I think anything that makes a distinction in man ie..male/female is to invite conflict. Man exist as male and female that is how he came to being,, to treat one more special than the other is unclear thinking and vanity.
Huh? Are you kidding? Patriarchy has done this exact thing for millenia. JWs did it in saying women were in subjection to men and couldn't be teachers. Maybe you didn't see this part:
when they investigated cultures where it was a female deity, they found that it was peaceful and that it treated males and females as equals
When the Goddess was worshipped for thousands of years prior to biblical times women were celebrated as lifegivers. They were not worshipped as being better than a man, the society viewed them as equals.
To not make a distinction between male and female is to ignore reality. I think the difference should be celebrated. No one here has suggested that we raise or elevate women's spirituality over mens. Just that we recognize it. Our brains are wired differently, that's a scientific fact. It just follows that we worship differently too. Most religious services have not been geared to recognize/honor/respect that. These books and this thread are taking up a subject that has long been pushed away as not worthy of discussion or too "fluffy", and says, yes we SHOULD talk about it. Because when we are whole and complete within ourselves, when we celebrate our femaleness we can be better wives, mothers, sisters, partners, people.
Sherry