donning definition

Most men have faith in women, few women have faith in women. I have been astonished at the number of women who have come to me for advice whose only trouble was that they had no faith in womanhood, and consequently none in themselves.

These words from Helen Sunday stood out to me as I read about her earlier today. Not only do we need to have faith in our ability to live fully into womanhood, we need to be able to define what womanhood means. What does it mean to have faith in womanhood and therefore ourselves? Helen Sunday presents several potential sources of identity definition for women. First, a woman can ask herself what men want her to be. Second, a woman can ask herself whet she wants to be. “But, in the future, we shall come to asking the right question: ‘What does God want a woman to be?'”

The question of today is only half-answered as yet. Women do not know what they want to be, because they do not yet know what they are. Only one thing they have learned and this is that they are no longer the chattels of the man.

As I read this text written by a woman in the early 1900’s I can’t help but think that we have not come very far in defining who we are as women according to God. How do we define ourselves as women? What questions should we be asking and what actions should we take in discovering this? The most essential element of this discovery of womanhood seems to lie in the fact that women need to act for themselves. Definition cannot come from outside the woman and it cannot come without a recognition of the essentially female aspects that come from God.

I will close with one more quote from Helen Sunday because she articulates this better than I can ever hope to.

“The great, historic opportunity has been offered to them [women]. The gates have been flung wide for them. At last, the doors of the Doll House have been opened, and they have been invited to come into the great world outside. The rest is in their own hands”

Amen

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for a billion women

My friend posted a link to this project called Silent Voices. It is sort of a commentary on the experience of reading the Bible as a Christian man or woman. How do we experience stories differently based on our gender?

The Christian bible is the most beloved text in the world; cherished by billions and central to religious and communal tradition. I, as a man, find my gender reflected through characters I can relate to. The Silent Voices Bible is a project that offers that same experience to a billion faithful Christian women.

Jack presents the story of the Bible by switching the genders of every character. And yes, that means every character–even God. Before you turn away without giving this a chance, hear me out; I was skeptical at first too. The purpose of this project isn’t to obliterate the message of the Bible and use to serve a militant feminist agenda. The purpose of this is to provide a chance for thought and discussion around the experience of reading the Bible and placing yourself in the story.

When I saw this I immediately read Genesis 1-3 (my favorite Bible passage). I’m not sure if I can fully explain the experience of reading about a female God creating female first. It is easy to ignore the power of language and I think this project can really push us to consider things we’ve never thought about. I’m still thinking about all of this but please check it out. Here’s one of my favorites.

“Yahweh God formed woman from the dust of the ground, and breathed into her nostrils the breath of life; and woman became a living soul. Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there she put the woman whom she had formed.”

genesis 2:7-8

I can’t wait to read about the Prodigal Daughter.

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a quote for thursday

Religiously, they are deserving respect as equal bearers of God’s image. Femaleness is an adjective to personhood. To assign persons roles that they as individuals do not personally choose to accept, and to do this on the basis of gener, is to make sexuality basic and personhood secondary. That evil would be less sever is both sexes were in equal positions to deal out power and privilege. However, the deck is stacked when males grant each other treatment as persons and treat females merely as females.

from Sex for Christians by Lewis B. Smedes

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the curse

Just because I needed another distraction in my life, I bought this book today…

It should be here in about a week and I seriously cannot wait to read it…

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in honor of my homies

In honor of my homies, who put up with my feminist rants and who find this as funny as I do.

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of finishing books

Today was a day of finishing books. In true Adri fashion I have been reading two books at once over the past 3 weeks (not including the books I am reading for school. However, today both of these books came to an end.

The first, Half the Sky, was amazing and I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to read a little about the women of the world. While it is not for the faint of heart, it is one worth reading, if only to educate yourself.

The second was The Mysterious Benedict Society. I had heard that this was written in the vain of A Series of Unfortunate Events, which I loved, so of course I had to read it. I was a little disappointed (but of course I am a college senior reading a book meant for middle school students).

Mostly I am excited to have finished it because this means that I get to start Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This will be my first time with Dostoevsky but I have heard nothing of good things and I loved my last experience with Russian literature so I am really looking forward to this adventure. Also, I bought an absolutely awesome copy at a market a couple weekends ago… for all my fellow book lovers, it is like holding a little piece of heaven.

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true love is violent?

With all of the hype surrounding the new song by Rihanna and Eminem (Russian Roulette/Love the Way You Lie) I have been thinking a lot about domestic violence in the media. I found this post on Sociological Images this morning and I really cannot express how I feel any better than they already have so just read the article…

Here is a great quote to wet your appetite,

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a beautiful song. Rihanna’s vocals are gorgeous; it’s was hard to not feel heartfelt while listening to them. And that’s the problem. It’s a powerful form of socialization. That we might internalize the message that passionate love and incontrollable rage go hand-in-hand is really very scary. It suggests not only that you should tolerate interpersonal violence but that, if there is no violence in your relationship, perhaps you don’t really love one another. Better go out and find someone who will beat you.

People might disagree with me and some might say they only like it for the catchy tune. The fact still stands, glamorizing domestic violence by combining hurtful lyrics and a nice beat is ALWAYS harmful, even if we “don’t even listen to the lyrics.”

I think that author of this post is right, the fact “that Rihanna of all people, a woman who could have made a powerful statement against this type of message, is participating in glamorizing the very violence she suffered, is very disheartening.” If change is to occur, perhaps victims of violence should speak out against their abuse, instead of giving in a glamorizing it.

And that’s all I have to say about that…

…but here’s one more article, just in case you are as fired up about this as I am.

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ten commandments of feminism

My good friend Laura posted this link on her blog the other day. I just found it and I am quite in love… How do we change the culture? Educate our young, women in this case, but perhaps the list should be revised for boys as well.

While the list is certainly applicable to all women, I found another list, in great graphic form and here it is.

Ah feminism, you make my heart warm. May we all be just a little more conscious and a lot more bold in our actions.

Oh yeah, the author of the first list mentions Sarah Haskins, so of course I love her… Here is a little treat for you on a Friday night.

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rude boy?

This woman is seriously awesome. She is funny but she also has some very true and interesting things to say about women in the music world. Why is it that even female artists seem to portray such negative and dangerous images of women? Hmmm, lets think about this together. Sometimes feminism can be found in the most unsuspected of places…

Thanks Glozell!

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feminist friends

Here is an article written by a friend here at school in response to arguments about sexual purity on campus.

Thanks to a brother in Christ…

Every spring, I am surrounded by men who joke about short skirts and v-necks on women causing people to stumble. This type of “joking” is not funny and it indicates a deep oppression of women by men.

To all the women out there: I say to hell with that oppression. If men stumble, they stumble. You don’t need to take that. In fact, the men can deal with their own sexual urges. It is not your problem, only a more intentional repression of who you are as a human being and as a woman.

I say to hell with modesty for modesty’s sake. If you want to show those legs you have been working on all winter, feel free to wear that short skirt. If you want the world to notice that you sometimes want to express your sexuality via clothing, go for it with the v-neck and the cleavage.

Shout out to Christo Lute. Read more here…

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