The title already implies a point that I’m not really trying to make. It sounds from the implication of the title that I’m having trouble reconciling Christianity with feminism. The truth, I’m afraid is that I’m far more ignorant than that. I just don’t have a solid grasp on a) what feminism really means in the here and now, and b) how that interplays with people’s faith.
Basically, I’ve run into a few people (both in the blogging world and the real world) who self-identify as feminists, and I’m not really sure what that means for them. And to tell you the truth, I’m partially interested because I’m not sure that I wouldn’t identify as a feminist myself - if only I knew what that really meant.
So the question is out there: what does it mean to be a feminist in 2007? How about a Christian feminist? How does your faith interplay with your thinking around these issues? And finally, as someone who is at least interested in exploring feminist ideas: are there any books/blogs/whatever that people could recommend.
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I first met “feminism” face to face in 1975. I was a freshman on a crowded college bus when I offered my seat to an attractive coed who was standing in the aisle. She called me every name in the book for being such a “Chauvinist Pig” even though she didn’t know what it meant.
Similar episode happened when I accidentally decided to open a door for another girl.
Lemme tell you, I never made either one of those mistakes again. Now tell me, what exactly is a “Christian Feminist?” If they sneeze and I say, “God Bless You,” will they condemn me to hell?
Bunk, firstly thanks for commenting - it’s nice to have you reading. You might be interested in reading the cross-post on Amateur Theology (it certainly got a lot more responses there). A number of people have offered a number of views to what Christian Feminism is for them, and you might find some surprising answers.
I’m sorry that you’ve had bad experiences with feminism, and I understand that neither of those situations would endear the feminist cause to you. But I can assure you that none of the Christian Feminists I know of would hassle you if you were to offer your seat or open a door for them. It’s important not to dismiss a whole movement because of a couple of bad examples.
You want more examples? The entire Feminist movement was/is sexist from the start, based upon the irrational premise that men despise women.
Look at the twisted “N.O.W.” platform, that supports killing the unborn. Look what happened when the “Feminists” told gullible women that taking care of their own children was demeaning, and that women have an obligation to remain in the work force instead of raising their offspring. Look at what happens and is happening to the children that are raised by daycare employees instead of their own mother (or father).
Don’t get me wrong… I’m all for equal pay for equal work, but the glass ceiling myth was disproved years ago. Anyone, male or female, who walks around with a chip on their shoulder will eventually find someone to knock it off if they look hard enough. That’s when they jump up and yell, “SEE!”
Maybe “Christian Feminism” is something above that; I certainly hope so. I’d never run across the term before I tripped into your site, and I mean no animosity.
“The glass ceiling myth was disproved years ago”. Bunk, I’m not sure if it’s different where you’re living, but certainly in Australia (and I’m pretty sure the US) there has been study after study which has shown that women are not (on average) being paid the same amount as men when they’re doing the same job. Likewise, the number of women in positions of authority in workplaces is drastically different.
This isn’t that I have a chip on my shoulder, I can just recognise that we certainly don’t have a level playing field, and I think we should
Sorry, I didn’t mean to insinuate that you personally have “a chip on your shoulder.” The point I attempted to make was that there are a lot of folks that align themselves in a group mentality and believe that some other group of folks is trying to prevent them from being successful. I don’t believe that.
There is an enormous number of successful [pick a group: women, blacks, whites, hispanics, gays, jews, muslims, catholics, people named Bunk, etc.] who don’t believe that society has deliberately dealt them a bad hand. Different circumstances require different actions.
But there are also a lot of folks today who take the easy-out, and blame their own personal failings on nebulous boogeymen, rather than take responsibility for their own actions. That frame of mind is self-destructive.
I live in the US, where it’s currently popular to consider oneself a victim of something beyond one’s control. To me that is self-defeating. If I had adopted that mindset, I would have moved to Australia years ago… but then I’d had to learn how to talk funny.
Men and Women are not equal, thank God, and they each have different strengths and weaknesses, depending on the work at hand.
All in fun, Bunk
P.S. I respect you Aussies a lot. Never met nor heard of one that didn’t have his/her ruck in order.
I think it is nothing more than political propaganda to seperate more people and label a group of people as a “hate group” as defined by your local politician.
People need to stop buying into all of these seperatist ideas. It is a divide and conquer tactic. Keep people divided and then do as you please while they fight among theirselves. Works great with dems and repubs, blacks and whites, and now we have added olive skinned people into the mix the last 8 years.
When are people going to wake up and stop the ones perpertrating these ideas? The Media and Politicians.