Testosterone Rules
But even now, in the maelstrom, we have choices.
And so we land on International Women’s Day 2026, in a time when once again, testosterone rules.
Masculine aggression is everywhere you look, with even the biological women in power vying to be as tough and macho as it gets—albeit with Barbie haircuts, botoxed lips and high heels.
Behind the screens, below the surface, largely out of sight, a different kind of humanity is emerging.
It’s a humanity that recognizes the superficiality of all the artificial differences that have been used to separate and divide us in the past millennia.
A humanity that knows that not only are all humans equal and deserving of respect, but all Earthlings are as well—we are all intrinsically valuable to the great web of life, each with a crucial role to play in maintaining the balance and harmony of the whole.
This balance and harmony have been greatly disturbed in a very short time.
The industrial revolution, the discovery of fossil fuels and petrochemicals, the proliferation of global transportation and the capitalist financial systems that facilitated global trade—all this is infinitesimally new in the grand timeline of Mother Earth.
The pesticides and herbicides that are killing off our foundational species, destabilizing our soils and poisoning our waters—these date back less than a century, being spin-offs of chemical warfare in World War II.
Sadly, so many of the great discoveries and innovations of the past century, including of course nuclear energy, have been put to violent use. Now we are seeing the first great advance of the 21st century, generative AI, going down the same path.
There is always a choice.
Technology in human hands can be used for good—to protect, to steward, to build and create—or for ill—to destroy, to dominate, to oppress.
In the very short time since humans learned to use tools and control fire, our ancestors have too often chosen unwisely. The centuries of patriarchal rule based on property and accumulation have yielded a species obsessed with wealth and domination of others.
We are at the pinnacle of that sharp, dangerous spire now, and Mother Gaia has had enough.
Like it or not, ready or not, the winds of change are blowing.
The planet has reached her limit in terms of supporting humanity as it currently operates. Current estimates show us blowing past tipping points within just a few years. The storms and floods, the droughts and wildfires will continue to intensify, along with pathogens and insect-born plagues and dramatic die-off of millions of species.
The evangelicals predicting Armageddon aren’t wrong, but there are still critical choices to be made about how we respond to the destabilization of our planet.
Will we respond in typical warlord fashion, fighting each other over scarce resources in the ruins?
Or will we come together, not only to repair all the harms inflicted on each other and the Earth community, but to go further, finally living up to the ideals of equality, justice, truth, beauty and excellence that the best of humanity has always espoused?
On this International Women’s Day, bleak as it is, I pledge to spend the rest of my life doing whatever I can, where I am, with what I have, to make the dream of a better future a reality.
Will you join me?
At this moment, the specifics matter less than the essential commitment to keeping the dream alive, refusing to surrender to the relentless assault on our creative freedom to imagine a better world.
Keep dreaming! Keep your fierce hope alive!
Keep following your intuition, writing your own songlines of freedom that can serve as bridges to the world that wants to be born into this Age of Aquarius.
Now is our time, and we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.
Yours in the labor of creative transition,
Jennifer
The Year of the Horse is 2026!
What better time for Riding & Writing?
There’s nothing quite like the creative synergy of riding and writing in a beautiful place with a small group of kindred spirits.
I’ll be leading a group to the magnificent Castello di Santa Cristina near Orvieto, May 24 – 31, 2026. There are still a couple of places left—maybe one is for YOU!
Non-riders and non-writers also welcome—there will be something for everyone on this trip!
Riding & Writing is a true tonic for body, mind and spirit! Read more about it on my website, here, and email me with any questions.
If ever there was a time for Riding & Writing, it is NOW!
Let’s go!
Friends, it’s my pleasure and my passion to support you as we stretch towards living our lives creatively and to the fullest.
The motto of my author consulting business is “Writing to Right the World,” and the motto of my book publishing business, Green Fire Press, is “Books that Make the World Better.”
If these intentions resonate with you and you are working on a book, or have one in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
Supporting creative people bring their work more strongly out into the world is one way I try to make the world better.
Jennifer: This essay not only masterful in weaving fact with your observations and intuitions, along with colorful pictographic artwork, but it is inspirational. Yours are the very words I seek when trying to unriddle what the heck unfolds around me. Thank you! - Karen FitzGerald -