Religion and magic

Diana and King of the Wood

The landscape of a little woodland Lake of Nemi, called by the ancients “Diana’s Mirror,” was located in a green hollow of the Alban hills in Italy. The two Italian villages, and the palace on its banks with terraced gardens, descended steeply to the lake. It was a scene of a strange and recurring tragedy.

   

                                            18th century depiction of Lake Nemi

On the northern side of the lake stood the sacred grove and sanctuary of Diana of the wood, or Diana at Nemi. In this sacred grove there grew a certain tree which at any time of the day and far into the night, a grim figure might be seen to prowl. In his hand he carried a drawn sword as he kept peering cautiously about him as if at any moment he expected to be set upon by an enemy. He was a priest and a murderer. The man for whom he looked for was sooner or later to murder him, and the priesthood would be transferred to the new killer.

A candidate for the priesthood could only succeed to office by slaying the priest, and having slain him, the candidate retained the office, till he himself was slain by a stronger challenger.

The post which he held carried with it the title of king. Year in and year out, night and day, in fair weather or foul, he had to keep his lonely watch. Whenever he snatched a troubled sleep, it was at the peril of his life.

The least relaxation of his vigilance, the smallest loss of strength of limb or skill put him in jeopardy; grey hairs might seal his death. Pilgrims who visit the shrine and catch sight of him would be overcome with fear and gloom.

The strange role of this priesthood was found in most ancient civilizations,  and surviving into the Roman imperial period about the 3^rd century AD.

According to one story the worship of Diana at Nemi was instituted by Orestes, who after killing Thoas, King of the Tauric Chersonese (the Crimea), fled with his sister to Italy, bringing with him the image of Diana hidden in a faggot of sticks.

After his death his bones were transported from Aricia to Rome and buried in front of the temple of Saturn.  

                                                                The Temple of Saturn

The bloody ritual which legend ascribed to Diana, mentions that every stranger who landed was sacrificed on her alter. The rite, after transported to Italy, assumed a milder form. Within the sanctuary at Nemi grew a certain tree of which no branch might be broken. The only person allowed to break off one of the boughs was a runaway slave if he could. Success in the attempt entitled him to fight the priest in single combat, and if he slew him he reigned with the title of King of the Wood.

According to public opinion of the ancients, the fateful branch was the Golden Bough. It was said the flight of Orestes after his combat with the priest was reminiscent  of the human sacrifice once offered to Diana. This rule of succession by the sword was observed down to imperial times where Caligula, thinking that the priest of Nemi had held office too long, hired a killer to slay him. A Greek traveller, who visited Italy in the age of the Antonines  (96 – 180 AD), remarks that down to his time the priesthood was  still the prize of victory in a single combat.

In regards to the worship of Diana at Nemi, some offerings found at the site shows that she was conceived as a hunter, blessing men and women with offspring, and granting expectant mothers a healthy delivery.

                                                                 Shrine of Diana

Also, fire seems to have played a part in her ritual. During her annual festival, held on the thirteenth of August, at the hottest time of the year, her grove shone with a multitude of torches, whose ruddy glare was reflected by the lake; and throughout Italy the day was kept with holy rites at every domestic hearth. Bronze statuettes found in her precinct represent the goddess herself holding a torch in her raised right hand; and a woman, whose prayers had been herd by her came crowned with wreaths and bearing lighted torches to the sanctuary in fulfilment of their vows.

An unknown person dedicated a perpetually burning lamp in a little shrine at Nemi for the safety of the Emperor Claudius and his family.

The terra-cotta lamps which have been discovered in the grove may perhaps have served a like purpose for humbler persons. If so, the analogy of the custom to the Catholic practice of dedicating holy candles in churches would be obvious. 

                                                     Ancient terra cotta candle holder 

Creation and Mythology

In 1642 the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University, Dr. Lightfoot, proclaimed that the world was created at 9 a.m., on October 23, 4004 BC.  This refined dating was based upon the slightly earlier work of Archbishop Ussher of Armagh, who had already decided upon the year 4004BC, though his studies and calculations were based upon the Old Testament. Such authoritarian statements had heralded in the Age of Reason.

The urge to reduce an enigma or the power of mystery by labelling and filing it from a dogmatic or pre-contrived system, is one of the most dangerous and inherently weakening of western consciousness.

The mystery of creation is not a problem to be solved either through dogma or logical and evolutionary systems. It may only be approached through levels found in mythology, which speak directly to the imagination in a language of timeless imagery and powerful, potentially transformative, narrative. A question like who was the first man, or who was the first woman is answered by mythology which comes from deep levels of consciousness, in which universal symbolic patterns are grasped.  The recounting of myth at its deepest and most powerful level is a reverberation of the event which it originally characterized Myths are not allegories but manifestations at the heart of our nature. Intuitively, if we lose contact with the key images within myth, or with mythic patterns, we will lose contact with a reality that both underpins and transcends the superficiality of our civilization.

A myth is a story embodying and declaring a pattern of relationship between humanity, other forms of life, and the environment. It has many implications extending far beyond a materialistic or psychological definition and interpretation. The definition of myth is divided into three parts.

1.      A myth is a story. Myths are found initially in oral tradition: this means they are tales handed down by word of mouth and preserved collectively and anonymously, though specific story-tellers or creative poets and writers often work with them. The earliest known literary use of the word myth is in the works of Plato where mythologia is used to mean the telling of tales customarily legendary characters such as gods, goddesses, heroes and revered ancestors. Most traditional myths come to us in a literary form from an early cultural period, as texts     forming a critical turning point between oral tradition and written dogma or history. True myth can express many truths in an emblematic, poetic manner which is most efficient and effective, and often more communicative than many thousands of highly reasoned words. Myths reveal their content to other levels of awareness than the merely logical or reasoning mental processes; in some cases they can leap beyond these processes to convey truth.

2.      A myth embodies and declares a pattern of relationships. This aspect of myth should be given very careful attention. The content of myth, and its relationship to collective tradition (from which popular ideas are generated) is often far more subtle than that of a mere narrative.

The unfolding of any myth includes sequences, structures and relationships, which form very specific patterns often called mythic patterns. The pattern with a relationship in myth, if it is part of a sequence deriving from an enduring tradition with roots deep in early human history, is often a visual exposition of specific concepts. These concepts are expressed as tales or verses concerning magic, metaphysics, energies of life and death, or of creation and termination.

3.      The mythic relationship is between humanity, other forms of life, and the environment. The involvement of myth with natural history or cultural history is a later expansion stretched out upon the foundations of creation mythology. We must consider that ‘the environment’ ranges from the immediate locality of a story-teller, through the land, the continent, the planet, the solar system, and ultimately the universe. Myths deal precisely with both. A local and a universal environment. It’s often difficult to separate the two because the local environment mirrors a universal one, and myth leaps instantaneously from what appear to be localized occurrences to what are, universal or cosmic events often using the same characters, symbols, and relationships to define both.

The astrological content of mythology often works in this way; one moment a character is human involved in some drama, the next he or she is a heavenly entity  related to a pattern of stars or planets found in the night sky at a certain time of year. This paradoxical role of myth was rationalized by the ancient Greeks, when they stated that their heroes were placed among the stars by the gods as reward for their valour. On the deepest level of all, the environment is not only one of space, energy and time, but of consciousness, which unifies those three into one, and from which, according to ancient tradition, all other forces were generated. To imagine, therefore, is to echo the original creation of the universe. A concept which only the human mind can create.   

The Book of Revelation, 666, and the 144,000

The Revelation opens with what is believed to be the original title: “The revelation of Jesus Christ, Which God gave him…” The word “revelation” is translated from the original Greek word “apocalypse.” It’s believed Revelation was the earliest writing to employ this word. As a title, apocalyptic or revelation literature had long been familiar to both Jews and Christians. Similarly, at early stages of its development nearly every religion had some doctrine that leans in the direction of apocalyptic ideas. There are passages in Amos, Micah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, by which the prophets reflected popular speculation about the coming “day of Yahweh.” This apocalyptic tendency in the literature of the Old Testament was heightened in post-exile times.

According to the authenticity of Revelation, the author calls himself John (The Revelation of St. John the Divine).

                                                                     Justin Martyr

                                                               

Justin Martyr A.D. 139-161, an early Christian apologist, quotes from the Apocalypse, as John the apostle’s work, the prophecy of the millennium of the saints, to be followed by the general resurrection and judgment.

This testimony of Justin is referred to also by Eusebius. In the early part of the second century, Justin, held his controversy with Trypho, a learned Jew, at Epheaus, where John had been living about thirty-five years before. According to Trypho, “the Revelation had been given to John, one of the twelve apostles of Christ.”

                                                                      Irenaeus

Melito, bishop of Sardis (about 171 A.D.), is said to have a written treatises on the Apocalypse of John, and, Irenaeus (about 180 A.D.), the disciple of John, and supposed by Archbishop Usher to be the Angel of the Church of Smyrna, “is most decided again and again in quoting the Apocalypse as the work of the apostle John.”

The number of the beast did not appear in the vision of the original Apocalypse. According to Archbishop Usher in alluding to the mystical number of the beast, 666, found in all old copies of the Apocalypse, “we do not hazard a confident theory as to the name of Antichrist; for if it had been necessary that his name should be proclaimed openly at the present time, it would have been declared by him who saw the apocalyptic vision.

The Jewish apocalyptic was the consequence of alien influence. The literature of Babylonia and Iran reveals an earlier date than does the Old Testament. Apocalyptic ideas of a resurrection and a final judgment, and an imagery of the catastrophic events that will mark the end of the present age, became naturalized within Judaism after the exile period. It was then that the Jews became vassals of the Persians, and as Judaism’s political overlord, it left its mark on post-exile Jewish writing.

Revelation 7:1-8, shows a pause in the fearful succession of plagues. All that has gone on before is

the preparatory to the breaking of the 7^th seal, the event that will precipitate the dreadful drama of the world’s history. 

                                                                     The 7th seal

During this frightful interlude the 144,000 of the spiritual people of Israel are secured for their protection against demonic powers. It’s believed the 144,000 is drawn in equal numbers from every tribe of the sons of Israel, which is believed to be the core of the Jewish faithful of all the ideal tribes. However, John interprets it to refer to Christians of every racial origin.

The 2^nd vision of this interlude, the 144,000 symbolizes the Church as the true Israel. The great multitude which no man could number from all people of the world is the church triumphant in heaven, the company of the glorified and victorious faithful awaiting the final consummation of God’s purpose. The vision is recounted by the prophet to inspire the communities to which he is writing. The vast throng in heaven are those who will remain loyal despite the pressures of persecution and the threats of death.

Breaking through the terror of Islam

After the attack on the United States and the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, the West launched a massive appeal to Muslims around the world to reflect on their religion and culture. Muslim organizations in their various countries were asked to distance themselves from Islam as preached by the terrorists.

 The plea was met with indignation from Muslims who thought it was inappropriate to hold them responsible for the criminal conduct of the young men who made the attacks. Yet, the fact that the people who committed the attacks on September 11 were Muslims, and the fact that before this date Muslims in many parts of the world were already harboring feelings of resentment toward the West, and it has yet to cease.

Similar to the Christian and Jewish faith, Islam dominates all aspects of family and relations. It’s ideology, political conviction, moral standard, and law creates the identity of the Muslim people. As such, Muslims and their children are taught the meaning of the name ‘Muslim’, which mean they are people who submit themselves to Allah’s will, found in the Koran and the Hadith, a collection of sayings supposedly ascribed to the Prophet Muhammad. People are taught that Islam sets them apart from the rest of the world and are chosen by God. All unbelievers are considered to be antisocial, impure, barbaric, not circumcised, immoral, unscrupulous, and above all, unbelievers are obscene in all respects. Those who are unfaithful to Islam are cursed, and God will punish them most brutally in the afterlife.

Christians and Jews also raise their children in the belief that they are God’s chosen people, but among Muslims the feeling that God has granted them special salvation goes further. In the Western world God and His truth are humanized. For the Muslims life on earth is merely a transit stage before the afterlife, but also, the people are allowed to live their lives as mortals, and hell seems no longer to exist, because they have special salvation exclusive only to them, God is love rather than a cruel ruler who punish.

A closer look at Islam shows three important elements.

1.      Muslim’s relationship with God is one of fear. The conception of God is absolute who demands total submission. He rewards you if you follow His rules meticulously. He punishes you cruelly if you break His rules, both on earth, with illness and natural disasters, and in the afterlife with hellfire.

2.      Islam knows only one moral source; the Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad is infallible (much like the popes of the Middle Ages), but the Koran says explicitly that Muhammad is a human being. He is a supreme human being, though, the most perfect human being. Muhammad was a military conqueror in many lands. Accounts of what he said and did, and the advice he gave in books written in the seventh century, about how  a Muslim was supposed to live, are daily consulted by devout Muslims, to answer questions about life in the twenty-first century.

3.      Islam is strongly dominated by a sexual morality derived from tribal Arab values dating from the time the prophet received his instructions from Allah, a culture in which women were the property of their fathers, brothers, uncles, grandfathers and guardians. The essence of a woman is reduced to her hymen. Her veil functions as a constant reminder to the outside world of this morality that makes Muslim men owners of women in the Muslim world, and sometimes brought to the western world by Muslim emigrants, that prevents  their daughters, mothers, sisters, aunts, sisters-in-law, cousins, nieces, and wives from having male contact.

In Muslim countries it is an offence if a woman glances in the direction of the man, brushes past his arm, or shakes his hand. A man’s reputation and honor depend entirely on the respectable, obedient behaviour of the female members of his family.

The primary task of both Muslims and non-Muslims is to face the malicious extremism in the world today. Fanaticism in Islam is a reality, and its following is growing. Westerners and Muslims need to stand together in their shared rejection of fanaticism, instead of cultivating distrust. The Muslims themselves must recognize the importance of enlightenment and realize the importance and urgency of restoring the balance between religion and reason, and work hard at achieving it.

Muslims are a diverse group. Some want to reform their faith. Others want to spread their beliefs through persuasion, violence, or both, while others are apathetic and do not care for politics.  And still others want to leave their faith and convert to Christianity, or become atheist.

Islam, as a set of beliefs unreformed, is hostile to everything Western.

In a free society, Jews, Protestants, and Catholics, as well as Muslims, have their own schools. But how long should we ignore the fact that in certain Muslim schools in the West, students are taught to believe that they should distance themselves from unbelievers and that jihad is a virtue?

In Muslim lands, Jews, Catholics, and Protestants cannot have their own schools, or churches and graveyards. Muslims can proselytize in Vatican City, but, Christians cannot proselytize in Mecca.

In regards to the obsession with subjugating women is one of the things that make Islam so reprehensible. The leaders of Islam know any improvement in the lives of women will lead to the demise of Islam and a disappearance of male power.  This is one of many reasons why they are so desperate to keep women caged in, and why the agents of Islam also hate the west. According to Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2006); “Please don’t be fooled by the few shrill voices – in or out of the veil-that enjoy the status quo and betray their fellow women. Many western women who don the veil in later life are converts. Highly educated and verbal, they live in free countries where they try to hijack the justice system and force the acceptance of the veil. By doing so, they betray the millions of women in other countries who do not have the freedom not to wear the veil.”

Second stage recovery from addiction.

The second stage of recovery from using drugs, after realizing you need help, is called the transition stage.  The transition begins with the downward spiral at the end of the drinking, and/or drug using stage. It includes the acute trauma of “hitting bottom” which may include being violently ill, tremors, restlessness, and hallucinations.  This continues into the earliest steps of abstinence and recovery. In the transition stage, family dynamics are changing almost constantly, which can make it the most traumatic stage in recovery.

Alcoholism

Although active alcoholism is unstable and dangerous, there is the illusion of structure. The family members have had time to grow used to the unhealthy family system. The alcoholic family is cushioned from much of their pain by denial, which allows them to endure recurring hardships. During transition, however, denial starts to crack, and the reality that was kept at bay now begins to intrude into the family’s perceptions. What was accepted as normal is revealed to be unhealthy, and the small comforts that the family members created for themselves are shown to be illusions. Each member is torn between the painful light of the "comforting” darkness of denial.

In the transition stage of recovery, the habitual system of substance use collapses while the family desperately tries to keep the family unity in place. The family members want to save this crumbling structure because throughout the addict’s using stage each individual’s entire focus  has been to keep the dysfunctional system in place at the cost of their own wants and needs (e.g. avoiding conflicts with the addict, keeping the peace, and avoiding other people).

However, in order to survive the chaos of transition, each member must go against their instincts and let the system fall. Each must reach outside the family for help and support; this is also painful, since each individual has to overcome the deep belief that reaching out is a betrayal of the family.

Because of the heightened and ongoing state of crisis that characterizes the transition stage, a map can be a vital tool for surviving the journey through the treacherous landscape.

Recovery is a slow process that demands a lot of faith and patience. Things often get worse before they get better, and it’s crucial that you are able to make it through. In reality, pain and discomfort in the recovery process is part of the healing process but difficult steps along the path to recovery.

It’s important to understand why, even though you just made a change for the better, life suddenly got a whole lot worse.

Active use of alcohol and/or other substances demands that family members maintain a subtle balance between denial (the behaviour is only bad once-in-awhile, and I can make him/her change over time) and reality (you can’t make another person change). As long as the behaviour stays within its acceptable limits, the denial can grow with it. This balance can remain in place for a long time.

Nevertheless, when there is a break in the normal course of events - whether from an external cause like driving under the influence, or accident, or internal cause like a family member moving out – the balance is lost and the cracks start to form in the denial.

Since recovery is a developmental process, each stage has a number of tasks that must be fulfilled before you can move on to the next stage. The following are the tasks of the transitional stage:

*Break denial.

*Begin to challenge your core beliefs.

*Realize that family life is out of control.

*Hit bottom and surrender.

*Accept the reality that you have addiction problems and the loss of control.

*Enlist supports outside the family (community self-help groups, therapy).

*Shift focus from the system of support groups to individuals who begin detachment from groups and use individual recovery.

*Allow the addiction system to collapse.

*Learn new abstinent behaviours and thinking.

Healthy growth is about discovering your inner spirit and finding your own individual path. This can only be done by listening to yourself. Patience is the key. You will get there in time, but you can only reconnect with others after you have taken responsibility for your own life.

The journey does not always seem to be moving forward but the work continues. In mountain climbing, you often have a hammer in a lot of ropes to move up to the next plateau. In great measure, the days are spent hanging ropes, while at night you return to the base camp – but not the bottom of the mountain – to sleep. One day the ropes reach the next plateau, and you pack up your camp and climb the ropes, pulling them up behind you. When you reach the plateau you set up your new camp, and the next day the climb continues from that higher plateau. So goes recovery: even the days spend apparently going nowhere are crucial parts of the journey.   

The Dominican and Franciscan Orders (History with good intent)

Dominic, the father of the Dominican order, was the founder of the Inquisition and the first Inquisitor-General that had become part of the Roman tradition. This was confirmed by historians of the Order, and by quoting a bull of Innocent III appointing him Inquisitor-General. However, no tradition of the Church rests on a single and narrow basis. There is no doubt that Dominic devoted the best years of his life combating heresy, and when a heretic was deaf to persuasion, he would cheerfully stand by the pyre and see him burned, like any other Zealous missionary of the time; in this he was no more prominent than hundreds of others. Furthermore, he had nothing to do with the organized work in this direction. From the year 1215, when he laid the foundation of his Order, he was engrossed in it to the exclusion of all other objects, and was obliged to forego his cherished design of ending his days as a missionary to Persia. It was not until more than ten years after his death that such an institution as the papal Inquisition can be said to have existed.

                                                                                                    
                                         St. Dominic founder of the Dominican Order

A similar legendary halo exaggerates the exclusive glory, claimed by the Order, of organizing and perfecting the Inquisition. The bulls of Gregory IX alleged in support of the assertion are simply special orders of individual Dominican provincials to give authority to their brethren who were naturally suited for the purpose to the duty of preaching against heresy, and examining heretics and prosecuting their defenders.

The fact is that there was no formal confiding of the Inquisition to the Dominicans any more than there was any formal founding of the Inquisition itself. As the institution gradually assumed shape and organization in the effort to find some effectual means to force heretics out from hiding, the Dominicans were the readiest instrument at hand, especially as they professed the functions of preaching and converting as their primary business. As conversion became less, the object and persecution became the main business of the Inquisition, the Franciscans were equally useful, and the honours of the organization were divided between them.

                              St. Francis founder of the Franciscans

Still, the earliest inquisitors were unquestionably Dominicans. After the settlement, between Raymond of Toulouse and St. Louis, the removal of heresy in the Albigensian territories was seriously undertaken. The Dominicans were sent for to work under the direction of the bishops. In northern France the business gradually fell almost exclusively into their hand. In Aragon, as early as 1232, they were recommended to the Archbishop of Tarragona as fitting instruments for the Inquisition, and in April 1238, Gregory IX appointed the provincials of the Dominicans as inquisitors for the kingdom, and by 1249 the institution was entrusted to them.

                                                       Gregory IX

Eventually, southern France was divided between them and the Franciscans. The western portion was given to the Dominicans and the remainder was under the charge of the Franciscans. In 1254, Italy was formally divided between the Dominicans and Franciscans by Innocent IV. However, the boundaries of their respective jurisdictions caused early hatred and mutual rivalry between the two which led to perpetual scandal and danger to the Church. So strong was the hostility between the two Orders that Clement IV established the rule that there should be a distance of at least 3,000 feet between their respective possessions - “a regulation which only led to new and more intricate disputes.” 

                                                   Pope Clement IV
These two religious groups of the Mendicant Orders undoubtedly aided in postponing a revolution for which the world was not ready. Though the self-denial of their earlier days was too rear and destructive to be preserved, they soon committed acts that were a common part of the social order around them.  Yet their work had not been altogether lost. They had brought afresh to human minds some of the forgotten truths of the Gospel, and had taught them to view their duties to their fellows from a higher plane.

How well they recognized and appreciated their own service is shown by the story, common to the legend of both Orders. It tells that while the founders Dominic and Francis were waiting the approval of Innocent III, a holy man had a vision in which he saw Christ brandishing three darts with which to destroy the world, and the Virgin inquiring his purpose. Then said Christ, “This world is full of pride, avarice, and lust; I have borne with it too long, and with these darts will I consume it.” The Virgin fell on her knees and interceded for man, but in vain, until she revealed to him that she had two faithful servants who would reduce it to his dominion. Then Christ desired to see the champions; she showed him Dominic and Francis, and he was content. The pious author of the story could hardly have foreseen in 1627 Urban VIII would be obliged to deprive the Friars of their dearly prized immunity, and to subject them to episcopal jurisdiction, in the hope of restraining them from seducing their spiritual daughters in the confessional (The Inquisition of the Middle Ages, p.142)
 Innocent III           Urban VIII

Cultural underpinnings of sex victimology

We live in a society that trains and encourages females to be victims of sexual coercion and males to victimize females. In addition, it has important implications for what must be done to prevent sex victimization in its many forms.
Females are generally socialized to be passive and dependent while males are programmed to be independent and aggressive. This fundamental difference lies at the heart of sex victimization, which is primarily an act of power and control.
Most families are generally given the job of socializing children to fill prescribed gender roles and thus supply the needs of a power society…Ingrained in our present family system is the nucleus of male power and domination, No matter how often we witness the devastatingly harmful effects of this arrangement on women and children, the victims are always asked to uphold the family values and submit to abuse.
The teenage boy is quick to learn that he is expected to be the sexual aggressor. For him, it is acceptable – even “manly” – to use persuasion or trickery to seduce his prey. He is also taught (by our society, if not in his home) that females do not really know what they want, that when they say “no” they mean “maybe” they mean “yes.” He may also have heard a bit of male myths that says – in reference to some unhappy female – “what she needs is a good lay.” Given this background, it’s not surprising that what men see as being an “active, aggressive (and desirable) lover” may quickly be transformed into sexual assault in its various forms.
Most women have been taught as children not only to be passive (nice, polite, lady-like) but also to be seductive and coy. They are usually not trained to deal with physical aggression (unlike boys, whose play activities develop this capacity) but are trained to deal with sexual situations in a way that is shy, modest or reserved.  Thus the female in a situation of sexual coercion is ill prepared to act against sexual aggression. Faced with a physical threat, she often becomes psychologically paralyzed. Faced with unwanted sexual demands, and social expectations, she is likely to question what it is about her manner, dress, or behaviour that produced the attention: she blames herself and feels guilt instead of taking more positive action. This hesitancy is frequently misread, or ignored by the male, who sees it as a sign of weakness and a chance that she will give in. His past experience may prove him right: how many women “give in” in various undesired sexual situations is not known.
There are no perfect solutions that can wipe out sexual coercion, but a significant part of the problem can be addressed in two fundamental ways. First and foremost, as this discussion implies, is to change traditional gender-role socialization that puts females in the position of being vulnerable to sexual abuse. Second, in-depth attention is required to identify the conditions that push men into the “victimizer” role. Only when a clear understanding of the causes and motivations underlying coercive sex is at hand will it be possible to develop effective strategies for dealing with this problem on a large scale basis. 
In an essay titled “Raising Girls for the 21^st Century,” Emilie Buchwald (1993) makes the following suggestions for helping girls learn to know their strengths.

1.      Tell your daughters what helped you to survive growing up.
2.      Give girls your attention and approval.
3.      Teach girls to be independent.
4.      Encourage fathers to be active allies in remaking the culture.
5.      Teach girls at an early age about their bodies and their sexuality; replace sexual ignorance (and gender-linked stereotypes) with sexual knowledge, including specific facts about sexual harassment and other forms of sexual coercion.
6.      Let girls recognize that they can be part of changing our culture, and that cultures can in fact change.
7.      Enlist women mentors and role models.
8.      Find ways for girls to empower themselves through athletics and learning to play together.
9.      Teach girls to be media critical in order to avoid the undercurrent of endorsements of sexual violence in today’s movies and television.
10.  Avoid reinforcing gender stereotypes.
11.  Encourage girls to feel happy with themselves.


Boys can be taught different sexual values and attitudes if we protect them from violent entertainment (or at least help them see how the violence in our media is not an endorsement of what should happen in real life) and teach them, from childhood on, to view themselves as future nurturing, nonviolent responsible fathers.

As long as our culture enforces gender-role stereotypes that train females to be sexual victims and program males to see sexual aggression as “manly,” we will continue to have problems with sexual coercion in its many forms.