The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory

Thesis

Eller sets out to refute what she describes as feminist matriarchalism as an "ennobling lie".

She argues that the feminist archaeology of Marija Gimbutas had a large part in constructing a late twentieth-century feminist myth of matriarchal prehistory. She questions whether Gimbutas's archaeological findings adequately support the claim that these societies were matriarchal or matrifocal. She says that we know of no cultures in which paternity is ignored and that the sacred status of goddesses does not automatically increase female social status. Eller concludes that inventing prehistoric ages in which women and men lived in harmony and equality "is a burden that feminists need not, and should not bear." In her view, the "matriarchal myth" tarnishes the feminist movement by leaving it open to accusations of "vacuousness and irrelevance that we cannot afford to court."

Criticism

Max Dashu wrote that Eller might, in some cases, lack sufficient ability to distinguish clearly between cases in scholarly studies and expressions of the burgeoning Goddess movement, including novels, guided tours, market-driven enterprises."{{cite journal | doi-access= free

Editions

• The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory: Why An Invented Past Will Not Give Women a Future, Beacon Press (2000), .

References

References

1. Quoting [[Kwame Anthony Appiah]], "The real political question ... as old as political philosophy ... [is] when we should endorse the ennobling lie."