ABSTRACT
Ecofeminists, who include many global, postcolonial, and transnational feminists as well as mainstream, generally privileged, white feminists, focus on human beings' domination of the nonhuman world, or nature. Critics of human-centered environmentalism condemned it as 'arrogant anthropocentrism', generally faulting the Judeo-Christian tradition as a main player in the devaluation of the environment. Ecofeminism is a relatively new variant of ecological ethics. Among the feminist thinkers who reflected on women's relation to nature was cultural ecofeminist Sherry B. Ortner. Unlike Ortner, nature ecofeminists such as Mary Daly believed the traits traditionally associated with women, for example, caring, nurturing, and intuitiveness, stem not so much from their social construction as from their actual biological and psychological experiences. Although Susan Griffin did not claim biological connections between women and nature, she did posit ontological connections between them. Among the best-known spiritual ecofeminists is Starhawk, a Wiccan priestess, social activist, and psychotherapist.
