Exceptional liberalism, tolerance and love have been hallmarks of the Pagan and Polytheistic communities. However, that's not to say that there aren't some fringe elements, as there are in every community, religious or not. Although small in number, I have even personally witnessed Pagan leaders who exhibit clear sexism (mainly women toward men), but I would find it naive to think that there are no examples of the opposite.
I'm not playing any sort of blame game at all. The purpose of this post is not to try and call out anyone or start infighting. Over the last few months, I've contemplated the issue of sexism, not just in our own communities, but the world itself. It has led me to believe that one cannot be sexist and a polytheist at the same time. The two are not compatible, and I will explain why.
Let's first define sexism. Generally speaking, it is the hatred, distrust and/or resentment of someone based exclusively on their sex or gender. This would mean that the sexist individual in question does not like what is male or female itself. That presence in the universe draws their animosity. Therefore, one cannot hate women and worship Goddesses, nor hate men and worship Gods, because they hate what is female or male. When you consider what it means to be sexist, you realize that it doesn't matter if it's toward humans or Gods, because sexism is disdain for nothing except sex and gender itself.
If we are to ever reach the best versions of ourselves that the Gods endowed us with, if we are ever to become a great people in general, we must free ourselves of hate and prejudice. I think one way we can begin this is by recognizing that even the most liberal and tolerant people among us, have been taught to hate at least one kind of person for one reason or another. Even if our disliking is simply toward someone who has a different belief, we will find a prejudice if we look deep inside ourselves. We all, in this Age, have something to work on. Hate is like a cancer. If you ignore it, it will grow and consume you. But if you find and treat it, you can drive it out.
In all honesty, it doesn't matter if the hate is sexual, racial, cultural, or whatever it may be. Hate will destroy us, our families, our communities, and our world. It has already done so to many groups of humans through history. It will have no different of an impact on our own time if we let it win. We too will be destroyed.
In the Goodness of the Gods,
Chris Aldridge.