Page 239 - Aesthetic Formations Media, religion, and the Sense

224 Carly Machado

and reprisals aimed at his religious movement. On the antisect movements in
France, see Birman (2005) and Giumbelli (2002).
17. Daniel Chabot is a psychologist, the planetary Raelian leader responsible for
psychological teachings related to Raël’s Message. His main aim is to place
Raelian ideas in dialogue with discoveries from the scientific field, showing
their relevance.
18. I took part in the 2005 Gay Parade with the London group and also went to a
meeting with members of the movement.
19. The Raelian Movement has its own determinant conception of what consti-
tute “feminine” characteristics. Sensuality, beauty, and delicacy are promi-
nent on the list and these “typically feminine” attributes are valued and
developed in the group as paradigmatic examples of more evolved behavior for
men and women alike.
20. The official language of the European Seminar is French, the language spo-
ken by the majority of participants. There is a team responsible for providing
simultaneous translation into various other languages, including Italian,
Spanish, German, and English. However, a large part of the group is
Anglophone and Raël’s aim is to make English the movement’s official lan-
guage in response to its globalization. Consequently, some of the activities at
the 2005 Seminar were already conducted by Robert and Lysa in English.
21. The Raelian Movement has an order formed exclusively by women called
“The Order of Angels of Raël.” Its objective is to develop “femininity” and
prepare these women to look after Raël and the Elohim. Its existence intensi-
fies the controversy surrounding the Raelian Movement since part of this
group of women is dedicated sexually to the prophet. Although the issue of
the role of women and representations of the “feminine” are not the focal
point of this chapter, they make up part of the wider field of debates found in
the global context of this research.