Reviews tagging 'Sexism'

The Path of Druidry: Walking the Ancient Green Way by Penny Billington

1 review

laurareads87's review

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DNF at 31%. It is rare for me to not finish a book like this; however, I just couldn't get through this one. I will certainly seek out another book on Druidry (this was my first) but I will not be finishing this. There were some things I really liked in here -- some mediation ideas and practical suggestions I did really appreciate. However, this book had several major issues for me that I just could not get past. One is ableism -- the author presumes that the only reason that one might not be able to, say, take walks every day is that they feel too busy or work long hours. Some of the strongly emphasized daily practices in here are simply not feasible for many folks, including myself, and there is no acknowledgment of that, no suggestion of alternatives, and no affirmation that not being able to take walks every day is okay. The second is completely uncritical use of the 'g' word to refer to Romani people. This is neither necessary in this book (it is in a totally uncited remark about a 'past belief' that is really out of nowhere) nor even remotely acceptable given that it is a slur. The third issue is the pervasive, almost aggressive insistence on the Western gender binary. I feel like this is one of the most gender stereotypical and heteronormative books I've encountered, and that's saying a lot. The focus on imposing gender constructs onto the landscape, celestial bodies, and elements as though they are given in the things themselves (rather than cultural ideas which are neither timeless nor universal) was both pervasive and distracting. I will certainly return to some of the practices shared in this book, but this is definitely not the one for me.
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