Looking Critically at Women and Religion

I really enjoyed the presentation today on Women and Religion, and I thought the religions that the group decided to focus on were good choices. Eastern Orthodoxy is certainly not a Christian sect that immediately comes to mind when most people think about Christianity (at least that would be my guess), and so Hannah and Larissa’s personal experiences with the churches were definitely not stories that I had heard before. Larissa in particular discussed how, while women have restrictive roles in the church, it does not feel oppressive because the church is just the way that it is. I wish we could have heard more about her take, but as it is, I’m not exactly sure I completely understand. On one hand I think a lot of women take that sort of stance with their churches – they want to stay in their church, they like the religion, so they push aside whatever might be holding them back, or any patriarchal values in the church as simply the way things are. I understand this point of view as being reconciliatory, but I think a more critical look at the way women are treated in the church is necessary.

I was also glad that we had time to discuss Islam and the French laws about head coverings. Because I’ve spent time in France and am studying French, I’ve had people ask about the laws and they often assume that the socialists of France were the ones who wanted to pass it. I think this stems from the stereotype that socialists and communists want to control everything and abolish religion, somehow. Like I said in class, it’s important to remember that these laws don’t represent the views of all politicians in France and all French people. French people, while mostly secular, are for the most part very tolerant of religion and religious practices; but there has been a lot of anti-Islamic sentiment in Europe as of late, due in large part to immigration, like Z said.

Overall, I really enjoyed the presentation and thought it was a great one to wrap up the course before the end of the semester. Having discussed religion and women all semester long in Dr. Miller’s Women in the Bible course, I think the group members did an excellent job of covering a wide variety of topics in a short amount of time. The presentation was informative and interesting.

Honor Killings in India: Religious or Cultural?

The article from the Guardian about honor killings and marriage in India was definitely something that opened my eyes, because I had never heard about the marriage situation in India before. I knew about the caste system, and a bit about Hinduism, but honor killings always seem to go more in hand with extremists in the Middle East, at least to the average American I would assume; but I think this article revealed that it is a much larger problem.

The focus of the article is the organization “Love Commandos,” a 24-hour hotline that people can call if threatened with harm or death because they wish to marry someone of a different caste. It sounds like the organization has done a lot of great work so far, the article discussed how they have saved many Indian couples and are protecting them from their non-accepting families and neighbors. Unfortunately, it seems as though it might not be a well-known organization in India yet, so many people are still dying in these honor killings.

My one question about the article is whether or not this caste system and these honor killings are really due to the religious ideas in India, or whether it is more of a cultural thing. I’m not sure that the article really made it clear, and I am no expert on Indian culture and religions. Personally, I will often be the first to condemn religious practices, but this just seemed more like a product of culture to me. I wish we had been able to discuss more of the article in class, but I did think it was highly interesting and it definitely gave me a broader insight into what life in India can be like.

Gender Across Borders: Women in Sudan

The collection of Gender Across Borders blogs was wonderful and included a great diversity of topics. One particular blog post that struck me was the one by Danielle Prince on the women in Sudan. Prince describes her first trip to Sudan and her experiences with the women of the “post-conflict” country. One thing she notes is that “[these] women…are no strangers to war,” and from the interviews of the women, its clear that they have become independent out of necessity and are very strong women.

The interview with Susanna Deng exposed what these women experience daily. Deng talks about she must be independent and support her children, because her husband may take another wife at any time, which is “none of her business.” She says, “One day I could find out that he has another wife and that’s that.” These circumstances certainly don’t paint the men in a positive light, but show the incredibly low status of women in Sudan.

Monica Mou, the second woman interviewed, also seemed to be very strong and dedicated to her family. She discusses her average day, including taking care of her children and working at the tea shop she owns. Of her job, she says “If I’m not here, my children won’t eat.” Her husband has two other wives, and what shocked me is that Mou is the main provider for her family, not only in the sense of being the runner of the household, the one who takes care of her children, cooks and cleans, but also fulfills the role of provider, and receives apparently little or no help from her husband. What are the men doing here? The article left me with a number of questions, but overall it was very enlightening and definitely did make me think more about the women there, which was Prince’s goal.

Transgender Issues

Thursday’s presentation on transgender issues was very eye opening, I think for myself and a lot of people, because transgendered issues aren’t addressed in the media very often. The cross-cultural studies that were discussed were interesting, partly because I did not realize there were so many situations like the one in India of the hijras and like the two-spirit people of the Navajo. Transgendered people don’t really occupy a role in U.S. society, and so I believe a lot of myths and misconceptions have been perpetuated about them.

Andie’s story in particular was wonderful. She discussed her life and transgendered identity in a way that made the issue more understandable for me, and it was nice to hear someone speak about her personal experience with gender identity. The amount of discrimination, prejudice and violence that transgendered people experience is simply astonishing. This graphic highlights some of the terror. Hopefully, we begin to make strides in combating ignorance about LGBT people and stopping hate crimes soon.

Culture, Race, and Gender

I really was glad that the Gender and Culture group chose a piece on Asian-American women (Gender-Role Perceptions: An Intergenerational Study on Asian-American Woman by Chi-Kwan Ho) as part of their reading for discussion; it seems that Asian women are always a group that gets looked over or ignored, in favor of white women especially but also other women of color. They always seem to get lumped in with white women, somehow, or are in a class of their own but not in the group of “women of color.”

The article noted some of the main stereotypes of Asian women, including “fragile China dolls” or “exotic sex pots.” I do definitely see these stereotypes in western culture, and Asians do deal with these in portrayals of Asians in modern film, movies, and books. I think it would be interesting to read the rest of the piece, and to hear the stories of the women that Ho interviewed.
On a similar note, when we discussed this article in class, we were talking about the stereotypes it mentions and someone in the class, though I forget who, brought up the characters of Tina and Mike on the show Glee, as an example of characters who defy stereotypes. Someone else in the class expressed the opinion that, by going completely against the stereotypes, Tina’s character was just as bad as one who is portrayed as stereotypically Asian. The class then came to a sort of general consensus that character portrayals of women of color need to find a “middle ground.” I’m not sure what to make of this argument; are we saying that women of color must somehow address their race or they’re not legitimate? Or that maybe they are “trying too hard”? Maybe I’m misinterpreting the argument. But if I’m correct, it seems like a weak argument. We as a culture never demand that a white woman address her race or racial stereotypes, or risk “going against her race.” I think that the characters of Tina and Mike are defying stereotypes in a way; yes, in the show they are sort of the “Token Asian” characters. But they have personalities, and aren’t stereotypical in any other way.

At any rate, I think it is good that we are beginning to see how race, gender, and class all intertwine, and how it is possible to stop oppression on those levels. The article mentioned was an excellent one that really touched upon some of the common misconceptions about women of color in our culture, and it discussed a relatively ignored group of women. I think the group who did Gender and Culture did a great job of highlighting those ignored groups.

The Evangelical Message on Homosexuality

I thought that the one article chosen by the Gender and Culture group on American Evangelicals spreading anti-homosexual messages in Uganda was very disturbing. The author of the blog, Brad Wilmouth, discusses the recently proposed bill in Uganda that would imprison any homosexual who marries another homosexual and could have consequences that lead to death for homosexuals, and he speaks specifically about a March 2010 piece on ABC linking American evangelical pastors to the anti-homosexual uproar in Uganda. Wilmouth mentions the flaws in the piece, noting that Rick Warren and many of the other pastors have spoken out against the bill, and his main point seems to be that the ABC news piece did not feature any other more “moderate” evangelical pastors, and it didn’t really mention how extreme these views were.

Personally, after reading the transcript of the news segment in the article, I think Wilmouth’s point is pretty weak. Evangelical Christians and mega-church pastors have been the biggest fighters against gay marriage and hate crime bills in the U.S. They denounce the “gay agenda” and stir up hatred for gays in their churches. They may say that they “hate the sin, not the sinner” and really don’t hate homosexuals as people, but what they do say about homosexuals is very damaging. What I thought was interesting was Scott Lively’s response to the quote about how the seminar in Uganda against homosexuality was like a nuclear bomb: “…I hope the nuclear bomb spreads across the whole world against the gay movement, against this attempt to overthrow family-based society and replace it with sexual anarchy. That doesn't mean I hate homosexuals. That doesn't mean that I want anybody to be thrown in jail.” What these evangelicals say and what they preach is very contradictory. Personally I have been to more modern evangelical churches during sermons about homosexuality and have been shocked at what I heard. No matter what they say, evangelicals are not tolerant of homosexuals. I think that is clear enough.

On another note, I thought it was bizarre that race was brought up towards the end of the conversation, with news anchor Dan Harris noting that one of the pastors thought that it was racist to say that the evangelical pastors at the seminar had stirred up all this hatred and inspired the bill against homosexuals in Uganda. The Ugandan pastor, Ssempa, said, “It's offensive to me that every time a black man does something good, you have to say that a white man told us to do it.” Clearly, that is not the issue at hand and that is not what’s really going on here. What’s really going on is that there is an anti-homosexual culture in Uganda, and the evangelical pastors simply stoked the fire. But how is that okay in any regard? What these pastors are saying in Uganda isn’t any different from what they’re saying in the U.S., but it doesn’t make it right or absolve them.

Education & Girls

I came across an article from Ms. magazine by Michelle Chen (found here) on the issues girls in many countries face when it comes to education, and though it’s a fairly short article, it does highlight some things that we have not discussed in class but that are very relevant to the problem of gendered conflict. Chen discusses some of the statistics that show that in many countries, girls are less likely to get an education than boys, even going as low as fewer than 35 female students per 100 male students in countries like Ethiopia and Niger, as well as some of the barriers and obstacles that girls must overcome in order to go to school.
Chen really tied the issue of girls’ education into the larger issue of gendered conflict, saying how as girls enter puberty, they face sexual assault, having to conform to strict gender roles, and early marriage. Without education, these girls often have no means to change their situation. By keeping girls out of schools, even countries that are making economic progress will be horribly underdeveloped in the area of women’s rights and when 50% or more of a country’s citizens are uneducated, the cycle of poverty continues.
Though Chen doesn’t really offer any speculative solutions to the issue, or discuss what is being done to help get more girls into schools, she does provide some insightful facts about the problem. She does inspire hope by providing statistics that show that when girls do enter school, they are less likely to drop out than boys and often perform as well as or better than boys. Overall, I thought her article was interesting though perhaps it didn’t really go far enough.

Women as the Victims of War

The article by Cynthia Enloe, “All the Men are in the Militias, All the Women are Victims,” was very poignant and I thought that her use of Borislav Herak’s story was really excellent. It kind of pointed out some of the explanations for mass rape during war, and how men with no history of violence turn into monsters. Enloe also showed the horrors of war that women suffer, and did so in a very sensitive way.
Enloe ties together the concepts of masculinity, ethnicity and nationalism and, through interviews and personal histories, uses the concepts to try and understand how men can commit unspeakable crimes during wars. Her main focus is on the Bosnian genocide, but she also discusses the Holocaust, and she compares and contrasts the two genocides.
The interview with Herak was really saddening, because it showed how easy it was for soldiers to be manipulated into not only fighting and killing other men, but also to harm and rape women and children. Herak’s story is one that I think has rarely been told, but it’s a point of view that is necessary to understanding violence and gender. I thought what was most interesting was how Herak said he felt closer to his fellow militiamen when they were together at barbecues or just drinking. The rapes were meant to bring them closer together, but instead they damaged the men and made them feel guilty.
The article really ties in with the group presentation on Women in War, and so I thought that it was an interesting perspective that we didn’t have time to talk about in class. But Enloe did a wonderful job of showcasing a personal narrative of the horrors of war and gendered violence, and it really helped me understand what women as well as men and soldiers go through in war.

Gender and Power

The article by Errol Miller, “Gender, Power and Politics: An Alternative Perspective” was complex but contained a great deal of information about why women are underrepresented in government and what we as a society can do to shorten the gap. Miller made a lot of interesting points; one of the first was during his discussion of patriarchy. Miller says, quoting another scholar, Collins, that it is often easy for groups to see how they are oppressed. It is more difficult for them to see how they add to the oppression of others. It is sometimes difficult when there are so many different groups to identify with, also. Do black women identify first as women or as black? As a class we’ve discussed questions like that a little but not really in depth, and I think it is hard to explore things like race and gender together without first picking them apart and viewing them separately.

Miller goes on to describe his definition of patriarchy, which includes the ideas of genealogy, generation and gender. It was a very comprehensive definition, and I feel that it managed to encompass more and get the full picture of patriarchy as opposed to some of the other definitions that he cited.

After the discussion of patriarchy, Miller discusses the idea of gender as opposed to sex, and the question of biology versus culture in regards to sex differences. The one thing he wrote that really struck me was about the physical differences between men and women. An idea behind sex differences between men and women is that men are better-suited to government positions because they are competitive, stronger, and more rational. But as Miller points out, the men holding government positions aren’t super masculine. He states that the qualities that we as a society define as masculine “more aptly describe their bodyguards!” Overall, Miller’s use of expanded definitions, history of patriarchy, and ideas of how to achieve gender equality were fairly convincing, and the article was helpful to understanding the power play of gender.

Gender, Race, and Pornography

The article by Alice Walker on pornography was very intense and graphic, and Walker made her point very strongly. I liked the article; I thought Walker did a fantastic job of incorporating the views of black feminists and showing, through a narrative, the experience of black women in a world of degrading pornography.

At times, it was definitely a hard article to read; I’m sure that for many women it is a story that strikes close to home. The debate over pornography is incredibly complex, and an important thing to remember is that not all arguments for pornography are sexist. But a lot of popular pornography – Playboy, Maxim, etc., stereotype women, degrade them, and exalt males. They also further rape culture in many ways, I believe, by implying that women deserve what men do to them sexually, whether it is rape or sexual assault. Not all pornography does this, of course, but I’d say that a majority of mainstream pornographic magazines do carry a heavy tone of sexism.

Walker also touched upon women’s body identity and self-esteem, and I thought she did it in a way that was touching and realistic. It’s hard for all women to look at images in Playboy and feel good about themselves – some studies have shown that women do more poorly on tests than men do after seeing images of fashion models and porn stars. Though I don’t have the experience of being a woman of color, this article makes it clear that being not just a woman, but a black woman in a culture where blonde and light-skinned is beautiful, can be very damaging.

The article definitely highlighted an experience that I’m sure is more common than we as a society would hope for it to be. Though the article was written a few decades ago, the experience holds true still today. Walker handled the subject beautifully, and used rawness and graphic imagery to make her point powerfully, and she did.

Women in War

The group who presented on Women in War did an excellent job with their presentation, and I thought that they picked out great articles for the reading, articles that had a huge impact and discussed some of the biggest problems for women in times of war.

Of the three articles, I was particularly struck by the NPR article, “Reported Cases of Sexual Assault in Military Rise.” It is an issue that strikes very close to home, especially for people who have family members, including women, who serve the military. It was a painful article to read, and exposed the pain that women in the military suffer when they must face attacks both from the enemy and from the people they live, eat, and work with.

One section of the article showed the hopelessness some women feel after they experience sexual assault from a fellow platoon member:


"It's humiliating. It's degrading. Who's going to believe you? Especially in the military, when you never know who knows who," Ketora said. "In my rank I was only a lance corporal."

Of her attacker, she says, "He's the guy everybody hoorahs and gives a pat on the back. Everybody loves him. He could never do anything wrong."


There is definitely a problem with higher-ranking officials taking advantage of those who they have authority over; by implementing reporting systems that allow victims to speak with outsiders who have no ranking, the U.S. military can help the women who serve the U.S. a great deal.

I think that perhaps women in the military feel marginalized, even though they do make up a large part of the U.S. military today. When a group is marginalized, it becomes easier to harm them while justifying it in some way, whether as joking around or just “boys being boys.” But I believe that we are making strides, and the article definitely indicated that. Higher report rates show that women in the military feel more comfortable reporting sexual assault incidents and can get better medical and psychological care. Hopefully, the U.S. will take even larger steps to ensure that all the members of its military are well-taken care of and feel secure.

The Debate over Sex Education

                My group presentation was on sex education in the U.S., and we discussed the problems with the current political and education landscape that make it difficult for schools to find sex ed. programs that work and fund them. Of course most of the research that we saw was very much pro-comprehensive programs as well as anti-abstinence-only programs. But our most interesting findings showed that, though the political and moral landscape may be strongly divided over the issue of sex. ed, most people (parents included) take a middle ground position, and it’s been found that the programs that also take a middle ground do the best in terms of lowering teen pregnancy rates as well as STI rates.

                Though we didn’t have much time to discuss the reading, I thought that the article by Amy Sullivan, “How to End the War over Sex Ed.” was really interesting. However, I didn’t agree with the New York Times op-ed article by Ross Douthat, “Sex Ed in Washington” as much. I think Duthout brought up some good points – one being that a lot of sex education programs don’t work unless they are long term and also very comprehensive in the sense that they apply to all areas of a student’s life by teaching life skills and relationship skills as well. His main point, though, was that the war over sex education is one of regional values, and that to be fair each community should have the right to decide how to teach sex education in their schools, or to not teach sex education at all. It is, Duthout says, a “debate that should remain intensely local.” But there are a lot of issues with not having some general standards for sex education.

                One of the issues my group focused on in our paper was, “is sex education a question of ethics?” Is it ethical to withhold potentially life-saving information about contraception and STIs to adolescents in a course that is supposed to help them have healthy sex lives? Whether the sex life is in marriage or outside of marriage isn’t part of the question – even married people have to deal with STDs. A lot of the articles we found on ethics show that, yes, it is unethical. Health educators must actually educate their students about potential health risks. It would be just as unethical to not inform students that eating junk food or trans fats can cause heart problems. Giving them the knowledge does not make them more likely to have sex; in fact many comprehensive programs have been shown to delay the age of onset of sexual activity in adolescents. With that knowledge, students can better protect themselves and know what the (realistic) risks are when it comes to sexual activity. What Duthout is saying is that it is not unethical, but a matter of community opinion. I don’t believe that when it comes to health education, the political bent of the region should determine what students are told or not told. Students should be given accurate information to help them make the right choices, not “scared straight” or forced to conform to the political views of their community. Comprehensive programs or abstinence-plus programs offer options and information for every student, including those who wish to save sexual activity for marriage as well as those who are currently sexually active. It isn’t a matter of opinion as much as it is a matter of obligation and ethics.

Changing Gender Roles

                The recent presentation on gender roles was a good exploration of the gender stereotypes that are pervasive in western society. I thought that the survey the group did was a really good idea, because it focused not only on personal opinion but also on personal history. Beyond that, though there were some criticisms of the survey, I thought that, though it wasn’t perfect, it definitely did cover a lot of area and was applicable not just to heterosexual relationships but to all kinds of relationships.

                One point about the survey that I did agree with is that personal family histories have become greatly complicated by the rising rate of divorce and single parenthood. However, I think a lot of what the survey results indicated (that women typically do more household work; men typically do more ‘outside’ or ‘handy’ work in relationships) does show what a majority of relationships in the U.S. look like. But what was encouraging is that, even though stereotypes may be slow to change, the reality of gender roles is changing at a very fast pace. A lot of people who took the survey said that their parents shared the work; and many also said that they would want an egalitarian marriage or at least something very close to egalitarian.

                Hopefully the group’s research showed a positive prognosis of gender roles, and that we are moving towards a more egalitarian society. Of course, Jessica Valenti has good points when she says that feminism isn’t over, that we as a society still must fight for total gender equality, as well as equality in other areas. But it’s hard to deny that a lot of progress has taken place in the past few decades. I hope we can continue that progress.

Sex Trafficking

                The group who presented the topic of Sex Trafficking brought up some really interesting statistics and facts during their presentation. Their most surprising information was about sex trafficking in the U.S., which I think shocked a lot of people, as I doubt most would expect something so serious to happen so close to home, though sadly it does.

                What struck me is not only how widespread sex trafficking is, but also how easy it is in some countries. Sex trafficking affects women, children, men, the poor, and all nations, industrialized or developing.  It crosses so many bounds and there are so many victims. What was heartbreaking is how even families will sell those closest to them just because they don’t have the money to survive otherwise.

                The class discussion on whether legalizing prostitution would make sex trafficking more difficult and less appealing, or whether it facilitates the sex trafficking trade was very interesting, and it was a difficult subject to debate. Though I haven’t seen any research to support either thought, I think there must be some out there that would be helpful in deciding. Before the discussion, I would have definitely said that legalizing prostitution and regulating it would be the best thing. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m glad that my eyes were opened to this underground trade; though it is not a problem that is easy to fix or has a sole cause, I hope we can work to find a solution in the future.

"A Woman's Place"

Naomi Wolf's Commencement Speech, Scripps College, May 1992

http://gos.sbc.edu/w/wolf.html

This commencement address by Naomi Wolf really struck me, because she covers so many of the terrible stereotypes that women face even after becoming very successful. Though Wolf gave this speech in 1992, I believe much of it still holds true today – women who are smart aren’t pretty, a woman’s value lies in her purity and women shouldn’t cause conflict or else risk being considered unfeminine. 

Wolf is right when she says “Sexist institutions won't yield power if we are just patient long enough.” People seem to believe that women have fully equality now or at least will soon with very little effort; that it will just come with the changing of the times. But women and minorities have had to fight for all the rights that they have today - they weren’t just handed over by those in power. Most of the time they were given unwillingly.

It is frightening that women put up with rape culture, an androcentric society and put-downs about their appearance every single day, and some believe that everything is okay between the sexes. Some women like Christine O’Donnell even spout off anti-feminist doctrine while claiming to be “for women’s rights.” What kind of rights are we talking about here? The right to choose, or the right to have someone tell us we have a choice when we don’t?

Virgins and Sluts

I thought Celia brought up a lot of good points with the clips dealing with conflict between women – how a lot of times it is between women who are more sexualized, and women who are “virginal.” In a lot of Disney movies, especially, there is that contrast and the idea that the right woman is innocent, falls in love only once, marries young and yet is desired intensely by men. 

The woman who isn’t wanted is the whore – the woman who takes charge of her sexuality and is proud of her appearance. Confidence isn’t much of a virtue it seems, in many movies that we show to young girls. Snow White is a pretty disturbing story on the whole – a dead girl is taken by a rich man to be his wife after her mother or step-mother poisons her because of her beauty. Certainly it’s not the most moral of tales. But it is the perfect example of what is valued in women. 

I think that though “slutty” women are becoming more mainstream and women have more power over their sexuality, we as a society continue to teach young girls that it’s important to be virginal and pure for your husband and that girls who don’t do that aren’t worth much. Why is a girl’s worth so tied up in whether or not she’s had sex? In sex ed classes across the country, that’s what we’re teaching, and it’s incredibly disturbing.

Lifeboat Ethics

                The article by Nancy Scheper-Hughes, “Lifeboat Ethics: Mother Love and Child Death in Northeast Brazil” really struck me out of all the articles on femininity that we have been reading as a class. I hadn’t ever thought about how poverty and starvation affects motherhood and babies, but clearly it has a huge impact on child development and infant survival. What is really sad is how common infant mortality is in the area, even when it may be prevented.

                Scheper-Hughes does a good job of trying to be partial and to paint a sympathetic picture of the mothers, rather than condemning them for abandoning their sick and dying children. She shows how the issue really lies with the culture and the lack of support these women get from the government and from the Catholic church. They really have no means to support their children, nutritionally, medically or emotionally.

                A friend of mine from Brazil had talked about how terrible the wage gap and poverty are in the country, especially in rural areas. This is certainly an extreme consequence of low economic status and governments and churches who are hostile to women and the issues they face surrounding reproductive rights, birth, and child rearing.

What a Girl Wants

                The video we saw in class today on the effect of media on young girls was interesting but the points were made were sadly pretty familiar to any girl who has grown up in the past three decades. The comments made by the girls really reflected the mixed messages of the media; the girls were able to see through the images of women on TV and in magazines, but they still tried to follow what they were being told, such as “be pretty,” “wear make-up,” “be thin,” and “be sexy.”

                I don’t think that anyone intends for young girls to feel as though they should be thinking about sex or trying to fit the thin, beautiful ideal of actresses and models. But it’s an inevitable side effect when you market these ideas to older women; young girls try to emulate women who they respect and admire, and this can lead to some pretty damaging things, like anorexia and sex at too early of an age.

                What would help most is to stop perpetuating these unrealistic stereotypes in the media, whether they’re marketed to older women or pre-teens. Education also plays a big role, and we should be teaching how to have a positive body image in schools. Too often schools focus on the negatives of health – they measure the body fat of their students to determine which ones are overweight or obese, they force tests of athletic skill, and they talk about sex as something forbidden. I think schools could play a huge role in improving both physical and mental health if they changed their tactics. Unfortunately, girls do face huge issues today related to body image and sex, and we can’t rely on the media changing anytime soon.