Radical Feminism in Wicca

I recently read a blog post by a male Pagan who is upset by those radical feminists whose embrace of Neopaganism makes them the female embodiment of the sexism and misogyny of traditional religions. He is particularly disturbed by the accusation that men are robots acting out "sperm wars." I instantly recognized this phrase as either coming out of or being related to evolutionary psychology. I haven't read much specifically on that subject, but we did discuss it a bit when I took philosophy of science.

I think evolutionary psychology and evolutionary explanations for human behavior are fine, as long as they don't become reductive. Let me explain. A common explanation given for human mating behavior (= who you are likely to want to sleep with) is that men can basically give sperm away without any consequences, while a woman who has sex with a man is potentially going to be giving up, at a minimum, nine months of her life, not to mention the energy costs of childrearing. So men are, so it is alleged, "programmed" to be promiscuous, and women are "programmed" to be picky. Women may be so picky that they won't be satisfied with the husband they're stuck with, but "sleep around" to get the best sperm.

I don't find this particularly offensive, especially because this hypothesis is just dealing in trends, trends which, I assume, are fairly well-established. I've known women who loved sex and weren't particularly picky. And there are many men who are truly happy with just one woman.

Of course the assumption that these trends are well-established may be false! I don't know. I do think that this sort of thing can sound suspiciously like a just-so story. But anyway, this trend, assuming it's real, should not cause us trouble until we begin stereotyping people or excluding people from our social circles based on it.

Why? Well, let's look at other prejudices. There are all sorts of racial and cultural stereotypes, and most of them are frowned upon in modern, free societies, even when there is a factual foundation for them. After all, they just represent trends (real or false), and it is important that we approach each human being as a unique individual. She or he may belong to a group that (is alleged to) tend to be X, but prejudging them based on X is harmful and unfair, since there is a strong possibility that they aren't X at all.

So evolutionary psychology is pretty worthless when it comes to the battle of the sexes. Even if men are as a rule more likely to have certain undesirable traits, that doesn't mean all or even most men have those traits. This particular male Pagan is really upset by the radical feminists in e.g. Dianic Wicca or other Neopagan groups who "don't need men" and are extremely sexist, in the same way that traditional religions were sexist against women. I don't know what to think about that. I have seen and heard about so many idiots in my life that I don't have any strong hope that ideals, like male-female polarity and equality in Wicca, will actually translate into real behavior. It certainly was hardly the case in the Christian communities I frequently for a decade or so. Why should it be any better among Neopagans? The radical feminists who despise men probably have some reason for their hatred. I'll be blunt and say that such hatred is just as idiotic and myopic as the misogyny a friend of mine clings to. But I can't control anyone, and if Paganism is truly a free approach to religious values, then I can't get personally miffed about the stupidity of other Pagans -- certainly not the way I used to get angry when I saw bad Christians.