Ecofeminism and Ecofeminist Theology

Abstract

The term ecofeminism is from the late 1970s, it was coined within social and political movements in France, in order to associate two distinct movements: the ecological movement and the feminist movement. Ecofeminism defends that the oppression of women and the destruction of the planet are interconnected phenomena in which both suffer from violence for domination, for the control of what is different and what resources come from. Among the different strands of ecofeminism, symbolic-constructionist ecofeminism believes that healing the world and ending male/female dualism are the answers to current problems. From a religious perspective on ecofeminism, there are authors who argue that the Old Testament covenant ethic brings a vision of the entire universe as being sacred and, therefore, an object of care. In this sense, there is no man/spirit x woman/physical division, that is, ecofeminism invites us to rethink the symbols of the sacred and think about the world from a new perspective. In Brazil, feminist theologies have developed within social and ecclesiastical movements under the bias of building another mentality in relation to the whole, through the belief in an anthropological unity, which points to a logic of equality between men and women and combating any form of of sexism; moreover, it believes in the deepening of relations between human beings and the other beings of Creation as interdependent beings.