Gendered Evil?

In class today we were discussing Farley’s explanation of the “Law of Consequences,” which basically states that Satan is all-powerful over humanity. Something happened between God and Satan, and Satan conquered the humans. In class we all kept referring to Satan as “he,” which struck me as odd considering we have made it a point to refer to God in gender-neutral language. Even Farley in chapter six of The Wounding and Healing of Desire consistently refers to Satan as “he”: “He is not really offering Jesus bread…he is rebuffed” (Farley 98). Farley purposefully refers to God in gender-neutral terms, though: “the Divine,” “the Divine Eros,” “God,” etc. I am not comparing God to Satan, nor do I wish to give any type of credit to the force of evil; I do not feel the need to be respectful towards Satan. However, I think that it is important to also refer to Satan in gender-neutral language because of all of the power that Satan has, especially according to Farley. If Satan has conquered humanity, then referring to Satan as a male means that the most powerful force in the universe (next to God) is male. This gives patriarchy a whole new level of evidence on which to base its hierarchical power structure. Although I believe feminist theologians and liberation theologians in general should place gender-neutral language for God as a higher priority than for Satan, I do think that referring to Satan in male terms can lead to a subconscious belief that the power within the universe lies in a male’s hands.