Ecofeminism_TheStoneGods

................................................................................. "She is all States, All Princes I..." (Winterson 5)


= ........................................................................................ Ecofeminism = ====...........Jeanette Winterson’s novel “The Stone Gods” presents three non-linear worlds in which government and society take on strong masculine roles. In a futuristic, past, and hypothetical near-future universe, her heroine Billie Crusoe takes readers on a journey where they experience each stage of an apocalypse, due to human error. Strong feminist overtones suggest that this human error, specifically, is hyper-masculinity and its solution lies in embracing ecofeminism. According to ecofeminist Ynestra King, ====  “Ecofeminism draws on feminist theory which asserts that the domination of woman was the original domination in human society…the human species in its patriarchal form is the only species which holds a conscious belief that it is entitled to dominion over the other species, and the planet…The special message of ecofeminism is that when women suffer through both social domination and the domination of nature, most of life on this planet suffers and is threatened as well” ("The Ecology of Feminism and the Feminism of Ecology" 24-25).

Here is an overview of the ecofeminist movement:
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= ........................................................................................... Orbus=



====..............Billie Crusoe finds herself in a self-destructing world. Souring carbon dioxide levels on Orbus cause climate change, mysterious dust storms make the air unbreathable, and the abuse of natural resources has led to famine. Despite being at its technological peak, equipped with the knowledge to genetically fix humans and develop robo-sapiens, civilization has sought little solutions to aid the dying planet. Jeanette’s futuristic world in her novel “The Stone Gods” reflects a not-so-futuristic civilization that is our own. Instead of engaging in a symbiotic relationship with the environment, inhabitants of Orbus have become parasites, mirroring real-life issues of global warming, the exploitation of oil, and pollution. Betty Wells and Danielle Wirth theorize, “The deterioration of the world’s environment, primarily the result of human activities, has been accelerated by development…To Jim Cheney (1987), concerns for the environment and women’s concerns may be parallel, bound up with one another, perhaps even one and the same, since both women and the environment have been treated with ambivalence and disrespect by the dominant culture” (300-303). ==== = =

= ..................................................................................... **Planet Blue**=
 * ................... “The doomsters and the environmentalists kept telling us we were as good as dead and, hey presto, not only do we find a new planet, but it is perfect for new life. This time, we’ll be more careful. This time we will learn from our mistakes,” (Winterson 6).**

==== ............ In the midst of what seems to be the beginning of the end, Planet Blue is discovered. The newfound celestial body offers an abundance of natural resources and a chance for survival. Billie Crusoe shuttles off to Planet Blue with the rest of a hand-picked crew that will experiment with living conditions in the new ecosystem. Handsome, a crew leader, has decided to deflect an asteroid to hit Planet Blue and wipe out the dinosaur population. The plan goes awry, causing an ice age that makes the planet unlivable for another billion years.The perversion of nature and society’s inability to coincide with the environment is humanity’s deadly downfall throughout this cautionary tale. These qualities of assertiveness and domination parallel with those of masculinity.====

===“In Western society women are treated as inferior to men, 'nature' is treated as inferior to 'culture', and humans are understood as being separate from, and often superior to, the natural environment.” (Dr. Adrian Harris)=== = =

= ............................................................... Easter Island= === .......... “The island trees and all of this good land were sacrificed to a meaning that has now become meaningless. To build Stone Gods, the island has been destroyed, and now the Stone Gods are themselves destroyed,” (Winterson 113)===



==== ........... The following section of the novel takes place on Easter Island, when Billie Crusoe is alternatively an explorer in the 1700’s. Upon landing on the island he discovers natives that scavenge his crew for wood objects. The inhabitants of Easter Island thirst for the scarce resource that was one of the many over-reaped from their land to build giant stone structures they once worshiped; stone structures that get torn down in the midst of rage. Billie witnesses the lone tree on the island meet its demise. The female natives cry out for the tree while the males carry out its execution; symbolic of the environmental struggle between masculinity and femininity:====

=== ......... "Women, and this my first sight of them, are grouped against the men...but one of the women is lying the length of her body against the tree...A male figure, wearing a headdress of bird feathers, strikes the woman, and at this signal, for so I interpret it, all the women standing by are struck at by the males," (Winterson 101).===

==== ......... This scene, along with the males' willingness to sacrifice their life-giving land, agrees with Dr. Adrian Harris’s description of masculine society. On her website, [|http://www.thegreenfuse.org], she states that patriarchal societies value God, foremost, followed by men, women, children, animals, and lastly, nature.====

= .............................................. **Tech City, Wreck City, and The Red Zone**= === ........... "No one in the West believed we would be bombed...We spread our wars where necessary, and called it peace-keeping. It was bloody and messy...Then the bombs-bombs-that left the cities of the West as desperate and destroyed as the cities of the East where we had waged our righteous wars and never counted the cost," (Winterson 163)===



==== ........... The third and final section is set during pre-World War III in the West, where Billie works for MORE corporation in a rebuilding Tech City.The "West" had waged war in presumably inferior parts of the globe; carelessly destroying civilizations. Consequently, the West is attacked unexpectedly and faces a similar fate to its victims. The city is ravaged, government is dissolved, and a counter-culture forms in Wreck City. Civilians exposed to radiation suffer debilitating physical side-effects and are quarantined to The Red Zone where food supplies are parachuted from helicopters. ==== ====..........Jeanette does not glorify war. On the contrary she depicts the ugly devastation it brings. The novel suggests that war was a result of the West's hyper-masculinity; a manifestation of the West's desire to establish dominance, instigated by a sense of superiority and lack of global compassion. ==== Ynestra King identifies the hyper-masculinity in war in her article, “The Ecofeminist Imperative”:Eco-feminism is about connectedness and wholeness of theory and practice. It asserts the special strength and integrity of every living thing…We see the devastation of the earth and her beings by the corporate warriors, and the threat of nuclear annihilation by the military warriors, as feminist concerns. It is the same masculinist mentality would deny us our right to our own bodies…and which depends on multiple systems of dominance and state power to have its way,” (10).



=== ................... In conclusion, "The Stone Gods" presents possible futures of a masculine society, void of emotional ....... attachment and cooperation with our planet. Jeanette Winterson believes the only way to maintain a healthy relationship with our environment is to adopt nurturing qualities of ecofeminism within our society ... ===

="The universe is an imprint. You are part of the imprint - it imprints you, you imprint it. You cannot separate yourself from the imprint, and you can never forget it. It isn't a "something", it is you," (Winterson 87).=

= ............................................................................................. Works Cited=

Photograph. Web. 27 May 2012. .

Photograph. Web. 14 May 2012. . Photograph. Web. 13 May 2012. . Photograph. Web. 13 May 2012. .

Photograph. Web. 13 May 2012. . Photograph. Web. 13 May 2012. . Winterson, Jeanette. // The Stone Gods //. Orlando: Harcourt, 2007. Print. Griffin, Susan. 1989. "Split Culture." Judith Plant (ed). 1989. Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism. Santa Cruz, California: New Society Publishers. Harris, Adrian. "Women and Nature." The Green Fuse. Nov. 2002. Web. 26 May 2012. . King, Ynestra. “The Ecofeminist Imperative.” In Caldecott and Leland, eds., Reclaim the Earth. King, Ynestra. "The Ecology of Feminism and the Feminism of Ecology." In Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism, ed. Judith Plant. Philadelphia: New Society Publishers, 1989 Metzger, Deena. “Invoking the Grove.” Judith Plant (ed). 1989. Healing the Wounds: The Promise of Ecofeminism. Santa Cruz, California: New Society Publishers. McGuire, Cathleen, and Colleen McGuire. 1993. “Ecofeminist Visions.” Eve Online http.//eve.enviroweb.org/what_is/main.html  Spretnak, Charlene. "Ecofeminism: Our Roots and Flowering." In Reweaving the World: The Emergence of Ecofeminism, ed. Irene Diamond and Gloria Feman Orenstein. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 19 Wells, Betty, and Danielle Wirth. “Remediating Development through an Ecofeminist Lens.” Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature. Ed. Karen Warren. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1997. 300-14. Print. Winterson, Jeanette. The Stone Gods. Orlando: Harcourt, 2007. Print. Winterson, Jeanette. "Interview with Jeanette Winterson; Lighthouskeeping:." Interview by Hartcourt Publishers. Hartcourt. Trade Publishers. Web. 28 May 2012. .