There’s one question I’ve never asked in church, partly out of a well-honed sense of (fundamentalist) Christian self-preservation (i.e. say nothing that might indicate leanings toward gay rights, abortion, or pro-evolution), partly out of a genuine fear at what the answer might be. I’m afraid to ask about Christianity and feminism because I don’t want to find out their differences are irreconcilable.
This reticence may be because of where I grew up – Ohio, while not flat all over like Kansas, isn’t always so different in values – or because of the churches I’ve frequented. Or maybe it’s just the people I know: most of the few Christian women I know who are feminists are unavowed feminists (acting as feminists but not preaching, so to speak) or are deeply conflicted about their disjunctive beliefs.
My feminism stems in part from my personality. I’ve always been branded as “gifted” as well as independent (and obstinate). And while I know a lot of singularly intelligent men now, until I was in my teens I didn’t know any man I respected for being smarter than me. Why does this matter? It means that I grew up unconvinced of any masculine superiority and, watching my mother become a single parent to eight children, I felt confirmed in the idea that not being a feminist was a sign of an uncomplicated life or an unoriginal mind.
So I am a feminist, and I have also made an intellectual commitment to the idea. It’s difficult to define feminism in a way that men actually care about, just as it is hard to define it so that people don’t think you mean that women are better than men. And all of that is complicated by the waves of feminism, with modern feminism circling somewhere around Third and Fourth Wave. I call myself a feminist because I passionately believe in the equality of women and men not only politically, but also culturally, intellectually, and sexually; that sexism is prevalent and must be opposed; that being a feminist is important to living my own life. I even read feminist blogs. (Hopefully that won’t sound too much like a manifesto because these ideas have caused a lot of inner wrangling incompatible with the certainty of a manifesto.)
But I am also a Christian, and I don’t want to be a feminist Christian in the vein of “feminine divine” thinking popularly represented by people like Sue Monk Kidd. I don’t want to keep pretending that the Biblical passages about feminine submission don’t exist. I want to be a feminist Christian without moving to the West Coast. So I am asking publicly the same question I have always been afraid to answer: Is it possible to be a feminist and a Christian?
Yes, and no.
Yes: only if you’re willing to understand that, while God supposedly did create both man and woman equally, he still puts the man above the woman.
No: if you believe that no matter what, the integrity of a woman’s status as a human should never be thwarted, but God or Man.
What are you willing to give up? A God that puts a one human above another or a life of equality, integrity, and living in the truth?
To add to that, I am merely saying that truth should be truth, no matter what, and should not conflict with your Christianity whatsoever. What is your faith if you live with the fear that feminism is a taboo?
And a third question for you:
I believe that you are afraid to ask your question (which was never stated, all we know is that it’s “about Christianity and feminism”) not because of how you were raised but because you know, deep in your heart, that the basic principles of Christianity, the teachings of the apostles, quite possibly will go against the ideas of feminism that you believe wholeheartedly to be true from your personal experience. Don’t hide behind ideas of persecution, realize that the reasons we don’t bring up “controversial” issues in our Christian faith is that we’ve already made up our minds on what we believe about something and know that when brought to the test of the Bible will falter, and that idea is unthinkable because the Bible can’t have a different truth than the experiences of our life. So we push it under the rug and run around theoretically BS-ing the subject as intellectually and vaguely as possible so as to avoid saying that we might disagree with something.
*NOTE*
I’ve been at work all day, typing in comments every now and then and haven’t been able to complete a thought. I won’t be so scattered in the future.
To the question, “Can you be a feminist and a Christian?” I want to rephrase it to, “Can you be a Christian and a feminist?”. For myself, asserting the truths of feminism first, then finding if being a follower of Christ can fit within that, is completely different from first surrendering everything to Christ, then finding out truths about what it means to be a woman.
To be honest, I don’t know a whole lot about feminism, though I have always sought leadership positions and grew up in a family where my mother was more of an authority figure than my father.
In Japan, though the gender roles are more traditional compared to North America, because of the lack of men in churches, women have taken on leadership, more out of necessity than strong belief. I never felt restricted to pursue what I dreamed and desired just because I was a girl.
To be a follower of Christ, I find myself being called into more and more of who I am to be as a woman. In that sense, there is so much freedom and value in being a Christian woman. So there’s the level of basic equality of life, or at least the belief of it. And I think that is something affirmed very clearly in the Bible as well.
When it comes to capabilities, there are obviously physical differences (though of course differing when comparing individuals), and there are tendencies that are more attributed to women versus men. However, I think we need to be careful to recognize these as descriptive rather than prescriptive. This would of course allow for individual tendencies as well. (for example, my brother, according to some of his female friends, is very sensitive and gentle for a guy. perhaps growing up with two sister? i don’t know. or just his personality.)
The third issue is now social responsibilities and expectations. I do agree that there are hinderances for the women for pursing careers. For countries that promote the rights of women, there are more options for child care. However, it really needs to cease being the right or wrong, more traditional or liberal, way of evaluating female roles. There are always prices that someone has to pay if career or motherhood (and it shouldn’t be an “or” thing…) is pursued for selfish reasons.
One thing that I am very skeptical about is the usage of the word “right.” The idea of rights seems to override everything else in some places, (and seems to not be taken into enough account in other places) but the idea of rights, if taken with a belief that a human being can live by himself or herself, is extremely harmful. I, when I become a mother, might have to give up my rights to pursue my dream, instead, to care for my child. There will definitely be some mourning that comes with the loss of what I was pursuing. But there will be other gifts and dreams that are bourne out of the gift I’m given, and it is my choice to take that as a gift.
I’m not sure if I’m a feminist, because I feel like it can be identified by different ideas. However, if it is an ideology taken on its own, built on a false idea of self and rights as the highest things to purse, I think it can be dangerous… I want to be a woman who believes that I am just as much a beloved of God and equal before His sights, use my rights with discernment and humility, and at the end of the day, seek to see the other person as who that person is made to be.