Terry Tempest Williams' Refuge

Terry Tempest Williams' Refuge

Everything known to man is held in some sort of balance. It is a delicate balance, one which swings rhythmically to the ebb and flow of this world. Many have studied it but it has proven too complex, too broad to understand everything that is at work. That is why it must be preserved. One such movement has recently begun which looks exclusively to preserve this balance, ecofeminism. Terry Tempest Williams is just that, an ecofeminist. In her memoir Refuge¸ Williams attempts to examine the ecological and social worlds that balance on this pendulum. Refuge brings together a range of topics and ideas with her own mix of environmental, social, and cultural problems to present the reader with a clearly laid out stance for ecofeminism. There is an ecofeminist stance in Refuge because she believes women have a bond with nature that men do not, land has its own life, and all things were created equally.

The roots of ecofeminism are credited to a rising interest in both the environment and women’s rights. These topics became hotly debated after the Victorian era but many scholars say “ecofeminism is a new term for an ancient wisdom” (Diamond & Orenstein). Ecofeminism combines ecological and feminist rights to generate a very virtuous cause. It aims to change human’s relationships with each other and also with the environment, but it of course encompasses much more than that. Ecofeminism can best be defined as an attempt to show that all life is interconnected (Baker). That humans and nature share a common bond and that bond is what each depends upon to ensure the other survives.

There is a definite stance by Williams to assert that women are more connected with nature than men in Refuge. This is clear because Williams identifies each sex with different components of life. Men are matched with culture while women are connected to nature (Kircher). This is clear when Williams says, We spoke of rage. Of women and landscape. How our bodies and the body of the earth have been mined. ‘It has everything to do with intimacy,’ I said, ‘Men define intimacy through their bodies. It is physical. They define intimacy with the land in the same way.’ (10)

This quotation shows that women understand the earth while men simply try to dominate and overcome nature. It is male doctors who diagnose and treat Diane.