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COPYRIGHT 2004 Women's Review of Books
Kiss of the Yogini: "Tantric Sex" in its South Asian Context by David Gordon White. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003, 360 pp., $43.00 hardcover.
Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender by Bernard Faure. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 482 pp., $27.50 paper.
Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West edited by Rachel Fell McDermott and Jeffrey J. Kripal. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2003, 356 pp., $21.95 paper.
These books present three different, though equally rich, approaches to the study of women, gender, and religion. All three also raise questions about notions of centrality and marginality in religious studies. Bernard Faure argues that studies of women in Buddhism are still in such an early stage that recovering as many female voices as possible remains an important endeavor. The voices he recovers are mainly those of marginal women--shamanesses, courtesans, and so on--who were often rebellious and contentious. He contrasts their voices with traditional Buddhist discourses about women.
David White focuses on a specific cult of tantric Hindu practice that involves the sexual engagement of female semi-divine beings, yoginis, and their human counterparts in medieval India and Nepal, arguing that this form of Tantra was a central, not marginal practice. Tantra is a form of supposedly secret and esoteric religious practices in Hinduism and Buddhism that involves female imagery, divine women, and sometimes actual women. Some scholars and practitioners say Tantra exalts and liberates women, while others claim it debases and exploits them. White's book will become an important resource in this debate. Tantra has also become quite popular in the West, and White uses his research to challenge Western claims to authentic Indian tantric practices.
Rachel McDermott and Jeffrey Kripal present a collection of essays on the many facets of the Hindu goddess Kali, an important tantric deity, in her Western and Asian manifestations. The essays examine both women and men as devotees of Kali and pay careful attention to when and where Kali worship has been central to a culture's religious identity and when it has been marginal. McDermott and Kripal, too, are attempting to reach Western tantric practitioners and devotees of...
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