“Because females were believed to be naturally more “open” to the influences of the spirit realm, the movement also offered new roles for women to become religious authorities and to have a public voice that was rarely if ever available to them in nineteenth-century American society…Ironically, the very qualities that were believed to make women appear weak, passive, and vulnerable—at least according to nineteenth-century American views of the sexes—also made them the most suitable mediums and the most “receptive” to the movements of the spirit realm.”–Hugh B. Urban, New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements
This excerpt from Hugh B. Urban’s New Age, Neopagan, and New Religious Movements stuck out to me for a variety of reasons. Firstly, I found it interesting that the spiritualism movement helped many women develop a voice and sense of self. Spiritualism, although obviously fundamentally different from organized religion, does have many similarities to the organized institutions of Christianity, Judaism, ect. Organized religion does have a history of excluding women by only creating high power positions for males. This type of treatment and hierarchy was especially prevalent during the 1900s when women were generally viewed as second class citizens. Overall, I am interested and confused by the notion that Spiritualism became an outlet widely acknowledged and revered for its inclusiveness towards women and the perpetuation of women’s rights. However, I believe my confusion is justified by the second half of this excerpt. Yes, through Spiritualism women were able to have a voice and play a fundamental role in helping others communicate with spirits and ghosts. This all appears great, but after diving into the reasons why women were believed to be successful mediums and spiritual leaders, it is clear that Spiritualism only further perpetuated the extremely negative female stereotypes that greatly contributed to women’s perceived inferiority to men. Women were thought to be successful mediums because of their alleged passive and vulnerable nature. Additionally, spirits were thought to speak through women. The idea of spirits using women to convey their messages only further perpetuates the idea that women cannot speak for themselves and need others to convey basic messages for them. Mediums such as Cora Hatch regularly dressed in sexualized manners and were highly revered for their beauty rather than the actual work they did for Spiritualism. In fact, most people were more impressed with female mediums’ mysterious and sexual energy than they were with these women’s abilities to communicate with spirits and ghosts. The perception of women as innately delaite and unassertive is ingrained in Spiritualism, so it is rather ironic that there is this wide perception of Spiritualism being influential in the women’s rights movement. Although I understand that Spiritualism gave women a new found sense of power, overall I do not see the movement as a whole being particularly progressive for women’s rights because of the negative and demeaning female stereotypes the movement sustained.