Reading Reaction #8
Aidan Ruel
WGS
Nancy Lewis
7 November 2013
Reading Reaction #8
Chapter 12 of Women’s Voices Feminist Visions: This chapter has to do with religion and how it relates to women. It can both be an oppressing force for some and an empowering force for others. Many religions strip women of their rights, they are forms of structured inequality.
Religion is gendered in that deities are primarily male and therefore men are seen as superior and closer to god. Some women are trying to reinterpret their religions and others are trying to reconstruct it. Other women see religion as fundamentally patriarchal and simply decide to express their spirituality without a specific denomination.
“Introduction to The Women’s Bible”: This article is by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, possibly the most famous women’s rights activist of all time. It focuses on the oppression of women in the christian religion in particular. Almost the entire bible is filled with notions of women being inferior to men. The idea is that women were created “ after man, of man, for man, an inferior being, [and] a subject to man.” This creates a type of structured inequality that must be followed by women and men alike if they want to consider themselves a part of this religion, and oftentimes you were shunned from society if you failed to follow the bible and christianity closely. “It All Began With Eve”: This entire article has to do with the oppression of women in christianity and the idea of original sin. Original sin is a term in christianity that refers to Eve committing the first sin known to mankind, therefore women are responsible for all sin. This is a heavy load to place on women and it paints a negative image of all women as stupid, sexualized, dangerous creatures. The monolithic male figure of god is another commonality between these articles, just the simple fact that god is male provides enough of a reason for men to believe they are superior to women, even though this is
WGS
Nancy Lewis
7 November 2013
Reading Reaction #8
Chapter 12 of Women’s Voices Feminist Visions: This chapter has to do with religion and how it relates to women. It can both be an oppressing force for some and an empowering force for others. Many religions strip women of their rights, they are forms of structured inequality.
Religion is gendered in that deities are primarily male and therefore men are seen as superior and closer to god. Some women are trying to reinterpret their religions and others are trying to reconstruct it. Other women see religion as fundamentally patriarchal and simply decide to express their spirituality without a specific denomination.
“Introduction to The Women’s Bible”: This article is by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, possibly the most famous women’s rights activist of all time. It focuses on the oppression of women in the christian religion in particular. Almost the entire bible is filled with notions of women being inferior to men. The idea is that women were created “ after man, of man, for man, an inferior being, [and] a subject to man.” This creates a type of structured inequality that must be followed by women and men alike if they want to consider themselves a part of this religion, and oftentimes you were shunned from society if you failed to follow the bible and christianity closely. “It All Began With Eve”: This entire article has to do with the oppression of women in christianity and the idea of original sin. Original sin is a term in christianity that refers to Eve committing the first sin known to mankind, therefore women are responsible for all sin. This is a heavy load to place on women and it paints a negative image of all women as stupid, sexualized, dangerous creatures. The monolithic male figure of god is another commonality between these articles, just the simple fact that god is male provides enough of a reason for men to believe they are superior to women, even though this is