We’ve been inspired by so many pioneers in the field of ecology and community building. We’d like to share some of their work here. We give you a little taster, but we really encourage you to be fully inspired and click through to read more…
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How to Queer Ecology: One Goose at a Time
by Alex Johnson
I once thought I knew what nature writing was: the pretty, sublime stuff minus the parking lot. The mountain majesty and the soaring eagle and the ancient forest without the human footprint, the humans themselves, the mess.
Slowly, fortunately, that definition has fallen flat. Where is the line between what is Nature and what is Human? Do I spend equal times in the parking lot and the forest? Can I really say the parking lot is separate from the forest? What if I end up staying in the parking lot the whole time? What if it has been a long drive and I really have to pee?
The problem is, the Nature/Human split is not a split. It is a dualism. It is false.
I propose messing it up. I propose queering Nature… [read more]
Nature is Queer
Inspired by Dr. Joan Roughgarden
People weaponise nature to justify homophobia and transphobia. They say that being LGBTQ is “against nature” because many of us don’t reproduce. But LGBTQ people aren’t faulty aberrations. We are fundamental to species and ecosystems. We should always question who gets to speak for nature. Often times the only stories we learn about nature are filtered through a patriarchal lens…
Ecologist and evolutionary biologist Dr. Joan Roughgarden reminds us that biology is in fact a profound argument for gender and sexual diversity… [read more]
Community Can Take Other Forms – Inspired by Bonobos of the Congo
By Mary
You may have heard about Bonobos, they have had quite a lot of media attention of late. In terms of evolution they are our close cousins,, and like other great apes we can really relate to them, but unlike other apes they have really caught our attention because of how they organise their communities. They are led by females and are peaceful in nature. They use touch and sex to defuse conflict both within their own tribal group and when other groups meet. They are sexually liberated, polyamorous and they are queer!
They inspire me because they offer us an alternative view of how to organise ourselves. It is easy to fall into the model we are presented with of monogamous heterosexual relationships as the only option. We default to live in isolated couples fighting for territory in subtle and unsubtle ways, and I want to choose a more gentle open minded path.
Malwen for me represents an opportunity to live with others in the spirit of open supportive loving community where we welcome any expression of gender, sexuality and relationship models.
Five Things Mushrooms & Non-Binary People Have in Common
By Summer Vineyard
What do mushrooms and non-binary people have in common? Though this might sound like the set-up of a bad joke, this question was the impetus for this essay. As a non-binary person, I feel an intense kinship with fungi, and when I started my journey into mycology, I wanted to find out why I felt this connection so profoundly. As I learned more, the parallels between fungi and queerness became impossible for me to ignore. I hope everyone who reads this will learn something. I further hope that it might validate other non-binary and gender-expansive folx’ experiences and give them a sense of being seen, as building a relationship with fungi has personally done for me… [read more]
Why We Need New Words for Nature
By Becca Warner
The way we talk about the natural world can shape our relationship to it. In a time of environmental crisis, should we be paying more attention to the language we use?
In Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Anishinaabe people, the word for a running horse is “bebezhigoogzhii.” According to Anishinaabe elder Dr. Shirley Williams, the term translates to “one who runs with one hoof in front of the other” in English. As she tells me this, the static image of a horse in my mind’s eye springs into motion—its power and speed activated by the word’s inference of clipping and clopping. “The word [quite literally] describes how the animal runs, what it does,” Dr. Williams says.
Dr Williams is explaining this to me from her home… [read more]
Biological Exuberance – Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity
By Bruce Bagemihl
Lavishly illustrated and meticulously researched, filled with fascinating facts and astonishing descriptions of animal behavior, Bruce Bagemihl’s Biological Exuberance is a landmark book that will change forever how we look at nature.
Homosexuality in its myriad forms has been scientifically documented in more than 450 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, and other animals worldwide. Biological Exuberance is the first comprehensive account of the subject, bringing together accurate, accessible, and nonsensationalized information. Drawing upon a rich body of zoological research spanning more than two centuries, Bagemihl shows that animals engage in all types of nonreproductive sexual behavior. Sexual and gender expression in the animal world displays exuberant variety, including same-sex courtship, pair-bonding, sex, and co-parenting—even instances of lifelong homosexual bonding in species that do not have lifelong heterosexual bonding… [read more]
The Flowering Wand – Rewilding the Sacred Masculine
By Sophie Strand
A deep exploration of the regenerative and magical secrets of sacred masculinity hidden in familiar myths both ancient and modern.
Long before the sword-wielding heroes of legend readily cut down forests, slaughtered the old deities, and vanquished their enemies, there were playful gods, animal-headed kings, mischievous lovers, trickster harpists, and vegetal magicians with flowering wands. As eco-feminist scholar Sophie Strand discovered, these wilder, more magical modes of the masculine have always been hidden in plain sight.
Strand reseeds our minds with new visions of male identity and shows how each of us, regardless of gender, can develop a matured ecological empathy and witness a blossoming of sacred masculine powers that are soft, curious, connective, and celebratory…
