The term ecofeminism was coined by a French woman, Françoise d’Eaubonne in1974. Noting the associations between women and the environment, and the way in which both have been dominated under a male hierarchy, it sought to reassert value to the sacredness of each. Those women who viewed themselves as ecofeminists began to split off into different ideologies – radical ecofeminism and cultural ecofeminism.
The radical group believed that they must end the dominance that men have had over women and Nature – and the exploitation of both – for cheap labor and for the taking of Earth’s resources. Cultural ecofeminists focus on the intimate relationships women have with Nature based on their biology. They honor Nature based spirituality, which has led to a resurgence of pagan and goddess based religions. Further splitting of feminist ideals occurred as some wanted to steer away from the more romantic notions of women and Nature, to address those more tangible practices affecting our lives, such as agri-business. This gave rise to vegetarianism and veganism. The radical groups marched and protested against the poisoning of our planet, deforestation, loss of species, and the ill health brought on us all, by placing profit above sustainability. The groups continued to split off, a more recent group theorizing that in order to end oppression and domination, we must take into account sexual and racial biases.
These theories can be argued in academia. Feminist women can become activists demanding change where change is needed; but is this needless bickering approaching the problems in the same way that our male counterparts would approach them? We can argue that we are more attuned to Nature, or we can argue that we must reclaim our power from male hierarchies; but we must stop arguing. Women must unite and come together as one if we are to succeed. A fragmented group is a weakened group. The one thing that sets us apart from most men is that we can think with our hearts and not our heads. We know in our hearts what is wrong in the world and what needs to change. We should not be wasting our time and energy arguing about what feminism is or isn’t. It is all Nature. We are Nature. We can only be strong to the degree that our hearts are opened.
