Sunday Workshop: Let's Get Into It
Childless women, stressed parents, fundamentalism, the fear of the feminine and this Sunday's gathering to discuss
My last seminar of the year, Community Dreamwork, starts today, Friday at 9am PT/5pm UK. There’s still time to join! ✨ Then this Sunday is our gathering for paid subscribers at 10am PT/6pm UK. (see below).
I was pleased to learn that I wasn’t alone in my deep frustration with Jungian Analyst Lisa Marchiano's wildly ill-timed think piece on childless women. I heard from more of you than I ever expected to hear from, both in the abundant comments and via email. I was struck by how personally so many others had taken her article well before I wrote my response:
This past Friday, I tearfully described to my analyst Marchiano's article and the unsettling impact it had on me.
And:
Lisa’s article had made me wonder whether I was selfish [for] not wanting to have a child, and validated my guilt for not having my 'maternal instinct' kicking in while friends around [me] are getting pregnant.
And:
I read her article and I felt quite disheartened… I came away feeling like without children, my individuation journey won't be considered 'valid.’
One person asked if we could discuss all of this further at our Sunday gathering this month, so we will! There’s a link below for paid subscribers.
But there’s a lot more to this conversation that arose recently that can inform our conversation. In general, I’m curious to know what you’re trying to make sense of right now psychologically and socially. In what ways are you working to balance self and society? Drop a comment below.
And bring your questions and thoughts on Sunday!
I have just a little more to say on the topic of childlessness.
A few important things have happened since I published my piece two weeks ago.
US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy issued a surgeon general’s advisory on the stress levels that American parents are experiencing. He also penned an excellent New York Times op-ed, which serves as its own response to Marchiano’s article.
Parents who feel pushed to the brink deserve more than platitudes. They need tangible support. That’s why I am issuing a surgeon general’s advisory to call attention to the stress and mental health concerns facing parents and caregivers and to lay out what we can do to address them.
A recent study by the American Psychological Association revealed that 48 percent of parents say most days their stress is completely overwhelming, compared with 26 percent of other adults who reported the same.
Much like his leadership on Youth Mental Health, Dr. Murthy is drawing direct attention to a cascading tragedy that we’re all conscious of but sometimes struggle to name due to its absolute pervasiveness.
Praise genuine leadership on this topic versus tisk, tisk commentary.
Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance was further outed for his misogynistic rampage against childless women. These are not off-the-cuff comments in one awkward podcast interview but a longstanding, entrenched anti-woman belief system that he has repeated over and over.
Vance’s take on professional women without children is simple: their lives are meaningless, and they are lying to themselves if they think otherwise. He does not, meanwhile, wonder about men who do not have children and are devoted to their work. Of course.
In case you missed the most recent reporting on this, you can hear/see more of his comments here. And this is an excellent response from Nesrine Malik at The Guardian.
Afghanistan’s religious fundamentalist, all-male government issued a manifesto declaring that women’s voices are no longer to be heard outside of their homes. This, in addition to the fact that they must also be fully covered, head to face to toe.
This is nothing other than domestic abuse at a national level. And America is not at all immune from a similar fate if we don’t change course very quickly and acknowledge the brimming daily rhetoric for what it is.
Register to vote and make a plan to vote.
All fundamentalism, of any variety, hates the feminine and projects that hatred onto women and gender non-conforming people—and all men who dare to ally with them or step out of line. Fundamentalists of all stripes will say it is otherwise, that their actions and words serve to “protect” or “defend” or “maintain order” or some other nonsense. But a hatred of the feminine is a primary feature of fundamentalism. It is not a byproduct.
With fundamentalism, there is control. Spontaneity, joy, freedom, curiosity, love, tenderness, connection, relatedness, self-expression, and beauty are suppressed and punished. As a result, the soul begins to wither and suffer. That inner misery must then be projected and controlled somewhere externally. What is dead internally cannot thrive externally without evoking hatred and resentment.
This fear of the feminine and hatred of educated, vocal women (with or without children) is a psychological issue. It cannot be solved—it will never be solved—through the abuse, rape, control, silencing, and entrapment of actual women.
It is all just a projection of the terror in the soul of the abuser. Their own soul is trapped, voiceless, and terrified. If only we could save her.
Lastly:
I have recently learned that the Southern Poverty Law Center has listed Lisa Marchiano as one of the architects of the modern anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network. The piece begins like this: “Throughout the last five years, a major question has been: ‘How did the anti-transgender pseudoscience movement achieve success so quickly?’”
You can read their full answer and see Marchiano listed over twenty times. It’s pretty alarming.
To the person who asked in the comments of my “Childless” piece if I’m “implying that Lisa is a fascist?” No, I am not. I don’t actually get the impression that she is, nor am I implying anything at all. I think I am actually stating very directly that her work echoes far-right, misogynistic talking points (sometimes verbatim) and is being flagged by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its content and collaboration with known hate groups. This is not small stuff. No organization is right 100% of the time, but I’d confidently say that if the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified you as a person of concern and you’re a Jungian Analyst, you may need to reevaluate your positions and your use of Jung’s work.
Ahem, Jordan Peterson.
Okay, that’s all.
I’d love to see you on Sunday and get into it.
Sunday at 10am PDT | 1pm EDT | 6pm UK
Below is the link to register for this month’s gathering. Once you register, you’ll receive an email automatically from Zoom, and I’ll send another one first thing on Sunday.
If you are not yet a paid subscriber* and would like to join us, you can upgrade anytime. The registration link will become visible below.
You can always find the dates + links to future gatherings here. I'll embed the recording below after we meet for anyone who can’t make the time or upgrades after the fact.
And let me know what you want to explore in the upcoming months!
*If finances would prohibit you from joining, please reply to this email or send me a note at satyadoylebyock@ substack.com ASAP. I’m happy to comp you a subscription. (I don’t need an explanation, but please only ask if it’s a genuine need.)