June 09, 2005
forum rantage
So there's this forum. I've been going to this forum since I was fourteen, and the community there is wonderful and was completely and needfully supportive when I was going through the whole coming-out crisis thing. It's a Christian forum, but we used to have a good balance of conservatives, moderates, and liberals. Due to a concatenation of circumstances, several of the more liberal and/or moderate members have left or gone offline temporarily, and a couple much more conservative members have started becoming regulars. Now the whole forum is slowly becoming this... right-wing echo box, and it's driving me nuts.
Politics, I could deal with, but no, this is more sociotheological spectrum I'm talking about. I'm fresh out of an argument about the gender of Christ, where I was told that men *never* jockey for power and *always* work well in teams, whereas women are passive-aggressive, backstabbing bitches who can only be effective leaders if they act like men.
I just wanted to know, per the recent translation where Jesus is turned into Judith Christ, what difference it would make if Jesus had been female, and I'm regaled with arguments on why women can't lead.
Back when I went to church (and why I don't still go is a matter for another entry), I remembered wondering why all the women I was taught to emulate were famous for being someone's wife or mother, or for being virgins. You didn't see many Biblical women lauded for doing things on their own initiative. In fact, quite a lot of the time, that's what made them BAD women: i.e. Eve.
Later on, I would meet these great female youth leaders who would fade into the background when the mediocre or downright bad male leaders would take over. One of the best female interns I ever knew ended up marrying one of the most mediocre male leaders, and I never saw much of her ever again. She just became David's Wife instead of Christine.
When the male youth leader left, I remember being *incensed* when I heard that the committee wasn't even considering female candidates. No, they would only look for the best man for the job, never even considering that there might be hordes of qualified, talented women.
When I'm told that the very idea of a female Christ is worthy of both mockery and vilification, that the very CONCEPT is either blasphemy or ludicrousness, it makes me wonder what about a female Christ squicks people so. And when I get told that women can't and shouldn't lead, unless there's no men and/or they act like a man, IT PISSES ME THE HELL OFF.
Meanwhile, the idea that Mary might have been genetically male (long story) is floated almost approvingly. You know, it's not like we've got a dearth of female role models in the Bible. There's NO FUCKING NEED to start claiming that they were really men in women's bodies. And if there's NO PROBLEM with a MALE MARY, then what the hell is so horrible about a FEMALE JESUS?!
If this forum turns into yet another Conservatives for a Macho Jesus cheerleading squad, I am going to leave. And then cry, because I used to love that place and now it's gone.
And if "Women suck because they're not men!" is all there is to Christianity, then I would have given up a long, long time ago. You wonder why so many women are attracted to Wicca? It's because it *values* femaleness. You can't say the same about Christianity as usually presented. Given how Christianity is usually presented, and the kind of male-chauvinist shit quite a few of its practitioners (male AND female) come up with, I often wonder why I still do bother.
Politics, I could deal with, but no, this is more sociotheological spectrum I'm talking about. I'm fresh out of an argument about the gender of Christ, where I was told that men *never* jockey for power and *always* work well in teams, whereas women are passive-aggressive, backstabbing bitches who can only be effective leaders if they act like men.
I just wanted to know, per the recent translation where Jesus is turned into Judith Christ, what difference it would make if Jesus had been female, and I'm regaled with arguments on why women can't lead.
Back when I went to church (and why I don't still go is a matter for another entry), I remembered wondering why all the women I was taught to emulate were famous for being someone's wife or mother, or for being virgins. You didn't see many Biblical women lauded for doing things on their own initiative. In fact, quite a lot of the time, that's what made them BAD women: i.e. Eve.
Later on, I would meet these great female youth leaders who would fade into the background when the mediocre or downright bad male leaders would take over. One of the best female interns I ever knew ended up marrying one of the most mediocre male leaders, and I never saw much of her ever again. She just became David's Wife instead of Christine.
When the male youth leader left, I remember being *incensed* when I heard that the committee wasn't even considering female candidates. No, they would only look for the best man for the job, never even considering that there might be hordes of qualified, talented women.
When I'm told that the very idea of a female Christ is worthy of both mockery and vilification, that the very CONCEPT is either blasphemy or ludicrousness, it makes me wonder what about a female Christ squicks people so. And when I get told that women can't and shouldn't lead, unless there's no men and/or they act like a man, IT PISSES ME THE HELL OFF.
Meanwhile, the idea that Mary might have been genetically male (long story) is floated almost approvingly. You know, it's not like we've got a dearth of female role models in the Bible. There's NO FUCKING NEED to start claiming that they were really men in women's bodies. And if there's NO PROBLEM with a MALE MARY, then what the hell is so horrible about a FEMALE JESUS?!
If this forum turns into yet another Conservatives for a Macho Jesus cheerleading squad, I am going to leave. And then cry, because I used to love that place and now it's gone.
And if "Women suck because they're not men!" is all there is to Christianity, then I would have given up a long, long time ago. You wonder why so many women are attracted to Wicca? It's because it *values* femaleness. You can't say the same about Christianity as usually presented. Given how Christianity is usually presented, and the kind of male-chauvinist shit quite a few of its practitioners (male AND female) come up with, I often wonder why I still do bother.
# posted by Liadan @ 1:37 AM 
