Has the Cinderella of the wonderful female power adventure escaped the ugly step-sisters of intimidation and exclusion, only to wander into a pit of vipers? Has Cinderella escaped the ugly sisters at all?
T he idea that we live in a cosmos that is one giant vagina has certain limitations.
It’s sister idea, right now, is that our own vaginas are tiny little doorways to the cosmos, and, in fact, not only the real Holy Grail, but the Rabbit Hole, the Holy Road, the Face of the Goddess and the magical cauldron of the lost sex magic of Mary Magdeline, Jesus and possibly Smurfette as well.
Which idea also has certain eye-brow tilting qualities.
Are these the Great and Transformational secrets the Wisdom Traditions have been keeping? Is this what Jesus really died for? Is this what women have been killed for over history? Is this the shattering, wonderful truth we have all been yearning for? Is the legendary jewel in the lotus just an over-written version of Victoria’s Secret? Or are we falling under the Spell of some naughty and even silly ideas?
There are certainly some problems with the whole new mythology that is underwriting the present fusion of erotic sex, gynaecology and power and spirituality.
It’s highly anthropomorphic, for one thing. And it’s among the war-cries being used at the extreme edge of a Feminist Empowerment frenzy that may well be over-stepping its agenda.
Why? Because all is not well in the story of Female Empowerment. All is not very well at all.
This week, when I wanted to explore the imagery used to role model and market workshops and merchandise for empowering women here in Ubud, Bali, I was called a bully, a violent abuser, a betrayer of women, a crusher of other women’s freedom to self-express, a bigot, a prude, a thief, liar, and traitor to the cause of easing human suffering on Earth.
That sort of thing.
I was told by many, many women that I would be stuffed down into the basement and made to feel very bad and sad and lonely and even scared indeed if I continued even daring to ask the question about what is female empowerment? and what do those who sell it really mean, and really stand for?
I was told by one woman to my face, and quite a very large number of others behind my back, that the Ubud femme power tribe were hissing and fizzling and scheming and plotting to have me thrown out of the country, and punished with ostracism, ridicule. And maybe voodoo dolls were made as well.
The ones who want to command the stage on this issue did worse things: they remained silent.
Oooo – that’s the sort of silence that has a shark fin in it.
A meeting with the Ugly Step-Sisters.
Who, if you understand the story well, were always contending to be the prettiest at the ball, but hid the secrets of their bullying, intimidation, cruelty and greed for men and money under their well-groomed theatre of charm and seduction.
Oh very dear.
And so, even though I was invited to one of their parties tonight, to celebrate a birthday, I guess I wont need to be polishing up my dirty little moccasins just yet. Because I am in the very big trouble with all the empowered women, and they do tend to be running this town, as you would expect, from those who value power.
And oh, and bother, and huff and sigh…. but anyway, this is how it really is – and it is very normal, and to be expected in the strange and difficult madness of everybody, together, learning, contending, and being scared and being greedy, and sometime accidentally – and sometimes deliberately – dangerous.
Being banished and pitched into the creative fire is where we find our true selves, and our courage, and maybe even help, from the magical forces of those who also want to learn in open exchange, and in a power beyond the status quo … so, oh well then…. here we go. .. again.
I am willing to take the initial shock of punishment and backlash, and expected it.
I am willing because I want to open the way into this conversation, and because I want to role model to those afraid to speak and be different to the status quo… that yes, it is all very tumultuous out here… but look!
behold!
Stand fast, and tremble – because magical things are possible – and it takes courage and daring to stand in the storm of new ideas and diversity – and there is an intelligence that sometimes needs all of us to face risk and fear, so we can metabolise all that, and be part of something new and good – together. for the benefit of all.
Women who dare to portray themselves as leaders and teachers in their underwear, and nude, are supposed to be commended as brave.
And women who ask whether it’s a good idea, and if we need this as role models of power and influence must also be commended as brave – or we are running a very lop-sided show here indeed.
Anyway. Yes, it is not very nice when the powerful keepers of the femme status quo drop their pretty I’m just a lovely, fairy goddess mask, and reveal that they, like all of us, have teeth, and can be irritated, nasty and even violent.
I spent six hours at a cafe in town with three other women who were in pain, and angry, or confused and distressed about the furball that vomited up yesterday – we all agreed that being sexy and dressing up in gowns and tiaras does not make you beautiful in any humanitarian way. And that calling yourself a priestess, shaman, healer, empowerment teacher, yoni whisperer or goddess – is probably just silly.
But we weren’t sure. We wanted to talk about it. We did that for six hours.
Some of us did it for a lot more than that yesterday after my post, and some have been very badly punished for doing it, or wanting to do it, all their lives.
But that’s certainly not going to stop me having my own thoughts about this. Or sharing them.
The problem with trying to shock, shame or overwhelm your contenders, or those who question you, is that it’s never a victory; they always come back at you in the end.
And if there is a writer in the room, who happens to believe that upset and trauma and pain and stuff is really the wonderful genius of the soul, trying to get expressed – well, then – there’s somebody willing to lead the way – whatever Alsatians, dread guardians, demons or nervous wrecks and frightened ones may be in our party.
What I know, and so do others, is that there is a savage, wonderful feeling of victory when you slam dunk, behead or crush your opponent. But we mostly firmly attribute this and its horrors to men. Women usually deny they ever have this sort of impulse.
If they lash out, they usually say it is a Mumma Bear instinct, so they can quickly maintain their pretty goddess social mask. Or they say it is because they were being used by ‘the universe’ to express itself. Or maybe they were raging against an enemy, like men, or the government, or racists, or just about anything other than what we must all own – which is own our whole expression – our gentleness and our ferocity – if we want to be sane and wise.
Women in the Empowerment industry have a special problem. They need something to point toward to prove their disempowerment.
Otherwise, there’s a big problem with their ideas, and their business models too.
But as I look around at the veiled or bikini-clad women here in Ubud. At the amazing caravan of every shape, colour and creed in town. At the overwhelming leadership of women in everything from traditional dance, dj.ing, teaching, speaking, business ownership, creative experiments and belonging to the codes and taboos of a kaleidoscope of cultures…. At the abundance of pleasures and causes easily available for those who most speak of empowerment, I wonder what monster or barrier now, in 2018, in Ubud, the female empowerment movement is slaying?
I am wondering if ‘becoming orgasmic’ as an empowerment mission is just the new ‘becoming organic’?
Is it all just a giant typo? A typo that has a MASSIVE market driving it, and is worth a cool fortune!
Or are women and maybe men really so damaged sexually as a social reality, that we can get to the moon (allegedly) but we cant get off in our own beds without a didgeridoo healing and a Tantra workshop! What the… maybe this is true??!!
This will set off a wild cry of angry voices, probably. As women scream about the things they say they are fighting against. But what I want to know is:
what are women fighting FOR? And who? And why?
I want to know this, because I think it is wonderful and exciting, and brilliant and necessary for us all to join in on the adventure of becoming wonderful people in a safe and wonderful world.
I’m all for it. So please.. let’s check in together on what female power is, what forces are really, truly against it.. where to find it, and what we are using it for, whether it is the right adventure for us? how those who want this power affect the others – and who or what it serves – because I do think that is a safe and fair and appropriate and wise thing to do.
Don’t you?
To get around this, feminists and female empowerers usually say this is a stupid request though.
They get a bit miffed. And their eyes sometimes get flashy. Then they usually say, as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, that we are victims of a Patriarchy that has traumatised and disempowered us and their ancestors for ages. And that’s why we need empowerment in the first place. And that’s why it a bit of a war.
There is no end to this, apparently, until men have been punished, the evil rulers of society overthrown, and we are ruled in a Matriarchy.
Until women have the power they seem to think men have had – and until we taste the same costs and realities of that, which you only really have to ask men about – because most of them are not, and have not been feeling very safe or happy or powerful for ages. as well.
But the Empowerment Feminists dont usually want men at the party. Though they dont seem to mind them in the bed. Sometimes. Or maybe quite a lot? Since sexuality is now apparently their domain of power.. or one of them… how does this all work? what’s next? hello….?
Feminists will often call men unsafe and violent, with tendencies to abuse of power, to bully and abuse, and point to this as the cause of all their victimhood and trauma anyway.
Accidentally, and because women do tend to deny their own will to power, and will to violence, and tendencies to be not very nice, this force – the vengeful, the wicked, the angry woman, explodes out of the dungeon and causes all sorts of wild, creative mayhem as it screams across the kingdom…
DON’T YOU DARE TO QUESTION ME!
But the fact is that it is much better, and more useful and creative to encourage and embrace the questions.
Questions are beautiful and helpful. They help us have the difficult conversations, explore with courage, and kindle our willingness to learn, to shift, to face the wonderful possibility that there is a benefit in engaging in the magnificent play of a variety of ideas.
This is the empowerment which I and many other thinkers and feelers want to see and create here. That’s why we are worried about a Yoni-verse, because the etymology of yoni is ‘one’ and ‘mine’ and female, while the etymology of uni-verse, is all and ours and trans-gender, trans-species and even transcendental.
Using the female sex and sex organs in marketing is extremely delicious and powerful in attracting attention, and in titillating audiences.
But is it fair? And is it wise?
And isnt that why the oldest societies and wisdom schools on the planet encourage sexual etiquette, modesty, refinement of the base impulses, and overcoming of lower drive temptations?
Once, we roared about the abuse of women’s bodies to sell products, now women cant wait to expose their sexualised, soft porned yoga bods on as many platforms as possible.. to sell themselves. Is this the swing-back from there?
Or is it just the same old same old same.
The problem, I think, boils down to using erotica and seduction to sell. Because it works on everybody: not just men.
And because it is manipulative. This is a sophisticated science we know a lot about – and it is being widely exploited every day.
Women using their own and other’s bodies to sell, say they are taking back their own property. But how, as one woman asked yesterday, does exploiting our own sexuality and commodifying our own bodies improve anything? Isn’t it really just a cheat? To provoke jealousy, insecurity, and body image aspirations in otherwise healthy, normal women and girls?
How do we solve the problem of exploiting the sacred human tender theatre of sex and bodies for selling beer, burgers, lawn mowers and health?.. as well as for educating and remedying the social issues of lust, betrayal, temptation, seduction, addiction and personal freedom and sovereignty?
And if we are struggling to come to terms with the idea of the sacred and the soul, then how does using the body as a marketing tool respect the soul? Or maybe is does just that?
These are great questions – why cant we explore them?
A great question is also this: at a time when we have the climate in catastrophe, violence in the hearts and streets, ancient forests being devoured, ice caps melting, pollution vomiting out of the river and seas, the biosphere collapsing before our eyes ~ and access to the greatest technology maybe ever seen on this planet – are we going to dedicate our education, wealth and time to the freedom of the fanny?
Really?
Why?
The notion that the cosmos is female, and is symbolised and embodied in the vagina is among the cherished ideas of a very loud and dominant voice among the female leadership, spiritual healer, social progress movement of our post-modern, spirituality-seeking, trauma-afflicted world.
It is a delicious, fermented fruit for women, (and for some men) and for entrepreneurs, because it is an intoxicating idea, because it hits on most human beings’ fascination for power, sexual attention, erotica, self-gratification, status, and a sense of belonging to something greater than what science and reason has offered.
Because it attempts to address a feeling of deep grief, suffering and frustration that is at large everywhere – and it promises that solving this profound personal and social wound in our psyche can be done by all of us, at home, by the careful and ritualised self-fondling, or paid-for expert fondling, and meditation on our genitals.
Hmmm… I have explored this too, as a time when we might actually, because of pain and suffering, earn our humanity rather than scratch our itch for orgasm and power here.
There are some fascinating ideas in this, and some fascinating conversations that could be had.
But the problem is – and this is a very real and should be a terrifying issue to those who want to shop and study with these people – is that they do not tolerate questions, and they do not want the inconvenience and effort of debating and testing and sharing their ideas in the open light.
They seem to say; our business is all about empowerment, so those who want to talk more, or question, must be about disempowerment – and this is very, very, VERY wrong and dangerous.
As one woman in Ubud wrote about it last night: “You can’t be empowered if you get power from disempowering others.”
I dont agree. I think you can very much get power by disempowering others. We have a modern history that reeks of it. Those who take power by conquering, violating, shaming and silencing others.
But is this the power we want? And is the power the Female Empowerment leaders are dancing with?
Theirs is an idea that needs to be questioned. Not killed off. Crushed. Insulted or marginalised. Not necessarily. But maybe.
Because if Female Empowerment is at the cost of the freedom and dignity of other women, or of anybody really – or if it comes in a stiletto, with a foot on the throat of its critics or those who ask questions… then it is not the sort of power that I and many others want to see more of in our society, or anywhere in the vagina-verse, or scrota-verse, or the cock-mos… whatever.
The fact is, without a regular process of mixing, shedding and then emptying itself of its own potency, an idea, just like a vagina, gets very sick indeed.
And a sick vagina is no fun at all.
So, let’s all admit that things are smelling a bit fishy around the women’s power movement, and take a little peek inside, to see what might be the matter.
Here in Ubud, and all over the place, sprouting up like little kooky, fertile, fungal outcrops, are not actually speakers or philosophers, but business entrepreneurs who want to explore and trade in the idea that it is helpful, true and good to dip our fingers deeply into the honey pot of erotica, self-pleasure, intimacy and sexual therapies and adventures in order to know our true power.
I think that’s a fair way to summarise it.
They teach, and market themselves as the figure heads of their work, using their own images, usually, but if I use these in this post, even though they are Marketing Material, and already in the public domain, they will lose their shit, and I will get in big trouble, and the conversation with go to the dogs. Go figure.
Anyway. They tend to look something like this…
They say that there are pains, traumas, hidden possibilities and necessary freedoms tucked inside the pussy, and that tearing off the panty-trap, as well as other veils and taboos is where it’s at.
They want to explore what they suggest is the locked archive of our physical, social and cosmological store of wisdom and truth in intimacy, sex and gynaecology. (those are my words, I wouldn’t’ DARE use theirs, even though they are published online – because if I put one foot wrong, even if I have a right to, they will attack me and destroy the dialogue… it’s all very very carefully treading around here.. shhh… we dont want to wake the she-demons….)
Anyway, they seem to want to teach that we can do that by re-writing our social rules and etiquette on erotica, and relating to the real physical bits and pieces of our labia, vaginas, wombs and that sort of thing.
I think that’s the adventure they are called to take, or at least, called to sell to others.
Now, this all borrows from the mighty, utterly revolutionary and dangerously murderous efforts of those working to show that we are part of a conscious, living universe, not a meaningless, mechanical one.
People who want to say that the world is actually alive, and has a soul, and could be killed or turn against us if we rampage or harm it are being, and have been massacred, shamed, murdered and imprisoned for daring to speak about it.
They are being killed and shamed and imprisoned for that today. As environmental activists, writers, scientists and radicals around the world. Right now. It’s no joke.
The Female Empowerment conversation is hooked into the wild revolution of discovering that the world is alive… but does it honour that idea properly? Or does it exploit it?
Does what they offer do the best we can do with the ground others have fought and died over?
Or does is fettishize the cunt? Is it self-serving? Is it a terrible misadventure in taking a wonderful idea and stuffing it up an orifice for nothing much more than self pleasure and aggrandisement?
Or are there real and dignified benefits? Are there benefits for beings other than themselves and their tribe?
I want to know. But they dont seem to want to talk about it.
Secondly, the sexual empowerment adventure also borrows from the vast and war-shocked human cultural heritage that sees the sacred as a feminine idea, rather than a masculine one.
Their philosophy is not new. God was a woman on this planet for a very long time, and all things are still and obviously sacred to many cultures still alive and thriving on this planet, despite the bulldozers, tourists, pollution and technology that undermines and devours them.
Thirdly, and this is very important – their ideas are usually heavily based on the argument that the big battle on Earth is to be pitched against a Patriarchy.
Patriarchy is the problem. And it must be over-thrown.
But what is Patriarchy?
Patriarchy, they will usually say, is a system of suppression, cunning enslavement of the world, and especially women by forces of self-aggrandising, non-contestable male power.
But that is not true.
Patriarchy, as a word, is not a ‘thing’, or a system – it’s a concept.
To bite into the poisoned apple that men are the problem, or patriarchy is a reality and a problem is to get very sick indeed.
This is described in virtually every myth we have as a way to collapse into the unconscious and require direct intervention by a handsome prince, or a fairy godmother, a toad, or a catastrophe.
The handsome prince can save you, because he reminds you that there are good men.
Men of virtue and honour, and compassion and courage. And that your own best masculine qualities of leadership, clarity, courage, action, play, boundaries and reason are critical to your life and wellbeing.
The fairy godmother can save you, because she puts you in touch with a magic and a meaning that is greater than duality, that transcends any polarity.
Toads can help you because they provoke you to wake up! and be careful of your promises and who you seduce, for what reason.
And catastrophe helps, because it too is a massive creative turning point – if you take the adventure, instead of, for example, staying at home to masturbate.
The problem is not a Patriarchy – you can see that argued also beautifully here. The problem is oppressive, mean, mind-warping, tribe-oriented power structures of any sort. And these are created by men, women and those in between.
Still with me?
So the latest thing in the long and complex whirlwind that has been called the feminist revolution, it’s the odd new, labial fruit of a very big and very important adventure in modern, materialist thinking.
It’s the strange new fruit of what really has been a war move against the ideas and hierarchies which have ruled the Western, materialist, industrial world for several thousand years, and shows up in these key rules that are at the background of our society.
That nothing means anything, unless reason makes it so.
That nothing means anything, unless the gate keepers of science and cartesian philosophy make it so.
That the world and everything in it is part of an unconscious cause and effect machinery of bits and pieces.
That the world is manifest to be exploited by humankind in pursuit of its needs and desires.
That there are no natural moral limits.
That God is a man.
and that God is dead.
And that is a very good thing.
This has all earned us spectacular access to knowledge, resources, technology and what we call power. But it has also brought us, we fear, to the brink of environmental catastrophe, and to a social norm that is in agony of depression, anxiety, violence, narcism, rage and a full-scale war between its parts.
We are, or should be – terrified of what we are becoming.
And of the cost of that to the world.
But the only way to absorb and handle the current immense adventure, is to admit that we have a soul – because it’s that which is hurting – and to admit that the world is alive – because it is obviously dying.
The creative adventure to go beyond this idea has driven much of Western thinking over the last 50 years. But it’s nothing new. The creative, philosophical, scientific, social and personal adventure to re-think the way we imagine the world has been driven by the rising awareness that the existing normal is driving us to catastrophe.
But is has been dangerous. It is dangerous because those who believe the universe has no consciousness, and no soul can be extremely cruel, oppressive and violent in defending their belief.
Those who question the implied rules behind our post-modern progress-oriented free-market world risk being accused and punished for Madness, for Hysteria, for Weakness, or for Terrorism.
They risk being punished by ostracism, exile, poverty, abuse, shaming, gossip or attack – and that’s even before the authorities get involved! Because the punishments are delivered always at the community level – as well as the level of state or religious control – and we need to admit and deal with that NOW!
It has been dangerous to get too intimate with the sacred cows of Western thought. And it is dangerous to get too intimate with the men and women in the Female Empowerment movement too.
Many of those who believe the universe is personal, and a woman, or feminine in nature and manifest in their own bodies are being extremely cruel, oppressive and violent in pushing what they say are their rights in pursuit of profit from and embodiment of their belief.
In the middle of this mess are ordinary men and women, and their bewildered cats and dogs – who wonder, hmmm… haven’t things gone sort of sideways?
As Female Empowerment and its litter of related ideas and business ventures, including Embodied Intimacy, Authentic Relating, Yoni Massage, Yoni Mapping, Conscious Orgy, Erotic Therapy and the pursuit of sensuality and self-development through, basically, fishing about in our genitals, moves from the shadows into the light of the open market, there are those with real concerns about the ethics and validity of this.
And there are those whose severed heads, sacrificial corpses and shamed identities 
adorn the window displays of those who sell and celebrate this work.
That is not a secret.
The code of conduct for too many of those who have bitten into this idea and commodified it for sale in workshops, therapy sessions, books, articles and a plethora of merchandise including Jade eggs, anal massage widgets, special charts, and the inevitable theatrical props of gowns, capes, feathers, tattoos and an assortment of things from the sacred fancy dress box … are, sadly and dangerously, too often as follows:
Questions will be met with icy silence, ostracism or punishment.
Those who question are sick, or distorted or unevolved.
The path to female empowerment is inviolable, incontestable and extremely hostile to either debate or transparency.
Those who question are our enemies.
They’e probably only jealous.
We are willing to allow our supporters to fend them off with attack-dog tactics.
But as leaders of this movement, and with most to gain by way of money and influence, we will take the Fifth; we will indulge in the privilege of saying nothing, so we can appear transcendent of the horrible, inelegant mess of public conversation.
Now, this does not mean that those, men and women, who are exploring this edge – almost always with a profit in mind – are necessarily not good or safe folk to lead the conversation. But it might.
Because leadership that refuses conversation, that destroys debate and intimidates or exiles and wounds its critics, or its bewildered onlookers, is what is known as fascist.
Now. That’s a very big word. Which is highly loaded and triggering. But why?
Fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a form of radical authoritarian ultranationalism, characterised by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and strong regimentation of society and of the economy, which came to prominence in early 20th-century Europe.
When a person becomes fascismo, there are certain hallmarks:
They feel superior to others.
They suppress diversity of expression.
They cultivate aggressive defenders and body guards who serve their agendas by doing the work of suppressing their critics, or just rampaging about, in general.
They become extremist in pursuit and preservation of power.
They suppress the conversation.
They pursue ideals of perfection.
They use exile, intimidation and eventually a horror show of aggressive and violent force to maintain the ideas and agreements that, obviously, keep them at the top of the social order, and entitled to the privileges and freedoms of that.
All not so very nice, as we have seen in history.
Fascism, and its cousin, Communism, have the death of hundreds, even thousands of million people – not to mention plants and animals, at their ceremonial slab; the Earth herself.
And Capitalism, as an idea that will also kill for its right to expand around the planet and profit from the spoils of dominance, has a terrifying death and intimidation count as well.
So those who have actually commodified the idea of Empowerment, and turned it into a marketplace in which they not only lead, but teach and profit from their own ideas – ideas that they will not openly share, tested and complexify – is, basically, a recipe for disaster.
Why? Because of basic, simple things – like lack of accountability.
Like lack of proper, thoughtful rigour. Things like the tendency to use marketing material to seduce and influence customers, at the same time as wanting to be seen as a wise and sovereign thought-leader.
Like running the risk of using the old, but very powerful weapons of mass-seduction to empower your business, instead of your humanity – or that of others.
This is a horrible, unfortunate cocktail that ends up, always, causing harm – both to its critics, and to those who buy in – why? – because it is an affront to the feminine character of reality – that which depends and thrives on diversity, freedom of all beings and tenderness.
isms, in general, tend to get very dangerous and psychotic. Including Feminisim.
In my view, Feminism, frankly, is in great need of a nice hot bath, a home-cooked meal, a quiet rest and a long conversation in the careful, sensible hands of simple, moderate thinkers. Why?
Because we are in a very dangerous place.
We are in a place where female empowerment has hit an edge. We are in a place where female empowerment, instead of being symbolised by a burning bra or a ballot paper, is beginning to succumb to the temptation to brandish the severed heads of its unwelcome sisters among its symbols.
Where the will to power is fizzling with the massive euphoric potency of its own success so far, and risks failing to plug that incredible creative/ destructive charge into something safe and useful and wise and transformational – for all living beings – instead of just for its own tribe, its own self, or even more terrifying, mythically speaking, the urges and surges of its transcendental vagina.
Heavens!
The good news, now that storytime has just about fallen in a heap of exhaustion this fine Friday in Ubud, is that this is a very normal part of all the very best adventures.
All quests and journeys, as that excellent and fine great myth, Finding Nemo, shows us, veer and surf off dangerous places now and then.
The smart thing to do at the gate of the terrible den of hairy spiders, or the cliff of horrible dread, or the party of Great White Sharks, who think they can be vegans, for example, would be to either avoid their inevitable risks and perils – and never take the quest at all – which is to say no to life, and a little bit sad, really.
Or to use them as opportunities to develop skills and wisdom. And to discover, as all the mystics teach us – that the treasure you seek is in the cave you fear to enter.
Passionfruitcowgirl 
As usual, nice work, Jade. Always appreciative of your brave questing. Thanks for putting what you put out there out there.
Thanks Tom, Phew! Earthquakes all over the place as the Great Mother and the little mothers try to express themselves…
Wow… scales tipping and all that,
but more likely toppling over, given the haste.
From the Wild and varied conversation on facebook.. Shelly O: My first thought on beginning to read it was “I am not my yoni. I am not my womb. I am WAY more than that.” The concept is sooooo reductionist it’s absurd.
Also…. From another thread…. In observing and reading these threads I’ve been deeply saddened by the duality in the exchange. And inspired by the passion of conversation and the airing out of the shadows. I feel many are speaking and no one is truly listening or observing. There is no right or wrong in each of the concerns and experiences being expressed here. I feel deeply in resonance with a lot of the truths shared from both sides. And this is a wonderful opportunity to create heart councils with elders. To truly understand one another and see the bigger picture. Tonight in a beautiful Womb Temple ceremony I held in Brazil introducing these sacred teaching I felt such love from the Divine Mother. And as we sang together to unify the field the disharmony came into harmony. As we share one womb with the cosmos and the universe. It is where we all came from. In each one of you, I see a different aspect of the Feminine in different phases of life. The key here is to look through a multi perspective vantage point to see from the Mother the Maiden and the Crone. As a grandmother to a new born granddaughter I feel it is important to see what it is I represent in my legacy which will be passed on to my future generations. Does what I am truly choosing to create make a difference for those who will inherit the wisdom and the connection to the Earth Mother? The movement is about the rights of passage which have been lost and the rituals which have been forgotten. Sexual energy and the body are but one aspect of this movement. As each maiden grows into her fullness she learns the wisdom of the changing woman. There is a time we are called to share our experiences of sexual vitality and times we become one with it. Where we recognize true sexual
Empowerment comes from the cultivation of this life force through our being. Is this over sexualized expression of Feminine sexual empowerment creating separation rather than unification in the sisterhood? It’s seem that it is isolating . It is important for us to look at this multifaceted gem for learning and hear how all the women are feeling. Not silencing with shame and guilt. I too have felt this when I questioned what was really happening. And I too have been a way shower in this movement who has embraced sexual empowerment photos. So it’s all a time for sacred reflection. A time to slow down and digest this unfolding. A time to unify in heart council to really be in a circle of sisterhood. True sisterhood which is open to hear the feelings and concerns of the community. I have to say I have been turned off by the superficial energy which has taken over the Ubud community the clicks and lack of authentic care for the community as a whole. It feels a bit like false spiritual high school with a lack of true embodied wisdom of the respect for the concerns and red flags of many. A maiden society has to recognize all layers and levels of creation and concerns. To question is to learn when the Divine is exposing the shadows of the dark underbelly of our collective feminine consciousness. This is powerful and much needed is this dialogue is a long time coming. And it’s time to grow up and really come together to speak in a non-violent way listening and being present for a deeper healing and a more embodied wisdom to come forth. I applaud the courage of the women who are coming forth to express on both sides. Now let us stop the judgments and see the deeper value in what this is unveiling and how we can create a more harmonious community which honors all beings and feelings with respect. The glamour of spirituality is revealing itself in the Peacock. The showing off and lack of deeper reflection. Like the peacock whine it eat the poisonous snake it’s plumes become much more vibrant and alive. We are transmuting the poison of the venomous shadow of the feminine. We must use the medicine of the thousand eyes to see from a multidimensional perspective. And not be fooled by the illusions. Together we rise… in separation we will fall! But to rise together we must embrace our differences and respect our individual points of reference and learn to harmonize and embrace the artistic expression of each person with curiosity and compassion. The feminine movement is not about dualistic perceptions but, about the balancing of awareness between the Mother and the whore. To embrace the middle path who celebrates life in the center point of unity. We can agree to disagree and still find value in the unveiling lessons when we sit in circle and share. The foundation of the women’s movement a circle with no head or hierarchy only different points of perception coming together in union upon our sacred Gaia Sophia. Time to go deeper! The world is watching Ubud as it is the purification place of clearing karma for the planet. This is a wonderful opportunity for a collective alchemical transformation .
And….
Each generation of women is different
Each cultural, societal and religious indoctrination of women is different
Therefore each expression of women is different
Whether or not that is a true expression or a conditioned restricted or unrestricted expression
Each is trying to find their way.
From the complete sexual suppression to the complete sexual expression.
Each has its role in proclamation, creation, manifestation and bringing to consciousness many understandings in the pendulum swing of life… each is necessary and each has its limits of truth.
The belief that we must stand united because we are sister’s is to draw attention to the persecution suppression from a patriarchal dominated society…
But to dare challenge the sustaining of a belief structure that is patriarchal dominance base is not attacking the sisterhood… it is unravelling the way we dance energetically on all levels.
The subtle and not so subtle ways that energy through stories and advertising and marketing etc etc etc have been told. No-one is after sameness,,,, for expression is unique to each individual soul… however it is not unique if at any level the free expression has been infiltrated by the story of another with an ulterior motive to be supreme over another.
So we all are finding our way to be truly unique and dare to see the subtle and not so subtle influences.
Exploring the whys and hows etc of “being” is to discover the conditionings, the reasoning the fears the threats etc etc and when we bring these truths to light then it is the choice of each individual to express in the way they choose for that is freedom of soul expression.
If, however, there is fear in being true to self expression then we must continue to hold space and see it, shine the light on the darkness that still reigns until so much light is being shone that the fear that feeds it is gone.
And the way one shines light is in itself unique again.
Leisha Naja I have a very personal opinion..and one that grows and morphs within my blood. It is sacred. It is powerful and, perhaps most importantly today, it is personal and therefore private. I do not have any seductive need to display it or shout about it. It doesn’t grow in that way…it is not nourished that way. I have no desire to sit in a circle and display or project it. I don’t even have a need to bash the other sex about it….nor the same sex too. It is as it is…and the relationship is very personal as it is the basis for all life…and is the juice that feeds and nourishes all the other layers of tissues right through to the ethereal spaces. Tavistock has proved successful in this day and age. It a sardonic shame.
Tanya Simmonds-Rosa is with Jade Richardson.
September 29 at 6:34 AM ·
For the women I have been:
I always walk by these big houses and wonder what might have been if I had just decided to stay a pretty and nice little girl.
Perhaps I would have found my peace in the echoes of the hallways,
or in the large duck-feathered comfy chairs.
Perhaps I would have enjoyed taking tea in the gardens of my husband’s creation,
or made him sweet breads in the oven he had so thoughtfully purchased for me.
Perhaps I would have made him a home full of laughter
and little feet that pitter patter.
Now here I stand outside looking in.
If only I could have stayed quiet.
If only I could have been more forgiving, more loving.
If only I could have faked that smile
and motion of desire one more time
that might have bought me the dream of a million and one others.
Why could I not settle?
Why could I not hold the grievances of the hundreds of women I had been
just this one more time?
Now here I stand outside looking in.
And then I take a breath and pause for a moment
feeling wind on my bare skin
a delight for those who are free
And as I walk away a sadness washes over me
remembering the pretty and nice girl and how she saw her end –
staring up from under the red waters of cavernous porcelain
Shely Ourana Jilliana Gocher thanks. I’m so glad Jade has brought all this up. It’s time we had a deeper, thoughtful conversation about direction.
Her posts have gotten me to think more deeply about the “disrobing” epidemic that Ubud has been seeing for a few years now and to articulate what I’ve “known” and felt and thought for a while now. Kudos to Jade for asking the right questions and stirring the pot!
Jade Richardson Black lives matter was very quickly ammended into All Lives Matter, if you remember? That was for a good reason. At first, the new idea and awareness wakes! THEN we have to work for our humanity – beyond our tribe/race/gender/ ability…. to use this as a gender issue is horrific. It’s going too far. Women are not systemically oppressed. Any more than men. Have you seen the depression and suicide rates in men?? I think some very dodgy intellectualism is having a field day using stored female lust for attention, and uncomposted rage, to turn this into a feminist issue, when this is a SYSTEM issue. I dont want to watch this, as an intellectual – I will put a thousand dollars down to say it is going to backlash very badly. And I am among MANY academics and trauma workers who can see it coming. I do seek to invalidate some of what some women are saying. And some of what some men are saying as well… we dont want equality – for heavens sake! – that was 1970! We want the right to diversity. And, as a women who has been involved in domestic violence, been to murder scenes, interviewed murderers and rapists (men and women) and had two knives at my throat, I do not see how making this a feminists issue is at all sensible – its a sign that our community is sick, and being made sick by a variety of forces which profit from our sickness… and angry women who do not think through this carefully are soon, I fear, going to be among them.
Ilona H: If they are selling empowerment, they are part of the problem. Read books, love your friends, love your body, speak out against abuse, rest when you need and fight like fuck for those who have no voice. That’s empowerment. x
Amanda Battye I’m a very close friend of Jade. I love her. For the most part we have the same thoughts and ideas about this crazy beautiful world and beyond, so much so that we could have been separated at birth. We also disagree at times which is ok with me, and Jade. She’s intelligent, resilient, brave, feminine, sensual, fun and a beautiful friend.
So I’ll try to keep this simple. It’s how I roll.
Unsure of how she felt and keen to get feedback from a wider audience, Jade posted publicly available images of women promoting various workshops locally. The women who originally posted the images and Jade both have the right to freedom of expression.
Why go to a larger audience and not raise it with the individuals or locally?
We all live in a bubble or bubbles….the like minded friend bubble, our geographic bubble, our socio economic bubble, our professional bubble, our insta and social media bubbles. Bubbles are great for sharing similar ideas, receiving/giving love and support. The downside of bubbles is they can shelter us from having our ideas, opinions, beliefs and actions challenged or at least discussed. So perhaps Jade wanted to gain some diversity of opinion and a perspective outside of the Ubud community.
Some have suggested Jade could have raised it with the individuals or on masse with the women locally. It’s pretty clear from the posts I’ve read that this would’ve seen certain voices dominating or drowning out any real conversation. Any democratic or progressive society offers a safe environment where ideas can be put forward AND questioned.
So bravo to Jade for shining a light on something she felt uneasy about and having the courage to question the status quo and encourage conversation. Open mindedness. Discussion. Growth.
How do I feel about the images?
For me they are marketing material. The ‘look at me’ kind of marketing material that is supposed to make one stand out in an sea of social media over exposure these days. Some images I find amateur, some more creative.
But as a woman of nearly half a century who’s walked many a path, done teacher trainings, meditation, dance, workshops, retreats, tantra, goddess work, fasting, anxiety, depression, recovery, and motherhood, I have zero interest in whatever’s for sale.
For me, female empowerment is wisdom, grace, resilience, humility and true compassion and gentleness for self. None of which can be bought. Most often it’s pain that leads the way home, pain that is gifted to you along the way. You’ve got to live it, breathe through it and feel it in your heart and your body.
So that’s it, no yoga, yoni, leadership or female empowerment session for me. Dressed in paint covered clothing I’m off to sand the front patio a second time, but only after I’ve made a yummy lunch for the most beautiful human I know. He’s 6. Cause that’s what some of us awesomely empowered women do.
Love 😌🙏🏽
Lindsey Wise Jade, thank you for sharing your honest and unfiltered thoughts on me. I appreciate your gift for pointing out the faults you see in others and your skill with the pen. When I chose to stand up for the women you were publicly shaming, I did not expect you to hold back your venom from me. I don’t expect you to hold back after this post either. I understand that’s part of the gift you bring to this community—I’ve seen it for years. I simply can’t stand silent while you’re attacking others in a public forum.
I would do the same for you, if someone were attacking you. In fact, I have.
And for that I do, indeed, owe you an apology. All those years ago when I was assisting with the teacher training you mentioned, there were several meetings among the mentors and facilitator discussing the reasons to remove you from the YTT sans refund or certification on account of your persistent choice to “slice and dice” all of the students and teachers. Can you guess the one voice that repeatedly stood up for you and convinced them to let you stay? Yours truly.
I didn’t realize then how absolutely miserable you were in that training. I assumed that if you were that disappointed with the training that you would exercise your power to leave on your own. I didn’t realize that by convincing them to allow you to stay, I was only prolonging your suffering. I apologize.
As we can see from this explosive discussion, empowerment is not a simple task. It asks us to peer into the shadows—personal and collective. For some women, empowerment may entail tapping into repressed sexuality, for others it may be about uncovering a voice that has long been shut up. For others, empowerment may be a practice of uncovering the capacity to act with compassion and love for herself in a way that she has never known. The different aspects within oneself are limitless.
From the outside, another woman’s attempts at connecting with the myriad of mysterious aspects of her being may appear misguided. I think it is safe to say that given the state of humanity and the generations of conditioning, uncovering the divine feminine is a messy process. Perhaps compassion for others is a good place to start.
I recognize that you’re also a teacher within this community, on your own path of healing and transformation. From the outside, I don’t understand your motives or your needs. I don’t know the journeys you’ve been on, the gold you’re uncovering and the capacities that are yearning to emerge.
Part of what I teach is vocal activation. The first thing I help people do is to identify and forgive everyone who has spoken negatively toward their voice and unique expression, tried to stop their mission, their purpose. Feelings of shame are transmuted to compassion; anger to fierceness. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to deepen my practice.
My prayer would be that this community be a space where women and men are given the freedom and the support to go through the messy process of learning and unlearning, of teaching and growing.
As you mention, “I’m trying to be the Great Cosmic Mother.” I agree. I am trying the best I can to embody fierce compassion. I’m striving to embrace all, the shadow and the light. This cosmic mama chooses to stand up for those who are rediscovering their voice. I believe this is needed now more than ever. This series of posts highlights just how badly this work is needed.
You say that I sing like a “squeaky wheel.” Well, the great wheel of life keeps turning. As my grandmother used to say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease. 😉 💚
The problem is, Lindsey, and I do appreciate your willingness to stay in the dialogue, even though I am very disappointed by your earlier character assassination and intimation of deliberate mischief and spiteful intentions here, .. the problem is Trust. I put my self in the hands of the people associated with you and this course, and many other things when I came here seeking the benefits of the ‘yoga scene’. The first day I landed in Ubud with the whole cancer thing, I was told by a so-called detox expert (who has no medical or psychological training, as far as I know) that if I had been raw, and drunk green smoothies, I would never have become ill in the first place. I had enough sense, in my shocked and scared state, to realise this was not only untrue, but outrageous, and didnt partake in that little misadventure. But thousands of others do. A woman I admire, who has a 6-year-old daughter, JUST DIED from breast cancer because her yoga guru told her to go raw. Can you imagine how her mother feels about the advice and leadership on offer in the alternative scene? I think this is tragic. Maybe worse than tragic. But it has not made me angry, just extremely concerned that we take the real and true and necessary effort to take a pause. Now. And work out the ethics, the truth, the safety of what we’re selling and influencing around in a market made of mostly vulnerable and hopeful people. I think we MUST do that. Because we all know that there are things that have gone wrong. It’s not a secret. You know that too. I am not secretly on an attack. But I might be, if we dont take pause to allow open exchange on our ethics and safety, because real people are involved, and if we want to the right to say we can help them, we have the responsibility to make sure we do. Right now, this healing scene is a buyer beware market. If you’re stupid or hopeful enough to be persuaded by the marketing, then its at your own risk. This is not good enough when the promises are medical, psychological, and profound. The sure way for the benefits of the alternative scene to NEVER be supported or adopted by those from the conservative medical or psycho-therapeutic scene, is for people to do damage with them, and be unaccountable. Medicine, therapy and other help industries are strongly regulated and boundaried by ethics and accountability – for good reasons. Those guys DEPEND on us explorers to bring back something true and valid and safe from our enquiries – but if we bring back something persuasive, ineffective and unsafe, they will close their doors on us, and rightly so – and then everybody will suffer. Trust. The problem is, how can I trust you? How can I trust those who market help, but really dont know what it is, and unaccountable for their clumsy efforts with people who trust them because of their advertising? And this question too – just a second…. is it because I am asking these questions that you think I need ‘healing’? or….? Because if you think a woman who breaks ranks of silence to ask a question needs ‘healing’, we are in a very very very dangerous place.
Roger E: Is not the “Yoniverse” simply an attempt to withdraw from difficulty back into the safety of the womb?
Yes, i was calling them pussy bunnies for a while. From depth psychology pov, natural instinct for undifferentiated adults unable to handle overwhelming demands of hostile culture. But then.,, women not looking so cuddly mummy as they proffer the vaginaverse.. they are emodying , through surgery mostly, something that looks a lot less benevolent
Roger E: Yupp. The Feminist model as espoused by Marilyn French in “The Women’s Room” (1977) was valid and progressive. What we see daily on the streets of the US is anything but. The ghastliness of Feminazi behavior we recently witnessed during the Kavanaugh Circus undoes any validity to which Feminism may once have aspired. Women know this. Feminists do not.
JA
Roger E: I have no idea what you’re talking about re: “ghastliness of Feminazi behavior we recently witnessed during the Kavanaugh Circus…” Would you explain please?
Sarah D:
I’m not sure how I found your profile or post, but I’m glad I did. I’ve been given the chance to work full time in Asia and chose to start in Ubud, because I’d heard great things about the community. But the “spiritual” world of Bali that has been presented so far disappoints me. The beautiful, perfectly-manicured women calling themselves spiritual mentors, “goddesses”, manifestation experts. All while talking trash on each other and their clientele, for everyone to hear, in local restaurants. This whole industry feels like a popularity pyramid scheme – like middle school all over again, except this time, you have to dish out money to take the online course to be as beautiful and conscious as the cool kids. It strikes me as odd that all the wellness and spirituality experts are 20-yo American or Australian girls with no life experience, let alone spiritual knowledge. They all use the same marketing strategy, the same buzz words, the same over-processes Instagram pictures of them in a skimpy dress in front of a temple or holding a watermelon at a perfect kitchen counter.
I’m tired. As I travel through Bali, wanting to just exist and observe a beautiful slice of Earth, I fight these nagging thoughts that I’m not pretty or fit enough to enjoy this opportunity. I don’t belong here. I’m ignored at pools and smoothie bars in Canggu, while the half-clad, tanned blonde Instagram influencers are catered to. Luckily, there are so many areas of Bali with little western influence, and those places have been lovely. But this is the casualty of women using their looks and youth to sell an experience – it alienates and disempowers the common woman, who is stuck somewhere between loving herself and buying the next online course or weight loss detox that will make her love herself.
Sorry to post as a stranger! I just felt so alone in my disgust overhearing these women at lunch the other day, and it’s so nice to find someone who has a similar outlook on it all. ❤️
Layne Richardson A Jedi under siege.
The dark forces are numerous and cloaked in, not much !
Be careful I hear you have been physically threatened ?
Mum and I worry about your safety.
I wish you had some security there. Beasts attack when there cornered we’ve been down this road before.
I wonder if anyone there in Bali reading this post might be able to offer you some security?
It’s nice to see some of your kin showing up that’s refreshing.
I hope this is the place you all can find each other and sweep forward into the enlightenment of all.
You’re not perfect as are none of us.
You can get triggered and lash out.
You get tired and need to rest, it’s hard work this work you chose to do.
But your relentless determination to learn, question and demand right is overwhelmingly obvious to me.
We love you and the souls that stand with you. Protect each other please 🐟
Meghan P: Chiming in. My personal perspective is that each adult human, each adult woman, develops perspectived on their own timeline and that the branches of their tree is firmly rooted down into the rough earth of their own personal experience which was launched at babyhood and progressed into their ‘now’. Hence, I see no reason to judge, criticize or impose my own criticism (that is often rooted in my own insecurity) onto anyone else. Instead I always remember that ‘WE’ are representing our own experiences and working through our own shit in a way that is perfect for our own healing and development.
Jade Richardson Oh good. So then the personal expression of our unique baby roots are all viable and welcome.. so you’d be ok with what Hitler and Mao and Stalin achieved with their personal growth biographies then??? just by way of testing that hypothesis.
Meghan P: Jade Richardson yup, I would
Jade Richardson Meghan P, well, I’d certainly question whether realising this, then letting it lead unchecked is safe, or ethical.. given your role in all of this.
Meghan P: Jade Richardson yep. Agrees, pls define my role for me from your perspective? Would love to hear. Meanwhile I’m gonna post for a lingerie add, care to join?
Jade Richardson I think you have a role as boundary-keeper and profit maker in it. I think you have a role as enabler and also as one who is in a position to test and make an effort toward accountability and safety. Those sorts of things.
Sukhi: Thanks Jade for raising a simple question for our attention ..
‘What are your thoughts on this marketing’?
I believe the importance of this topic could invite a beautiful conversation that doesn’t surround an individuals identity or the demand of silencing.
Personally I’m assisting a Sister’s training here and completely believe in her life’s work. Although at first i felt super protective, I realised there’s room for my truth even though it’s my closest mate.!
For me questions arise around the marketing ..
Who the target audience?
Western idealised or local ..
Does it reach out to every kind of woman?
Marketing wise I’m not called to join as the brands looks like old Coca Cola ads from a sexualised archetypal advertising industry.
Are they same pics with new spiritual titles ? – I dunno spot the difference ?
If we wanna change the ‘meaning system’ but cannot deal with a simple question like this how the hell will we get to the big issues that address women empowerment!
This really isn’t a question of these people’s branding it’s bigger than that please let’s talk about that together someday.
Love 💕
Richard: I have been following this post for the past few days with fascination. Clearly, the author has a knack for identifying and opening up discussion on sensitive topics. As a man, I confess to some discomfort commenting, but at the end of the day there is no more reason not to comment than there is to comment. I also want to point out that the OP is only asking for thoughts, feelings and opinions. It is not overtly an expression of her views, though they are implied. In at least one way, I see this post as symptomatic of a very disturbing trend in our culture: the obsession and preoccupation with imagery. We all know that images are not the whole story and, in this age of technology may well be completley fabricated. So I think the author of this post is doing a dis-service by focusing on the images only, and not the actual marketing and curriculum of the courses. So – the images vis-a-vis “women’s empowerment”. Here is what I see when I look at the images. The headstand speaks to me of physical empowerment. The tattooed couple speaks of the empowerment of intimacy within a bonded heterosexual couple. But there is the suggestion of feminine vulnerability and masculine protection in the way she leans into him and he is covering her yoni with his hands. Its a powerful image, clearly with suggestions of sexuality. The woman licking the bayonet is overtly sexual and slightly kink. I dont get that it is empowering the feminine in any way. In fact, it appears that she is taunting a man with a sword, potentially putting herself in peril. Perhaps that is empowering in some risk taking manner. It speaks loudly of masculine restraint and control. It would be truly empowering if she had the bayonet and was holding it at his throat. No tongues required. The image with the woman in a bra doing a stretch is sensual, but does not particularly speak to me of empowerment. As one commenter says: “Lingerie ad?” The photo of the woman in the forest? Well, that speaks both of vulnerability and of power. Being naked in the wild, for anyone who has experienced it, is both. Empowered connection to the elements, and raw, unprotected exposure to them. Beyond this, without the context within which these images are intended to be interpreted, I do not have much more to say.
Jade Richardson Even though I knew it would be a difficult topic. I did not expect the outright abuse and terrible name calling I have experienced today. I have had my safety threatened. My friends have been threatened. I have been punished for my behaviour over years, and even accused of being ‘irritating’ during a period eight years ago when I went to a yoga retreat because I had been diagnosed with cancer… al by women who work in the sacred industry, and/ or the healing industry… and/ or as female empowerment leaders. it has been actually, staggering, to see the degree of hatred and venom women in this community are willing to use to silence questions. This makes me want to ask…. what power is it that women need more of???? What power are we actually missing? What power are we supposed to be getting more of??? And for what or whose benefit?
Shely Ourana Good questions Jade!
For me it’s the power to stand strong in myself, to feel confident enough not to be swayed by the desires, opinions or demands of others especially when they don’t serve me, to have strong enough boundaries to say yes or no when and about what I want, to walk away when I want to, to never be coerced or feel obliged to put others desires before my own wellbeing, to not acquiesce when I don’t feel to, to respect my own needs and energetic limits and to demand that others be respectful of me. That may not be a definitive list.
I call it sovereign authenticity. Unfortunately I think that’s becoming another co-opted cliche 😝
THOUSANDS more comments…. some are here.. in no real curated state…
Comments from the post I was made to delete from Ubud Community because of threats of safety… just some of the 600 or so….
Sonia Mattei 7:16pm Sep 26
i don’t agree with it.. you can learn to love you bodies without publicizing it. i am. they just want validation and admiration which i don’t think is very healing. or spiritual in anyway. spirituality, empowerment etc is about being loving, kind, honest, compassionate, selfless service, humility. i could go on. and it’s the about the people who you surround yourself with that empower you… not likes, nudity and followers.
Comment History
Ayu Arumi
Ayu Arumi 7:19pm Sep 26
Agree… And some of them promoted as Balinese spirit, enlightenment, new age bu****** 😁
Benjamin Casteillo
Benjamin Casteillo 7:29pm Sep 26
My 2 cents view on this, nudity and women body has been demonized by mainstream monotheistic religion for centuries (as an evil temptation).
Therefore, many have been raised with the shame of their body and their sexuality deep rooted at the subconscious level.
This would also be a way to re-appropriate their feminine body as a form of beauty and expression, and to encourage other women to do so.
Now is it more trouble than this? I think not, and I welcome the move toward liberation.
Charli Johanna
Charli Johanna 7:37pm Sep 26
Im a woman and the person posing for the photos has some serious issues to confront.. That is not normal behaviour to want to pose naked or half naked… And I don’t give a hoot whether they think they are a supermodel or not… It is just totally disrespecting yourself! or they need to get of the magic mushies! or both!
Julie Tompson
Julie Tompson 7:41pm Sep 26
Feel sorry for the normal people living in Ubud. These idiots are just attention seekers. Ratih Purnama commented on your photo in Ubud Community.
Ratih Purnama
Ratih Purnama 8:03pm Sep 26
Ragenah tenan kie😀😀
Sarah le Kali
Sarah le Kali 8:03pm Sep 26
I have quite a few Sistas doing this kind of sexual empowerment work.. Yoni mapping, jade eggs, crystal wands etc..
I feel the work they do is transformative for some women & valuable to them, teaching them to be more embodied & more comfortable with their sexuality..
The work is important i believe, however the sex sells marketing turns me off completely from the idea of feminine empowerment..
For me it defeats its purpose & power..
Mey Rosita Dewi
Mey Rosita Dewi 8:03pm Sep 26
Plus if u think baliness people narrow minded then they dont need be in bali 😊 for me baliness peoples already nice and have high tolerant 🙏
Maia Balam
Maia Balam 8:04pm Sep 26
Jade you are doing something very twisted and sick by stalking these women, stealing their pictures, collect them and then post in a public forum. What you are doing has no name, I haven’t seen no one doing this to their fellow women ever on fb. You should really delete this album or this will back fire at you. You can’t be judge, you can’t demonize them. You are just doing this to yourself, as a woman…. replicating the Roman Catholic inquisition on fb!!!!! Unacceptable
Danielle Desrosiers 8:06pm Sep 26
What is ‘normal’ behavior? Is it being non-confrontational? Non-stimulating? “Beige”? “Neutral”? “Non-opinionated”?
Donna McAleese 8:09pm Sep 26
So, they aren’t wanting middle-aged or older, less than perfect, well-rounded to overweight women then? You know, women who have money & aren’t back-packing.
Comment History
Donna McAleese 8:09pm Sep 26
My kind of yoga.
Catherine Jane Whitaker 8:39pm Sep 26
Wrong about what? You doing something twisted and sick? You are friends with one of these ladies on messenger or facebook. I’m sorry you feel the need to be a bully. It will backfire on you.
Comment History
Marko Randelovic
Marko Randelovic 8:39pm Sep 26
Ubud is a parody of itself, can’t even tell what’s real or satire these days 😆
Sasha McNair
Sasha McNair 8:40pm Sep 26
https://www.stopbullying.gov/cyberb…/what-is-it/index.html
Diana Nuryanti
Diana Nuryanti 8:40pm Sep 26
I know many woman in my life who’s doing real things in life if it can be called to be a feminist and doing such a great job for equality and equity. They work for people in needs, for people with HIV/AIDS, single mother etc. Go sleep, eat and take care of them in the hospital – IN REAL LIFE. Write and speak up for people in need, who’s weak and has no power.
These incredible woman doesn’t show off and have a great integrity and grounded soul and thought.
I can’t relate doing a pose of yoga with naked body but not jump to the field can be called as feminist or empowered.
I’m sorry but I saw many in this area, called themselves as feminist but to escape life.
Go to naked yoga everyday doesn’t make you empowered or empower any woman I think.. Just spend a lot money to pay yoga capitalism
but that’s your choice😝
Diana Nuryanti 8:40pm Sep 26
It’s a place where I mend my sanity tho 😆
Diana Nuryanti 8:41pm Sep 26
Anna Marie Inglis sure I do. I don’t like talk bullshit and being irrelevant in real life 😆
Ratih Purnama 8:53pm Sep 26
La mosok foto kok jempalitan 😀😀😀
Cihud Citra Ayu Wardani 8:54pm Sep 26
Megan MacDonald yeah i think the faces should’ve been blurred in order to create a more neutral discussion. it’s a small community
Lo Qi 8:55pm Sep 26
Jade, You should consider offering “disempowerment services” …youre so good at it.
Fera Nofia Rohadi 8:55pm Sep 26
I agree with Mira, and it’s not easy. Salut for them.
Petra Smit 8:56pm Sep 26
Fix another queens crown, without telling the world it was crooked. 🙌🏻
Nilton Jacques Lemmer 9:10pm Sep 26
I just think they go little bit to far with that yogi fem stuff. Feels like they out of balance
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Rob Dutchy 9:11pm Sep 26
That’s fine but keep it private and not for everyone to see..
Catherine Jane Whitaker
Catherine Jane Whitaker 9:11pm Sep 26
No. But what you did was wrong. Definitely not something an empowered women would do. It’s encouraging people to talk negatively about other women.
Nilton Jacques Lemmer
Nilton Jacques Lemmer 9:11pm Sep 26
Rob Dutchy Jupp.
Lo Qi 9:12pm Sep 26
All good, just pointing out the contradiction / irony … a woman’s empowerment is up to the individual woman.
Richard McFarland-Dorworth 9:12pm Sep 26
At the risk of being a human with a Y chromosome commenting on a thread by and about those without, I am struggling to connect “empowerment” with the images attached. Clearly context is required. Perhaps some of the marketing language and curriculum would be helpful?
Lo Qi 9:12pm Sep 26
All good, just pointing out the contradiction / irony … a woman’s empowerment is up to the individual woman.
Nilton Jacques Lemmer 9:12pm Sep 26
I just think they go little bit to far with that yogi fem stuff. Feels like they out of balance
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What Is Cyberbullying
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Maia Balam 9:28pm Sep 26
Jackie Pomeroy absolutely she is offending the Balinese by making them watch this pictures. If they tell you over and over that is not part of their culture to see naked women, and this lady pushes this unasked for pictures and…See More
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Tessa Juhl 10:03pm Sep 26
She says a lot of things lol
Jade Richardson …See More
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Lena Suhaila 12:09am Sep 27
Jade Richardson -let’s get real- you are doing an “informal survey”- You are collecting the material for this survey in a way that is unethical. Did you ask for permission to rebroadcast these images in your “study”? because…See More
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Carolyn Quan
September 27 at 12:41 AM
Submitted these four images of my artwork to Palm Springs Pride for consideration in their marketing materials for their women’s events. If you’re in SoCal, Pal…
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Gino Grach 1:11am Sep 27
Don’t start fucken up people’s lives and marriages with that shit…See More
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Molly Lucinda 2:17am Sep 27
Jade Richardson Wow, amazing to see how much anger and venom is being put into the replies of those commenting when thoughts, comments and opinions are asked for….
If you’re going to make posts that bring up topics like this…See More
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Σπυριδουλα Πολιτη 3:14am Sep 27
Empowered means not giving a fuck what trolls like the OP think. Seriously, collecting photos of women and posting them to be judged? That’s kind of sick. Thanks for setting the example.
Wyt Raven 3:29am Sep 27…See More
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Thorn Tree – The Great Balinese Cover Up
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Jessica AB 5:42am Sep 27
I feel confused about the intent of this post and the opening angle, which seems to be : – The contrast in preserving conservation in respect of tradition and the nature of some Female Empowerment that co-exist in that same con…See More
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The toxic experience of being a woman in the social media age
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Jade Richardson Megan MacDonald 6:51am Sep 27
Jade Richardson there are important conversations to be had. I’m not denying that. But we can choose how we initiate and engage and…. kindness, compassion and acknowledgement that we are talking and walki…See More
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Melanie Dilday 7:26am Sep 27
I’m not into any of this stuff either but taking these photos out of context and creating a divisive post about it doesn’t help anyone. In fact, seeking to shame others is never a good tactic. What had you
Ron Manist 7:28a…See More
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YOUTUBE.COM
My Revolution Lives In This Body – Written by Eve Ensler, Performed…
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson Until we can honestly clear up our ideas about what women want and need in 2018 … then basically, its open season on offering just about anything tempting to the market place… it’s like selling soap powder… you just have to sex it up, spin it and make it sound good.. and bingo! there’s your $20,000 workshop for the month!
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Michinawi Michinawi
Michinawi Michinawi
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Jade Richardson
Jade Richardson mmm…. but we have social agreements and a community to respect .. and I dont want to live in a world with nude women cruising around all over the place, because they feel like it. And neither do most people, apparently, which is why we now have the p…See More
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Michinawi Michinawi
Michinawi Michinawi In the picture i commented with, I didn’t see it as being about either nude or modest yet rather the right of choice. I personally find extremism of any kind from any group generally unhelpful and divisive and negatively impacts whatever cause they are…See More
Tunjung: ·
Me myself working in human empowerment either It’s male or female, what we can do is only to give the best we can and from the heart. I believe to be able to work in human empowerment we need to be able to work on ourselves first. And everyone have their own ways to embrace other, taking responsibility of your own feeling, emotions, thought, actions and reactions is the basic of empowerment for me🙏🏿
Meghan P: Jade Richardson this thread is phenomenal and I wish u would write ur story and share it.
Lindsey Wise
Lindsey Wise Didn’t delete a single word. Still up there:
When I saw this post that you had shared in the Ubud community for women last night, I had responded with this message:
“I’m curious if you’re asking people to offer opinions on these photos and judge these women or to question your intent by this post. Whenever we point a finger there are three pointing back at us. Namaste”
You responded to your post with this message:
”I am asking for people’s thoughts, feelings and opinions. It would apparently be you, dear, who is pointing the finger. Namaste back at ya”
And then, I woke up to this message in my private inbox from you:
“Hi Lindsey, I didnt really like the implication of your message on my post. I really hope your intention is not to judge or threaten me in any way? is it?
Because really, I would consider that a very dark expression of the feminine impulse to bully. And a bit of a smudge on your image, really.”
To be honest, I’ve really tuned into my heart and asked for clear guidance on a response to you on behalf of my own heart and behalf of the beautiful sisters in these photos that are very beloved to our community. Although I don’t recognize them all, Tina Nance and Mana Mei are beyond incredible and have been sharing wisdom and love with countless women for many years in Ubud. I’ve LOVED their classes and I honor their unique expressions and art.
Jade, you’re an incredible writer! Can you imagine if someone were to post half of one of your writings, without tagging you in the post, and ask people to offer their opinions and comments? Would it feel unfair to you?
As a mother of a 12 year old young woman, we have been learning about what you had mentioned in your private message as “the feminine impulse to bully.”
To be honest, your private message to me, this post, and the way that you have targeted numerous other women in Ubud by private message to criticize their offerings and their abilities to teach is feeling like a massive reason why women’s empowerment is SO necessary! I pray that my daughter can share freely without men or women shaming her publicly or privately for her artistic expressions.
We were in the same yoga teacher training 8 years ago and I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with your continual rants. Over the years I have witnessed you pick apart numerous individuals for what you view as their faults and shortcomings. It was refreshing to join you for the Stephen Jenkensin immersion to witness how far you’ve grown and how you were enjoyable to be around. However, the mama bear within my heart wishes to share that from my opinion, you are being a bully.
And truth be told, I LOVE smudge! Bring it on. Feels like we could use some sage to clear the energy and as you had threatened that my comment had “smudged” my image, I pray that our community knows that I stand behind all of the sisters and beautiful women who are gracing us with their unique teachings and gifts. Including you, Jade.
Jade Richardson Amanda… sometimes i cant remember if it was you or me who vomited their guts up at ikea! Now… yes, the decision to post real pix was partly a naive one, thinking it validated the question by using true advertising material instead of surrogates. That seemed more honest. Secondly, the women involved are basically ‘untouchable ‘ and transcend the conversation, so i wanted their attention, because I thought it would bring in their voices. But what it did was bring out their attack dogs, which i did anticipate, because I know how female power dynamics work. Because i am a woman. I think almost every woman understands what went on. Most men i have spoken with are just bewildered. Which is sort of cute , but sort of scary, because it means we are here without our men, and i feel that is unnatural… anyhow… yes, i am answering for that decision. Which is fair. But what i suspect i am also answering for is my demand that the real life women in this sort of leadership join the conversation. I could have tagged them. That, i think would have been an actual breach of fairplay.. but maybe not. I was not being deliberately antagonistic. I imagine they have good and complex and useful things to add to this exchange and am disappointed they have chosen to be silent so far. Silence is a powerful tool. There is more and more of it about as leaders like government and industry refuse to answer tor their actions. They role model a lack of accountability and transparency or willingness to engage that is tragic to find reflected at a community level. But perhaps they will join in ? I hope so. Meanwhile, as my mum said, women have always held power, the question has always been about how they use it. Here, many women have used their power in a sort of reality tv popularity vote on the speakers … not on the substance.. i am afraid for our humanity and our earth if we progress much further this way because it means we will be willing to trade our common sense for the favor of our tribe. We will be willing to lunge over waterfalls rather than listen to the lone voice that said… just wait a second.
Happi K: What a brilliant read … thanks for sharing that, Jade Richardson! :O ❤
So powerful – delving into so many areas! We are all within ourselves, the yoni is the portal to the whole universe! Ive just begun to realise and really appreciate her ❤