tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post2290721234008727097..comments2024-01-29T06:02:39.583-08:00Comments on Suzanne's Bookshelf: World Vision and Gender EquitySuzanne McCarthyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07033350578895908993noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-86103118395154543102007-08-25T22:45:00.000-07:002007-08-25T22:45:00.000-07:00Matthew,There is no society where domestic violenc...Matthew,<BR/><BR/>There is no society where domestic violence is not, to some extent, normalized. It is very hard to get statistics but they range from one in ten to one in five marriages, whether Christian or not. This is in North America. <BR/><BR/>The cause it usually a combination, but includes a belief in male entitlement. <BR/><BR/>There is no excuse for any society to support the unilateral submission of one partner. It is a power imbalance and leads to unmeasured grief, deprivation of people entering into full spiritual maturity on both sides. What purpose can God have in teaching that relations between Christians, as brother and sister, are reciprocal, but between husband and wife they are in a relationship of authority and submission. <BR/><BR/>Either that is abandoned quietly or there is no intimacy. My parents were old time Brethren and my Mom stayed home and cared for her 8 children. Submission never entered into it. She made many decisions on her own, they made decisions together, he made some and so on. This was never a problem. They lived in equitable peace. <BR/><BR/>When guests came over my Mom was often the one who discussed the scriptures with them, along with my Dad, equally. There was no hierarchy. They were intellectual and functional equals.Suzanne McCarthyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07033350578895908993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19505042.post-70083415873643772472007-08-25T03:03:00.000-07:002007-08-25T03:03:00.000-07:00I am not sure World Vision is an organisation I wo...I am not sure World Vision is an organisation I would necessarilly support, but I am sure they do some good work.<BR/><BR/>I do not think Evangelicals appreciate the contextual difficulties in importing their gener assumptions.<BR/><BR/>The big problem with the conservative Evangelical discourse on gender is the fact that it ignores or marginalizes violence against women. There is an operative assumption that violence against women is sub-normal and therefore can be excluded from the discourse of male-female relations.<BR/><BR/>A friend of mine was a missionary in Albania. He once overheard to men talking about him:<BR/><BR/>Man 1: Do you think that missionary, Andrew, beats his wife?<BR/><BR/>Man 2: Of course he does, every man beats his wife!<BR/><BR/>The big question is; in a situation where male to female violence is normalised and accepted, how does the Biblical Manhood and Womanhood message come across? Does it not justify and re-inforce male to female violence in the absence of any adequate repression of such assumptions?<BR/><BR/>Advocates of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood really need to do some hard thinking.<BR/><BR/>Every Blessing in Christ<BR/><BR/>MatthewMatthew Celestinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02874430461346560520noreply@blogger.com