Monday, December 08, 2008

Who is the head here?

Molly is attempting to describe why the submission of a wife to the authority of her husband can be such an intrinsically bad thing. I think this picture says it all. This is how one man sees it. He actually chose this image to demonstrate the following point,
"God created us to complement one another (hence the name of this view). The hammer and nail, mentioned earlier, are both made of metal, but they are designed to do different jobs. Each of these tools are important, essential, and valuable, but distinct; and it’s their complementary differences that make them work best."
This is simply his way of illustrating the relationship between husband and wife. I have to say that this seems pretty realistic to me. Does this image look like a "level playing field" to you?

I know this clouds the issue that anyone can treat someone else like this. Any man, Christian or not, and any woman, Christian or not, can treat another like this.

But, and this is crucial, the church only teaches men to treat women like this, not vice versa. This is what has to stop.

If I admit that this man was just looking for two metal objects that interact, then could I overlook the image he chose? I don't think so. He chose a tool and a passive object. The message is clear. Men have agency and women do not.

But in the secular world the male is a certain shape and the female has her shape, and they go together on more equal terms. I think that is how it goes with plumbing, for example.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Excellent illustrations.

If the hammer and nail represent complementarity, then so do master and slave since both are human. Your picture of hardware is truly complementary; there's a reason such parts are called "male" and "female" by the technicians who use them. But nobody calls a hammer male and a nail female-- except patriarchalists.

Anonymous said...

a wonderful example of the abuse of one by another. If you don't mind, I will use it in my seminars on abuse.

Kate Johnson
www.ccada.org

Don said...

Shades of 1984 when the word complementary gets so distorted by those that wish to distort the truth.