Where Men Are Knights and Women Are Princesses

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of gender in the Valley of Dawn, a New Age movement headquartered in Brazil with a growing international presence. Known for its eclectic cosmology and collective rituals performed by adepts dressed in ornate garments, the Valley proposes that men and women embody complementary energetic forces that, when harmonized, promote spiritual evolution on the individual and cosmic levels. However, despite the Valley’s rhetorical emphasis on gender complementarity and male-female partnerships, in practice it systematically subordinates women to men’s authority. While this movement is indeed uplifting and meaningful for many participants, in reinforcing traditional ideas of masculinity and femininity by projecting them onto a spiritual plane, it gives supernatural sanction to a heteronormative model of gender.