I always enter my English class expecting to spend the hour after class napping; instead, I often race back here to my computer with a need to speak out: as is the case this afternoon, especially when sickness has taken my voice and I was unable to participate in class.
Today we studied feminism. My teacher opened the discussion by saying, "One thing we men cannot understand is how a woman can not be a feminist. Can anyone explain this to us?"
One experience was immediately called to mind: I first studied feminism a few years back. Seeing the dismissive and power-hungry nature of the extremists, I feared, Am I a feminist? However, after much study I have found comfort in the conclusion that no, I am not a feminist.
To illustrate my reason I would like to relate this paragraph, which we read in our studies today:
Western culture has operated on the assumption that women are inferior creatures. Lead thinkers, from Aristotle to Charles Darwin, reiterated that women were lesser beings... The Greek ecclesiast John Chrysostom called women "a foe to friendship, an inescapable punishment, a necessary evil"... The Roman theologian Tertullian lectured to women that "the judgment of God upon your sex endures even today; and with it inevitably endures your position of criminal at the bar of justice. You are the gateway to the devil." Even the book of Genesis blames Eve for the loss of paradise. Revered writers of later ages have been equally ungenerous in their descriptions of the nature of women. Alexander Pope asserted, "The opinion I have of the generality of women--who appear to me as children to whom I would rather give a sugar plum than my time--forms a barrier against matrimony which I rejoice in."
Obviously not all misogynistic opinion is this severe, having been degraded by the popular ideology of democracy, but these are the founders of Western ideology.
Feminist movements today belong to minority movements like women fighting for their own professional sports leagues or equal pay in the office. They demand to know why they've been denied "equality" when there is a simple reason: while inherit discrimination is not dismissable, it is essential to identify that the roles and characteristics of men and women are distinct and one is meant to do well in some areas moreso than the other, as we are taught in The Family, a Proclamation to the World.
One of the girls in my class said it best when she stated that "there is no need for women to claw their way into equality: we are not created to fulfill a lot of the same roles and maximums, for women can do different things that make their worth equatable to that of a man who fulfills his own roles." Society fails to recognize that the "inequality" of men and women is not a conception created by men, but by Satan. In the beginning, Adam and Eve were equal, and as peoples spread and ideas diffused the relative truths of the nature of men and women were diverted and turned upside down as civilization as we know it began to form and sought to survive.
Society has long called for men to recognize the equality of women, but instead we should be calling for the women to recognize the true nature of their own equality, and the way to it. While there has been merit and great progress attributed to the feminist movement, it has bent to the enticings and mocking of Satan and his servants.
As facet to my argument and to make a tangent statement: it always hurts my heart when I hear a woman weighing her career options equally with her opportunities and abilities to become a mother. While there are some cases that women necessarily work outside of the home, the majority of mothers, with children at home, could find themselves fully supported if they were to emphasize their husbands needs and abilities to fulfill their roles and have faith in the God who gave them both their respective roles. A woman who fails to understand; appreciate; and testify of this, in her own way, fails to recognize where her true potential and maximums lie.
For too long have women sought the tangible appreciation men get for their work, when there are a uniquely different set of blessings obviously available to them. In order to stimulate visiting teaching numbers within my Ward, the sisters have been told, "If we get 100%, the bishopric will throw a party for us!" Posters adorn the wall with messages of this same spirit: "Want to do better in school?? Do your visiting teaching!! You'll be blessed!" Oftentimes we will dismiss these ideas as unintentional and harmless, but they, along with many other messages, are of the craftiness of the devil when they replace the teachings of the Savior, his love, and spiritual significance. If women could stop bending to the low-life status that has been long created them, which is an ever-present whisper in the back of our minds, thanks for the promptings of the devil, the work of the Lord could go forth uninhibited.
As my English teacher would say, I hope you "note these things and become disturbed." Something has to change.
1 comment:
I couldn't agree with you more on how we should cherish our different roles as women. However, I would have to refer to myself as a feminist definitely. I get far too worked up when I consider the unfairness in so many other aspects. Primarily, it seems that the media would have us believe that men's dreams and aspirations are much more important than a woman's. When did you last see a movie / tv show where a woman put her husband through years to financial / emotional stress to pursue a dream or belief? Men also experience much less social pressure to be physically attractive and women are expected to work and work on their body shape infinitely more while at the same time being confident with what it is. Ugh! anyway, thanks for letting me share.
Post a Comment