Dancing after the Whirlwind: Feminist Reflections on Sex, Denial, and Spiritual Healing - Softcover

Tessier, Linda J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0807065110 ISBN 13: 9780807065112

Publisher: Beacon Press, 1998

Synopsis

Dancing after the Whirlwind explores how the denial of a sexual self affects a woman's spiritual identity and her understanding of her place in the world. L. J. Tessier traces the deep roots of this denial and separation of sexuality and spirituality in both Western and Eastern religions. She examines the experiences of three groups of women whose sexual desires, memories, and experiences are routinely denied by society: lesbians, survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and HIV-positive women. Drawing on their powerful examples, Tessier offers us strategies for reclaiming the whirlwind of erotic power and seeing it for what it is-the sacred force through which we most deeply touch one another as human beings.

About this title

About the Author

L. J. "Tess" Tessier is associate professor of philosophy and religion at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. She is also an award-winning poet, teacher, and performance artist.

From Publishers Weekly

In this intriguing volume, Tessier brings both her academic background in philosophy and religion as well as her poet's soul to bear on important issues of sexuality and spirituality. "What happens to a woman's spiritual identity," she asks, "when certain key aspects of her sexual identity--her desires, her memories, her ability to see herself and to be seen as a sexual being--are routinely denied?" She focuses her attention on three groups of women: lesbians, women with histories of childhood sexual abuse and women who have tested positive for HIV/AIDS. Tessier strives to make connections between spirituality and sexuality by taking an overview of various religious traditions' views of female sexuality. From her overview she concludes: "Where sexuality is cut off from spiritual life, whether in theology, religious ritual, or cultural practice, the result is often increasing oppression and violence against women, children, and nature, and increasing cultural and personal denial." On the whole, Tessier's overviews of religion are competent, and she avoids generalizations about the relationship between sexuality and spirituality.

Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0807065110
• ISBN 13: 9780807065112
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272