left Hand of God

Julian of Norwich: Wisdom in a Time of Pandemic–and Beyond

Julian of Norwich lived through the dreadful bubonic plague that killed close to 50% of Europeans. Being an anchoress, she ‘sheltered in place’ and developed a deep wisdom that she shared in her book, Showings, which was the first book in English by a woman. A theologian way ahead of her time, Julian develops a feminist understanding of God as mother at the heart of nature’s goodness. Fox shares her teachings in this powerful and timely and inspiring book.
“What an utterly magnificent book. The work of Julian of Norwich, lovingly supported by the genius of Matthew Fox, is a roadmap into the heart of the eco-spiritual truth that all life breathes together.”  –Caroline Myss
Now also available as an audiobook HERE.

Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the Flesh: Transforming Evil in Soul and Society

Visionary theologian and best-selling author Matthew Fox offers a new theology of evil that fundamentally changes the traditional perception of good and evil and points the way to a more enlightened treatment of ourselves, one another, and all of nature. In comparing the Eastern tradition of the 7 chakras to the Western tradition of the 7 capital sins, Fox allows us to think creatively about our capacity for personal and institutional evil and what we can do about them. 
“A scholarly masterpiece embodying a better vision and depth of perception far beyond the grasp of any one single science.  A breath-taking analysis.” — Diarmuid O’Murchu, author of Quantum Theology: Spiritual Implications of the New Physics

Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election

Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE. 
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE. 
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.