3 of 4 - EcoSex @ U Conn - Anderlini's Gaia - Student Responses: John's Take

Dear Earthlings:

The EcoSex course at U Conn is in process.  It's a great experience.  We are reading amazing books.  Thinking out of the box and across disciplines.  Students are sending their responses in, with discussion questions.  In class, we connect the dots: a holograph of what we've read together, the "required readings."  Multiple perspectives and good synergy.  Here, we offer a glimpse.  Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio's Gaia and the New Politics of Love was one of three cultural theory books.  We got four responses: from Michael, Alissa, John, and Alexandra.  

Here's John's take:

Response to Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio's Gaia and the New Politics of Love: Notes for a Poly Planet

Overall, I liked this book. There was a lot of set up in the first two parts that would have left any reader grasping for straws or a formal conclusion. The third section really brings things together. I believe this book does a better job at convincing readers (i.e. me) of a possibility of Ecofeminism as Scientific Theory as a vector to propel better philosophies of interconnectedness in the world.

The book practically opens with, “I propose to focus on an alternative mode of reason that posits symbiosis rather than independence as the basic form of relatedness between individual entities,” (4). This connection between looking at diseases (particularly AIDS) as holistic imbalances rather than allopathic invasions is pretty clearly outlined in the second part of the book, but my question here is do we have examples of this sort of holistic thinking developing into proper scientific theory? Or stated differently, I am not medically or scientifically inclined, but I do appreciate and approve of holistic and natural medicines, but does holistic thinking, especially in the medicinal field, necessarily throw out the scientific method of observation?

Another quote that resonated strongly with me (I have no objections to it, just an observation) is when American foreign policy is compared to allopathic medicinal approach, “The United States is the body, the Twin Towers one of its vital organs,” (78). I hold the pretty unpopular opinion that the United States brought 9/11 upon itself. This is usually taken to mean that I think the United States (and the victims of that day) “deserve” what they got. I don’t mean this in the slightest, but rather that because of American interference in the politics and economies of the Middle East, our sins have come back to bite us in the form of Osama bin Laden and his goons. If we were to end our involvement in that region, it would mean reevaluating our economy. It would force Americans to ask, “Why are we so dependent on fossil fuels, especially those based in the Arabian desert?” or “Why do we consume so much when it is so harmful to not only our environment, but our people?” I think those are the questions that should be asked if we’re going to look at politics and economics holistically rather than allopathically. (Allopathic and compersion, two new words I really like from this book.)

I was raised in a very conservative Christian church. I was once told that just to have an erection prior to marriage was considered a sin. Even though I went to public school, we were still introduced to sex as essentially, the vector for venereal disease and unplanned pregnancy. I think you describe this perfectly when you write, “The AIDS crisis has produced a social energy that links erotic expression with fear,” (105). Even though I had left the church and was pretty much a free thinker by the time I lost my virginity, I still had a rush of frightening emotions (that included things like, “Do I have an STD? Am I going to be a father?” among others) that really had no right to exist in my mind at all. The attitude of fear that emanates from our public institutions regarding sex is really evident and I like how those are quickly contrasted with the Bi-Poly movies you describe so vivdly and how those attitudes as arts of love can help transform the world.

In no way do I want to be put in the position of defending the Catholic Church. So I won’t, I do feel they are demonized in the book. Fairly? Maybe. I’m just not a big fan of demonization of any kind. That being said, I will defend the Medievals. They get a bad rap, especially coming after the fetishized Renaissance. Just like us, the Medievals thought for themselves, governed themselves, and had developed senses of what constituted humanity. In the Great Chain of Being, women DID have souls and spirits, contrary to what’s written on page 8. In the Medieval spiritual hierarchy, men were always above women, but both men AND women had souls (which allowed them to move. Animals also had animus) and spirits (which allows them to think rationally). The belief was that since men were above women, men were closer to God and had a more developed spirit, while women were closer to animals and had stronger souls, making them more animal-like. The topic is still open to debate about how, but historians recognize that women in the Medieval period had more rights and typically better lives than in the “Enlightenment” and especially the Victorian Eras.

Sorry. Just has to defend my friends in the past.

Overall, I loved the book. Fighting paranoia and fear with art is a powerful thing and I want to see both of these movies. 

John Nitowski
Published with permission

WGSS 3998 - Ecosexuality and the Ecology of Love

Prof. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

U Conn, Storrs, Spring 2013

Course Announcement and Description

Dear Earthlings:

Let "nature" be your teacher in the arts of love.  Education is the heart of democracy, education to love.  Come back for more wonders: Students Responses to appear every Tuesday.  Book Reports to be scheduled soon, every other Thursday.  Check out our summer offerings:  Ecosexuality in Portland, OR, July 17-21.  Info and Registration here! 

Namaste,
 

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love
Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

Follow us in the social media

Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Website: www.serenagaia.com 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse 
Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 

Author's Page/Lists all books: 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 

YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini
 

 

2 of 4 - EcoSex @ U Conn - Anderlini's Gaia - Student Reports: Alissa's Take

Dear Earthlings:

The EcoSex course at U Conn is in process.  It's a great experience.  We are reading amazing books.  Thinking out of the box and across disciplines.  Students are sending their responses in, with discussion questions.  In class, we connect the dots: a holograph of what we've read together, the "required readings."  Multiple perspectives and good synergy.  Here, we offer a glimpse.  Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio's Gaia and the New Politics of Love was one of three cultural theory books.  We got four responses: from Michael, Alissa, John, and Alexandra.  

Here's Alissa's take:

Response to Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio's Gaia and the New Politics of Love: Notes for a Poly Planet

 

One line that particularly stood out to me was “As a woman who loves her body in all its parts, and claims jurisdiction over them and the consensual pleasures in which they become engaged, I whole heartedly agree with today’s cultural constructionists that biology is not destiny.” This sentence was of importance to be because it brings up the concept of nature vs. nurture. Our biological make up doesn’t decide who we are. It may define us physically and create limits on certain activities we can participate in, but it does not create the whole person, it’s only a piece of the puzzle. Biology creates the person, but it’s what we do with what we are given that creates an identity. This coincides with the chart that lists “the seed must control reproductive organ” with its listed consequences as “reproduction as destiny” and “excessive population growth.” This portion focuses on the idea that sex is solely used for having children and spreading one’s genes onto an offspring (survival of the fittest). The average person can also relate with this preconceived belief because as a person gets older and has a partner their families, parents, friends will ask the question, when are you having kids? In society’s eyes getting married and having children are steps in the equation and people are looked down upon if they choose otherwise. “Reproduction as destiny” is not a reasonable belief because some people are infertile, or sterile making it difficult to have children, other people choose to focus on a career rather than a have children. In the other books we read the concept of symbiosis been explained over and over again, but a unique perspective that was brought to my attention was that nothing is just a resource. Everything benefits from another piece of Gaia. We humans benefit from the other pieces of Gaia and things such as trees benefit from the air we breathe in and out.

            Something brought to my attention that I never gave too much thought to was the idea that the men’s sperm is what fertilizes the woman’s egg. Something as simple as that seems just like a fact, but this can be considered where the whole concept of patriarchal beliefs came from; the idea that sperm (the male form) has power over the ovum (the female form).  The man impregnates the woman making him superior and the woman more susceptible to his control. Males dominating created the concept of history. History can be seen as a subject area students study in school but it can also been seen as a gendered view on society. History is told from a male perspective, through the male gaze. Women have recently been given a voice, but those years of suppression cannot be taken back. Men’s point of views has been given a greater importance and they are highlighted for their achievements more than women.

Why do you think men were giving superiority to begin with, was it because of natural selection and physical traits or biological factors like impregnating women?

Alissa Maus
Published with permission

WGSS 3998 - Ecosexuality and the Ecology of Love

Prof. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

U Conn, Storrs, Spring 2013

Course Announcement and Description

Dear Earthlings:

Let "nature" be your teacher in the arts of love.  Education is the heart of democracy, education to love.  Come back for more wonders: Students Responses to appear every Tuesday.  Book Reports scheduled every other Thursday.  Check out our summer offerings:  Ecosexuality in Portland, OR, July 17-21.  Info and Registration here! 

Namaste,
 

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love
Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

Follow us in the social media

Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Website: www.serenagaia.com 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse 
Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 

Author's Page/Lists all books: 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 

YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini
 

 

1 of 4 - EcoSex @ U Conn - Anderlini's Gaia - Student Responses: Michael's Take

Dear Earthlings:

The EcoSex course at U Conn is in process.  It's a great experience.  We are reading amazing books.  Thinking out of the box and across disciplines.  Students are sending their responses in, with discussion questions.  In class, we connect the dots: a holograph of what we've read together, the "required readings."  Multiple perspectives and good synergy.  Here, we offer a glimpse.  Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio's Gaia and the New Politics of Love was one of three cultural theory books.  We got four responses: from Michael, Alissa, John, and Alexandra.  

Here's Michaels's take:

Response to Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio's Gaia and the New Politics of Love: Notes for a Poly Planet

 

In the book’s initial discussion of the Gaia hypothesis, a comparison is made to Galileo’s discovery of the heliocentric solar system and the discovery’s role in helping to reshape the dogma of the scientific community. I found this comparison, particularly with the references to the works of Thomas Kuhn and Ludwik Fleck very interesting because I think this is certainly a problem that science has never really been able to avoid. I think there’s evidence of this within every generation, as seen with Einstein’s rejection of quantum mechanics because of his belief that the universe couldn’t be so random.

In addition to the scientific community’s ability to become rooted in dogma, I think an additional problem has a risen vis-à-vis how the proliferation of modern media has encouraged such bad behavior among scientists. While such paradigm shifts are often generational, there is now also an element that every discovery is amplified and given significance beyond its actual findings. This makes it that much harder to shift the paradigm because public perception and its bias has been added to the field in addition to the biases of the scientists themselves.

I also found the discussion of abortion rights and the religion’s role interesting. As a supporter of abortion I had always thought of it in the manner described in the book as supporting the principle but simultaneously wanting to avoid it happening still. I had never really thought about why this might be problematic in a different way from a fundamentally pro-life perspective and am glad this was raised by the book.

Does the use of Gaia Theory as a philosophy behind changing human society necessitate the acknowledgement that human-centric thinking as being top of the ‘food chain’ must be abandoned?

Michael Maranets
Published with permission

WGSS 3998 - Ecosexuality and the Ecology of Love

Prof. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

U Conn, Storrs, Spring 2013

Course Announcement and Description

Dear Earthlings:

Let "nature" be your teacher in the arts of love.  Education is the heart of democracy, education to love.  Come back for more wonders: Students Responses to appear every Tuesday.  Book Reports to be scheduled soon, every other Thursday.  Check out our summer offerings:  Ecosexuality in Portland, OR, July 17-21.  Info and Registration here! 

Namaste,
 

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love
Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

Follow us in the social media

Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Website: www.serenagaia.com 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse 
Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 

Author's Page/Lists all books: 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 

YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini
 

 

5 of 5 - EcoSex @ U Conn - Margulis and Sagan's Mystery Dance - Student Response: Michael's Take

Dear Earthlings:

The EcoSex course at U Conn is in process.  It's a great experience.  We are reading amazing books.  Thinking out of the box and across disciplines.  Students are sending their responses in, with discussion questions.  In class, we connect the dots: a holograph of what we've read together, the "required readings."  Multiple perspectives and good synergy.  Here, we offer a glimpse.  Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan's Mystery Dance was one of two theory-of-science books.  We got four responses: from John, Alissa, Rhiann, Adam, and Michael.  

Here's Michael's take:

Response to Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan's Mystery Dance: On the Evolution of Human Sexuality

 

An issue that arises for me when reading Mystery Dance and the other books assigned by Lynn Marguiles is that I feel I at times focus too much on the trees and miss the broader forest of her points. Having said that, I really enjoyed this book as it presented a nice synthesis of philosophy, zoological evolution and microbiology all of which I like. I did however have some issues with some of the evidence she presents and manner in which she argues for her points. On page 27 when she talks about the idea of a sexual bacterial ‘super-organism’, I find this idea very intriguing because research that has occurred in the 20 years since this book was published has only added evidence supporting the notion of cooperation and altruism between various certain bacterial species that goes beyond her basic examples of their ability to recycle each-other’s metabolites for their own use. I think this if anything is how I view the idea of Gaia, and while the DNA exchanges that occur are the prototype upon which sexual reproduction evolved I think Marguiles should also have mentioned the antagonistic relationship that these organisms share as well. While cooperation does occur, many of these bacteria are also at war with each-other, particularly if they share the same metabolites so there is a degree of antagonism that occurs as well. I think this should have mentioned because it paints a fuller picture of this ‘super-organism’ and because it provides an interesting analogy to the antagonistic war of the sexes in the reproduction of various animals that she documents subsequently. I found she often engaged in the same kind of chauvinistic use of biological evidence that she addressed as what was wrong with how Social Darwinists and others utilized biology in the past. This occurs problematically, in my mind at least, throughout the book, but is most egregious in her discussion of the rise of the patriarchy and phallocracy on page 54 as a consequence of the evolution of Homo sapiens. Earlier she references the descent of Homo erectus as the beginning of our abandonment of chimpanzee-like promiscuity towards monogamy and the protection of females due to the physical power of men which she again references here via her examples of early hunting by males and gathering by females. Based on my experiences taking some anthropology classes on early man and reading the book Born to Run, I would disagree with her use of evolutionary biology to place the origins of the patriarchy at this point in humanity’s existence. Homo erectus differentiated himself from the last common ancestor we share with chimpanzees and other apes because of his ability to run. This is the primary method humanity used throughout the bulk of its history over the last 50,000 years to procure food. There is a greater discrepancy between the sizes of male and female apes like gorillas than between male and female early humans because the physical size of males was actually counterproductive for running and males began shrinking via the selective pressure of these long distance hunts. Born to Run also presents a myriad of evidence of the fact that as you increase the distance of an endurance run the difference between male and female competitors disappears. Ultra-marathoning of the kind ancient tribes utilized to hunt created an equal playing field between the sexes’ roles in survival unlike any seen prior to that point in primates. Similarly, the archaeological evidence of shamanistic rituals I encountered within anthropology also painted a picture of shared shaman roles between the sexes, if not a slant towards female shamans. I’d instead argue that the rise of the patriarchy began much later in human history, only at the dawn of organized agriculture and with it organized religion, within the last 10,000 years, where the larger physical strength of males would present an advantage that they did not necessarily have earlier in hunting by running animals to death.

Question: At a point in the first Chapter, Marguiles uses her arguments about ritualistic violence inherent in males and sperm competition to offer an explanation for gang rapes. Do you agree with her perspective or not? Why?

Michael Maranets
Published with permission

WGSS 3998 - Ecosexuality and the Ecology of Love

Prof. Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio

U Conn, Storrs, Spring 2013

Course Announcement and Description

Dear Earthlings:

Let "nature" be your teacher in the arts of love.  Education is the heart of democracy, education to love.  Come back for more wonders: Students Responses to appear every Tuesday.  Book Reports to be scheduled soon, every other Thursday.  Check out our summer offerings:  Ecosexuality in Portland, OR, July 17-21.  Info and Registration here! 

Namaste,
 

Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD

Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire

Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love
Professor of Humanities

University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

   

Follow us in the social media

Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Website: www.serenagaia.com 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse 
Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 

Author's Page/Lists all books: 

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 

YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini