RE:IJSNC, Issue 1, Volume 2, May 2012 - Ocean Seminary College

denly, this immense power came forth from within
me. It was like fire, and it seemed to come from
deep within my belly and yet it felt bigger than my
actual physical shape. I restated my purpose to pick
up the papers and leave quickly. Her hands actually
trembled, and there was immediate respect. Upon
leaving I found myself having ordinary thoughts,
such as wondering if I should apologize. As the
observer of the process, I had had an immediate
response within. There was no reason to apologize
as I had not attacked her personality nor had I said
anything but to state my need for brevity. In fact,
reaffirming my original intention had more integrity
because it was truthful. A few weeks later, I
had a reappearance of this fiery power with another
friend. It was a simple circumstance, but one
where I needed to claim boundaries and state what
I believed. Something new was birthing from deep
within me.
Even though women are more relational than
men, fostered through birthing children and being
the primary coordinators in the family, they don’t
always know how to handle opposition. Patriarchal
conditioning has not allowed women to know their
voices. On the social scale, this is a fairly new development
for women. Yet, one can see this power
awakening within women in various nations
around the globe. It is happening quite rapidly, like
a spreading fire from within. One sees this in
women in the Middle East, as the so-called “Arab
Spring” spreads. The numerous televised images of
women in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, were seen around
the world as women stood equally with men, demanding
freedom and equality for all. It is seen as
increasing numbers of women defy maledominated
religious extremism such as in Saudi
Arabia where women are forbidden from driving a
car. These women are willing to go to jail or to
suffer other consequences, such as being beaten.
They are waking up to their power and right to
move freely—as symbolized in the act of driving a
car.
The women of Africa have also shown great
power, courage, and beauty, such as Leymah
Gwobee, a woman who watched an entire community’s
ongoing suffering in Liberia as an extremely
patriarchic government went from bad to worse
following the 1997 election of the warlord Charles
27
Mijares : Embodying Power and Beauty
Taylor. Women and young girls were raped, men
killed and young boys drugged and forced into becoming
boy soldiers. In her words:
Despite desires and work for peace, people
were still dying and war raged on. In
fact, over 200,000 people had been
killed by 2002 and one in three persons
had been displaced. Something different
had to be done. We gathered and decided
to use one of the oldest female
tactics possible, 10 which meant if men
chose to go to war, their wives would
withhold sex. The numbers of women
increased as women developed more
confidence and found strength in numbers
and our shared unity of intention.
(Gwobee, in press)
Leymah gathered Muslim and Christian women.
First, they withheld sex from their husbands, but
then took their mission even further by barricading
Charles Taylor and his men. The women surrounded
them, locking arms, in order to prevent these men
from leaving until authentic negotiations for peace
had begun. Then, despite the threats of arrest, Leymah
began to strip off her clothes in front of the
men—the strongest form of indignation she could
demonstrate. She explains that “Even though many
of these men had most likely raped other women,
combining violence with sex, they were immensely
shamed at my demonstration. Somehow my nakedness,
along with the nakedness of my soul, brought
them to disgrace” (Gwobee, in press). Like Inanna,
she had entered this position naked. She faced the
warlord directly, and, as a result, the women won
their position. Eventually, following numerous meeting
and elections, Charles Taylor was banished. The
women supported the election of a female president,
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, inaugurated in January 2006.
These women were motivated by deep love for all,
along with the ability to manifest this love in a way
that created such immense transformation—fueled
by a deep, inherent sense of power. This power was
evoked by powerful circumstances, leading them to
cast off previously interjected patriarchal patterns. It
was similar to the instinctual mother protecting her
offspring from any threats.
Although increasing numbers of Western women
are forming groups to discuss empowering one an-