Ethics and the Environment, 4(2)175-177 Copyright © 2000 Elsevier Science Ino ISSN: 1085-6633 All rights ot reproduction in any form reserved. ; Feminism—Ecology: Francoise . . d'Eaubonne Revolution or Mutation? INTRODUCTION Iam very glad to be here and thankful to the University of Montana. The amicable invitation allows me to say that in 1978 I was the founder of the stream Feminism—Bcology. My book with this title was at that time published in Paris and was much echoed in Canada, in Latin America, and in Tibet. But the great- est acknowledgment was in Australia (where also a thesis in the faculty of arts was made): in that land, there is a feminism-ecology party with headquarters in the gov- ermental assembly. Presently, I am proud to witness that America is studying this option in its universities. THESIS OF MY WORK The Following Ones: 1) The Historical Ones a) the changeover from the dry agriculture with the hoe to the agriculture with the plow and the irrigation, inventions and practices of the men, who then tool hold of the technique of fertility, that is, the main richness of the ancien gl) world. stays are: Direct all correspondence to: F. d’Eaubonne, 8 Bd Bonne Nouvelle, 75010 Paris, France 175176 ETHICS ANO THE ENVIRONMENT Vol, 4, No. 2, 1999, That phenomenon corresponds with the decline of the cult of the Great Goddess; it is well-known by all the anthropologists and was quite often spoken about in the XIXth century as “the substantial defeat of the feminine sex.” b) But much fewer researchers noticed the second fact: that is, the discovery of the process of procreation by the men. The human belief—which lasted quite long!—was of women being fecundated by divine beings! It is probable that the phase of stock grazing, which allowed the observation of animals instead of the hunting, was at the origin of that discovery. Here is the second main- stay of patriarchy, the mastery of fecundity, another main source of richness of the ancient world, (We do not want to accredit here the doubtful theory of matriarchy, which was formed by Bachofen, but we state that the Agricultural Mother—in the center of civilization, not at the summit of it—was the civili- zation system in the ante-patriarchy, in the times of the Great Goddess. The two discoveries of the founders of patriarchy meant an incontestable progress of mankind. The wealth increased much and the world population increased, in spite of wars which broke out suddenly with the system of the men. And therein lies the main point: these two discoveries, the mastering on fertility and impregnation which were at the origin of such a progress, are nowadays directly connected with the origin of the two ecological disasters threatening our species: overcrowding and exhaustion of the resources. 2) Modern Times and Feminism That study shows the importance of the overlap between fem- inism and ecology. Of course, it does not at the least mean a regression to the ancient ways of life with the pretext of manly patriarchy leading to dangers and spoiling dis- coveries of technics with the instinct of domination and death. Worldwide, women are more involved in the ecological problem than men. The grounds: they give life, and have, therefore, more of the concern of future generations. ‘The are more in touch with life and preservation of life. Secondly, the problem of de- mography involves their freedom since the confiscation of the control of demography means subjection, even slavery (for example, in fundamentalist Islam). ‘The struggle of women for conquest of their bodies extends over that control over the impregnation. Yet, it is not all. During the centuries until now, the relationship of the masculine system to environment has become exploitation, plunder, indeed irre- versible destruction; this relationship is like the relationship between the sexes, patri- archy being exploitation, subordination, even murder of the woman or her destruction as a human being. entirely devoted to animal reproduction. Suppression of patriarchy is not only women’s liberation, but hope of sal for the whole species. ionFeminism—Ecology 7 3) Nowadays These items have been treated for 20 years; they remain ac- tual and the evolution nowadays makes me add another remark: The era of data processing sets new perspectives and other problems. Today, what is alive is even more manipulated than it is victim of exploitation, and in the post-industrial societies appears the biomolecular agriculture which could be the rem- edy to the exhaustion of resources. If Marx could say that mankind sets only problems that can be solved by man- kind, we may think that some remedies can be worse than the evils. In the world coming, the dangers on what is alive seem to be the reign of the vir- tual becoming a totalitarianism which would destroy all that the species, and the world has, until now, showed as relations between human beings and the link with the cosmic order. Whatever the huge future of virtual transgenism and robotics, women are the keepers of the values of life, they are struggling for their dignity as human be- ings, and they will take positions on feminism—ecology, a struggle that is more pri- mordial than ever for their future and the future of mankind.? NOTES 1. See the primordial work of the American searcher Riane Eissler, Le calice et l'epépée (French translation, 1995, in the éditions Latfont. Ecologie-Féminisme, Révolution ou Mutation is being translated by Jacob Paisan, the translator of my April 1998 exposition at the University of Montana, REFERENCES «’Eaubonne, F, 1978, Feminism—Ecology. ENCRE, Paris, France.