She-ra & The Power Allegory

he-man

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As a child, I was a big a fan of He-Man and She-Ra. Hey, don’t try to guess my age guys… You know better than that!

My grandmother would prepare chocolate milk (more chocolate than milk of course!), a whole bunch of cookies and my sister and I would watch the show together. Of course, I was She-Ra and my sister was Skeletor. I swear to you she was THAT skinny and mean!

He-Man and She-Ra remind me a lot about the present issue of Priesthood ordination and women, power, authority as well as gender equality.

If you have no idea who is He-Man it means you are probably very young so let me quickly summarize.

He-Man is this tanned guy with big muscles, super blond hair and bangs (I know, don’t ask) whose job is to defend the realm of Eternia and the secrets of Castle Grayskull from the evil forces of Skeletor. He is the alter ego of Prince Adam who looks exactly like He-Man but of course nobody seems to be smart enough to notice it. He possesses superhuman strength and has a special sword called the “Sword of Power” and it’s indestructible!

She-Ra (his twin sister) is known for her amazing strength and other abilities which seem to be more in the nurturing side.

When Prince Adam decides to transform into He-Man, he takes his special sword called again the “Sword of Power” and says these words:

“By the Power of Grayskull, I HAVE THE POWER!” And there he goes; ready to defend the universe from the evil forces that are attempting to destroy it. Are you following me folks?

As I mentioned previously, Prince Adam (a.k.a He-Man) has a twin sister named Princess Adora. Like her brother, she also has a sword”¦but guess what? It’s not the Sword of Power, it’s the Sword of “Protection” and it’s not indestructible. When Princess Adora wishes to transform into She-Ra she says the following:

“By the Power of Grayskull, I AM SHE-RA!”

WHAT? Let’s rewind”¦

“By the Power of Grayskull, I AM SHE-RA!” Why she says I AM SHERA and not “I have the Power” like her brother does?

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Well, some She-Ras in our present time wish for both the power and the authority to help and protect the citizens of Eternia just like He-Men do every day but in order to accomplish that, they need the “Sword of Power”.

Our modern day She-Ras possess amazing strength, knowledge and wisdom, they come from many backgrounds and one thing is for sure”¦Despite the misconceptions flowing around, they do not wish to be more powerful than He-Men, it is not their evil wish to possess the Sword so they can go around and start chopping people. Heck, they do not wish to be He-Men, period!

They just want to remain She-Ras but with the “Sword of Power”, ready to battle the evil forces hand by hand with He-Men so that everyone in Eternia can benefit.. And when She-Ra’s little daughters see them battling the evil forces, healing and blessing the citizens of Eternia they can know that women can have Swords of Power too and it won’t stop them from changing diapers…

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9 thoughts on “She-ra & The Power Allegory”

  1. This is easily the best summary of priesthood and inequality issues I have ever seen. You are my He-man today.

  2. Wow, I love it. You did an amazing job. It bothers me when people assume that women want the priesthood so they can be like men, we don’t!

  3. Great post, even fun, if you will. In a little tiny bit, it Reminds me of the terrible task of getting children to talk About traumas by using dolls. It takes the focus away from The individual at play, and allows the freedom to look at The same set of facts, where someone else is involved.

    I wonder if by doing more of this, the Priesthood discussion Could be more productive, more gentle, more understanding. It needn’t be an adversarial discussion – difficult, Challenging, yes – but perhaps studying an allegory will Help with that.

    Nicely done!

  4. I’m very impressed with your ability to explain things so easily and clear. I thought the allegory was fantastic and I agree with the above post that perhaps doing more of this the priesthood discussion could be more productive.

  5. But She-Ra saved He-Man quite a few times on the show and she didn’t need the sword of power to do that.

  6. Interesting story. Adam of course is nothing without Eve nor Eve without her Adam.

    When a man and his wife receive the Fulness of the priesthood through the second Anointing they are ordained to the offices of Priest and King and the woman as Priestess and Queen. That means that the wife received priesthood power and an office in that priesthood. Not a side kick of her husband’s priesthood office.

    Eliza R. Snow wrote much about that and used her priesthood frequently. The man and his wife preside in their kingdom as king and queen. They also preside as the head of the priesthood as Priest and Priestess. Co-equal but different assignments.

  7. Thanks for the comments so far. How many of you have read Quinn’s paper about women holding the Priesthood since 1843? Do you all think the information he presents is compelling or it has too many flaws?

  8. Sadly this shows how little you know about She-Ra, she was about bringing balance to the universe! At no time was she ever less than He-Man in any way, she was his equal if not his superiour… More than he was. Her powers of Nature were above and beyond He-Man’s Powers of Super strength etc (powers she also possessed to an equal level and regularly used).

    Her task was that much greater than He-Man’s task. He maintained a status quo, keeping the bad guys in check and always under the thumb. She-Ra’s task was to free a world from forced slavery by the hands of a interglactic collective called the Horde that ruled galaxys, a force that had actually stolen her from her mother’s arms and ripped her from her twins side, raised her to commit pure evil as one of the hordes most deadly weapons.

    What saved Adora and brought about the birth of She-Ra was the very act of He-Man himself finding her and giving her a sword identical to his own, a sword that has more power than his sword. This was representing the equality between men and women…. An equality recognised by “The most powerful man in the universe” Symbolically represented by his gifting to her of the twin Sword of Power, as this woman was the only being in the universe that was his equal in all ways and also equally worthy to wield the power of Grayskull (in your case we could use the words the power of god).

    I am glad you liked her show, and I don’t mean this as an attack, but as a active member of the He-Man and She-Ra fan community I feel it is very insulting how you are using She-Ra and her massage in a way that promotes the idea that women are in some way anything less than not totally equal to men. Unfortunately I think you may have missed her true message.

    Like Xena, Wonder Woman & Supergirl, She-Ra is a feminist ICON, standing for nothing less than the complete and total equality of women to men. It would be very fitting if you could share this with your daughters, then as a She-Ra fan (She-Ravers as we are known)you will be truly giving them She-Ra’s true meaning….one of strength and power within womanhood….a message that is sadly lacking for females in the present
    Day.

  9. Tom, thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. I was a big fan of She-Ra myself as a child, I loved her so no I didn’t use her to insult anyone but to make a few points related to a religious issue but of course, I respect how you feel and I just want to clarify that it wasn’t mean as an insult.

    However, I’m sure you’re aware that there are a lot of people who criticized She-Ra’s image/portrait back in the 80’s (and still do) BUT at the end, just like my post and your comment, a TV show or any other entertainment show is just a matter of personal interpretation, I do not think there is a right or wrong answer, the truth is that everyone takes something different from a TV show or fictional character.

    Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

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