Goddess Worship is not automatically Feminist

First off as a Monotheist Christian I believe God is All Genders and I have argued that Biblically.  In the context of Mainstream Christianity traditionally defaulting to viewing God as Male, it is the Biblical Evidence for the Feminine side of God that is in need of being emphasized.  But still God is both Male and Female and any other Gender that exists.

It is also a part of Patriarchal society to put Women on a Pedastool, the "good women" anyway.  Now this typically goes hand in hand with despising women who fail to live up to the Pedastool, but the fact remains saying nice things about women in theory does not a Feminist make.  This is something VraiKaiser talked about in their analysis of both Revolutionary Girl Utena and The Woman Called Fujiko Mine.  There was a particular author they liked to cite on that subject I wish I could remember the name of.  [Update: Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novel Herland is what I was thinking of.]

The traditional Madonna/Whore Complex is a common way this manifests.  But it's still possible to have more nontraditional or outright diverse ideas about what makes a "good woman", allowing them to be sexually active or masculine or queer and still be part of the problem.  Hence the titular Fujiko Mine was a Whore to some men but a Madona to others, while Lupin is the one man who simply saw her as a fellow human being.

Another related issue is how some Lesbian porn made by straight men for straight men is not raunchy at all but about the idea of Lesbian sex being more "pure" then any sex involving what's traditionally viewed as male genitalia.

The Goddesses of Polytheistic Pagan Pantheons were basically their Pedastools, their various concepts of an ideal woman.  Under Christianized Greco-Roman society this role was taken over by reverence for The Virgin Mary (who the word Madona originally refereed to) or other Women in The Bible, and later Saints like Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc).  Or in the Muslim world how they looked at Aisha and Fatimah (Aisha is a Madona to the Sunni but a Whore to the Shia, and to many enemies of Islam she's just a victim).

But going back to the Polytheists it was not uncommon for some patriarchal groups to favor the goddesses over the male gods.  After all it was Isis of all Egyptian deities who had a temple built to her in Rome.  Rome was probably the most strictly Patriarchal society in the Ancient World but there were times when at face value their religion might have you think otherwise.

But what's most interesting is Japan.  Japan has spent all of it's recorded history with a Solar Goddess named Amaterasu as the main central deity of their pantheon, she bested the typical Zeus figure for control of Heaven and is the official ancestor of the Emperor.  But none of that has prevented Japan from being a highly patriarchal society right down to the present day with them being the only "developed" nation where arranged marriages are still culturally acceptable.

If Anime and it's related media has given you a different impression of Japan.  That's partly because Anime is mostly outside of the mainstream of Japanese culture and so it is a medium subversives and outcasts including Feminists and LGBTQ individuals turn to hence the two Feminist Anime refereed to above.

But it's also true that for Male Otaku their Anime Waifus are their modern Goddesses, some quite literally, the various deres are their concepts of an ideal woman.  And because of how gender issues are different in Japan then in America some of the shows American Feminists like are ones Japanese Feminists don't and visa versa.

Now I try to be self aware of how this problem can also apply to myself.  My list of favorite Anime Characters looks at first glance like a bunch of Moe Blobs and the western characters who interest me are similar.  And I enjoy plenty of shows that AnimeFeminist and the Trans Lesbian Leftist AniTubers I follow don't approve of.  But my "Waifus" tend to be characters I relate to rather then look up to, Mikoto Misaka may have the power of Thor but she's still a flawed character who has to learn from her mistakes.

Now it's easy to tell when a Goddess worshiper is being blatantly Misogynist in-spite of their goddess worship.  What I'm more concerned with is how people who's heart is in the right place, who are trying to be Feminist, can screw up by grasping too hard on the Divine Feminine obsession. Wicca for example looks at first glance like a very Feminist religion but they have their own gender issues.  Also the idea that there is something inherently sacred about female biology often seeps into TERF rhetoric.

Now again within Judeo-Christianity I think we need to point out the Biblical Feminine side of YHWH and Jesus to correct mainstream assumptions.  And in the Secular sphere I see nothing wrong with Feminists reclaiming the various Feminine Idols of Patriarchal tradition, both the Madonnas and the Whores.  A Pop Starlet singing a song called "God is a Girl" or "God is a Woman" can be an important empowering anthem that I fully support.

But Feminism is ultimately about treating women as fellow equal human beings and that gender is a social construct.

I'm also not gonna deny that some of the ancient pagans had in some ways a slightly healthier more diverse attitude towards Gender then what mainstream Christianity has become since there were female War deities like Anath, Enyo and Nieth alongside the male ones.  And male Love gods like Eros and Pan and even a male form of Astarte attested in some Ugarit texts.

It's important never to forget that you're actually agreeing with the logic of Patriarchy when you start teaching that men are naturally biologically inclined towards being violent and aggressive and women are inherently more empathetic and sensitive.  True Feminism is seeing that it is the way society operates that conditions us towards being that way.