joseph campbell

“As much as I love Joe Campbell, he does give short shrift to the female hero journey, and it’s very frustrating to me, so that’s part of why I developed my third anime mythology presentation, which is called ‘Mystics, Priestesses and Warrior Women.’ Traditionally, male hero journeys were more prominent because in traditional hunter-gatherer societies, a boy doesn’t become a man until he’s physically initiated… In those same traditional societies, a girl becomes a woman when she starts menstruating. When she starts menstruating, they put her in a hut and have her think about the fact she’s menstruating. Well, that might have worked back in hunter-gatherer times, but that doesn’t work now. That’s not enough to help girls now become self-actualized women. It’s vital we have female hero journeys—not just for girls, for boys, too. Boys and men need to understand the challenges women face as they go through their lives, and if men don’t, they’re doomed to perpetuate ridiculous chauvinism. It’s my personal flag I like to fly, because it’s about damn time that girls have more choices.”