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By Vexen Crabtree 2003 April 10 | Read / Write Comments
This page looks at the opinions of Anton LaVey on women
- LaVey and Women
- Sexuality
1. LaVey and Women
"Included in LaVey's works are personal opinions, jokes, fun, entertainment and then more personal opinions. He found it hard to write long without involving his own interests, past or bias. And these show through in his approach and writings about women. Anton LaVey's upbringing in the 40's and 50's lent themselves to an older, more traditional view of women. Although a freethinker who shattered convention and lived far beyond the cumbersome social taboos and limitations of his time, Anton appears to have shed little of the 50's slightly misogynistic attitude.
He broke through in some areas, such as Women pro-power and beliefs that Women should be no less cunning or manipulative than any man. But he couldn't seem to separate his tastes from his work. So some of his writing on women makes me cringe a little. The Satanic Witch contains radical and unheard-of advice, which was 20 years ahead of its time, but some of the underlying assumptions have become dated. I think he wasn't entirely "in touch" with Women.
No offence to those that actually agree with his many wise words... if we all agreed with each other we wouldn't be Satanists!"
"Black Solstice's Holy War" by Vexen Crabtree
The Church of Satan and the beliefs of Satanism do not lend themselves to considering that a person can ever be perfect or infallible. All knowledge and wisdom is taken with a pinch of salt and doubt. Anton LaVey was nothing other than an excellent freethinker, a top class carnival psychologist/sociologist and perhaps even the best anti-religious philosopher since Nietzsche! But he did tend to share a slightly misogynistic attitude towards women with Nietzsche, although not as bitter or scathing, LaVey was instead more stuck on power games and some personal fetish.
"Predictably LaVey was labelled a misogynist - a mantle he willingly accepted, going so far as to publish an essay entitled "Confessions of a closet misogynist" in his 1992 collection The Devil's Notebook. As ever with this ingeniously provocative thinker, there was a twist in the tail: LaVey didn't hate women but was in awe of their power, treating them with the blend of suspicion, fear and respect afforded to a worthy foe!"
"Dissecting Marilyn Manson" by Gavin Baddeley p92, "Chick with dicks"
I personally feel the best way to look at this is this: If you do not agree with Anton LaVey's views on women, then just accept that that's the way it was in his time. He was ahead of his time, but didn't quite hit the nail on the head in the way I feel that the nineties view of women has. Anton LaVey's, like everyone, has opinions. Feel free to disagree, as long as you at least think about it! Of the three most respected female Satanists I know, who I have met in person, all of them have fully supported LaVey's texts on Women and supported, in particular, The Satanic Witch, so my dislike of LaVey's comments on women are probably as much to do with personal taste as LaVey's own comments.
Taking LaVey's views on women and projecting them to Satanism as a whole would be mistaken, and therefore criticism of "Satanism's view of women" in general is also mistaken. Individual Satanists decide on such matters, it is not of theological or philosophical concern to the beliefs of Satanism. What is of concern is individual thought, and an individual striving for self attained rights.
2. Sex and sexuality
 "Satanism is pro-sexuality. Sexuality is a pure form of pleasure, something that satisfies our deepest purpose in life. Modern life allows us to enjoy sex without the risks of unplanned pregnancies and sexual diseases assuming that sense is taken. Which it should be. Satanism supports any fetish, kink or flavor of sexual encounter as long as all parties involved are consenting. Some people like quality, some people like quantity.
A number of essays and texts by LaVey concentrate on the use and expression of sexual energy, but as social tools and energy within ritual. Boyd Rice says 'LaVey understood that wasn't one cookie-cutter for everyone [...] Sexual freedom doesn't mean having as much sex as possible, it means having the kind of sex you want.' Our strongest emotions and desires are sexual, we are sexual beings, it drives and motivates us more than any other factor."
"Sex, sexuality and Satanism" by Vexen Crabtree 2002 Dec 06
BACK
LaVey, Anton [Who Is?]
"The Satanic Bible". 1969, Avon Books Inc, New York, USA.
Notes:
- 2002 Oct 07. Text under "The Church of Satan is a fraud" is based on a post I made to alt.satanism on 2002 Sep 24. [Return to text]
- 2003 Apr 06. Text moved here from a page of Misc text on the main DPJS site.
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