Pagan Prompt: Paganism and Fertility
pagan_prompt asks:
What do you think about (most forms of) Paganism including celebrations of fertility into it's scared year? Do you think that the Pagan celebration of fertility offers something positive to the culture? If so, what, and if not, why not?
I'm not a fan of the fertility aspect of most pagan paths because it's 1, heteronormative and 2, rather exclusionary of folks who don't plan to reproduce. When it's about creativity instead of (or in addition to) fertility, I can get behind it if it's made explicit. But mostly I'm a fan of paths like Feri, which emphasize the ecstatic/creative over the fertility-oriented.
Sure, reproduction is important -- can't have a continuing species without it! -- and I'm not against heterosexual relationships (given that I'm married to a guy, that's probably pretty obvious), but I've spent a long time feeling excluded to varying degrees because of my childfree status, and it's become a rather tetchy issue for me -- it puts my hackles up in a damn hurry when liturgy goes on and on about procreation. I don't want to deal with that shit in my religion too, you know?
It's generally not an issue, though, because I rarely go to any pagan events that aren't pagan-centric. I generally don't go to big celebrations of the seasons, which is when the fertility cycle is usually most prominent.
What do you think about (most forms of) Paganism including celebrations of fertility into it's scared year? Do you think that the Pagan celebration of fertility offers something positive to the culture? If so, what, and if not, why not?
I'm not a fan of the fertility aspect of most pagan paths because it's 1, heteronormative and 2, rather exclusionary of folks who don't plan to reproduce. When it's about creativity instead of (or in addition to) fertility, I can get behind it if it's made explicit. But mostly I'm a fan of paths like Feri, which emphasize the ecstatic/creative over the fertility-oriented.
Sure, reproduction is important -- can't have a continuing species without it! -- and I'm not against heterosexual relationships (given that I'm married to a guy, that's probably pretty obvious), but I've spent a long time feeling excluded to varying degrees because of my childfree status, and it's become a rather tetchy issue for me -- it puts my hackles up in a damn hurry when liturgy goes on and on about procreation. I don't want to deal with that shit in my religion too, you know?
It's generally not an issue, though, because I rarely go to any pagan events that aren't pagan-centric. I generally don't go to big celebrations of the seasons, which is when the fertility cycle is usually most prominent.