I tried to start a Dionysian group online a couple years back and it went just as well as you’d expect (because people online are terrible) but I think one of the dumbest conversations I had on there was when a young woman pretty much insisted that there wasn’t anything to talk about regarding Dionysos’ relationship with women.
For context, I had a no off-topic chat policy in my group because I didn’t think it was necessary. The internet is full of places to talk about videogames, movies, television, memes, comics, etc. and the groups run by my mentor didn’t have any prolonged chats about those so I didn’t think anything of it. Since I’m always trying to be a good Dionysian and I was always trying to be a good leader by listening to my people, I granted a request for a gynaikeion (a space for women and queer folk to talk about Dionysos’ relationships with these groups). I had appointed female admins to oversee the space in my absence but I still held the right to intervene if I felt it necessary (after all, it’s unwise to leave any part of your domain entirely ungoverned by yourself). And of course I was proven correct in my thinking because talking off-topic stuff is essentially the only thing that ever happened in there. Someone got upset one time when I intervened.
“So what? You only want us talking about our boobs or vaginas or something?”
Now, I’m a guy (cisgendered but I have queer tendencies occasionally) so I’ll never truly know with any expertise the Dionysian Mysteries as they relate to women (cisgendered or otherwise). But here’s a list of conversation topics that immediately sprang to mind as soon as she said that:
Why Dionysos has names like Gynnis (“Womanly”) or Pseudanor (“False Man”)?
Why were women His most fervent devotees and held the highest ranks in His various cults?
Why was Dionysos raised as a girl?
Why is Dionysos effeminate at times?
Why were the first two people to whom He gifted immortality His mother and His wife?
Why were Goddesses like Rhea-Cybele the ones to teach Him the mysteries?
What do the lives and stories of the various women and Goddesses associated with Dionysos say about the mysteries and the Dionysian life?
What can we learn from the fact that evidence suggests that ancient women in transitional times in their lives were the most likely to be drawn to Dionysos worship?
Why were males allowed to be initiated into the mysteries as boys but women needed to have reached puberty?
What role does Dionysos have in the life of a modern woman?
All of these and more could have been discussed. But sure, let’s say the man in the room was reducing women to their breasts and genitals. This doesn’t even touch on all of the topics that could be discussed regarding queer people since they too were included in the group!
*Sigh* The Gods deserve better than this, folks. The Gods need to be discussed and involved in our lives. The unexamined life is not worth living. This is especially true of our lives with the Gods. Do better!