It is true that each of us possesses aspects of the other sexual pole. I am sure that some of the men in Jimmy's group would have felt more at home with a ritual more similar to that of the women, and vice versa. However, I am beginning to understand for myself that the integration of my feminine nature is absolutely necessary, but not an end-point in my male growth journey. It is a vital stepping stone on my path to claiming the fullness of my maleness. I also feel that a parallel journey is occurring for women.
Sexual equality offers something very different from sexual equivalence.
One then finds one's experience increasingly rooted in the essential gift of gender. From this new place, one can leave behind sexual stereotypes, and at the same time be moved by the particular sorts of beauty and power to which being embodied as a man or a woman can offer special access. New possibilities of complementarity and mutual appreciation are opened, based not on roles, but on our most intimate experience of ourselves. They also made me realize, gradually and over many years, that I don't really think of myself as female - though neither do I think of myself as male. I can't stop seeing myself as a complex, richly detailed individual, and most of the time I see other people in much the same way.