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Goddesses in Every Girl? Goddess Feminism and Children’s Literature
Mary Ann Beavis
Abstract: This article investigates the question of the influence of Goddess feminism on children’s literature (picture books, early readers, young readers, young adult) since its inception in the 1970s. A key finding is that in contrast to earlier decades, a variety of children’s books featuring Goddesses and the Divine Feminine, mostly in the young readers and young adult categories, have been published in the past 20 years. Apart from their appearance concurrently with the rise of Goddess feminism, a prominent feature that is shared by many, but not all, of these works is the archetypal interpretation of Goddess/es which views the Female Divine as a source of empowerment for women and girls.
Keywords: Goddess Feminism, Children’s Literature, Female Divine, Thealogy
Goddess feminism (otherwise known as Goddess movement, Goddess spirituality, feminist spirituality, and Goddess religion), however it is defined, has been current in various forms since the 1970s. It has influenced many sectors of society, including psychology, religion, art, literature, and popular culture.[1] How it is defined, practiced and understood is nearly as diverse as its practitioners; a description that captures some of its shared features is sketched by Kathryn Rountree: at the core of Goddess feminists’ world view is a strong belief in holism, an emphasis on the connectedness and interdependence of everything on the planet, or indeed in the …
[1] See, e.g., Trevor Greenfield, ed., The Goddess in America: The Divine Feminine in Cultural Context (Winchester, UK: Moon Books, 2015).
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S/HE: An International Journal of Goddess Studies Volume 1 Number 1 (2022)