It's just always so shocking to be reminded of the actual numbers of women's voices in public sphere and in faith-based places. and how small they've been for so long. I think about the millennia of men who have shaped our understanding of the world -- and how much more work there is to do on this. I really appreciate how you're pointing out that women like Swift and Beyonce are pointing the way for more women's voices to move into the foreground of our lives!
Swift herself wrote about how all her elegies eulogized her in her lyrics for The Lakes. She is writing her own narrative and I love this.
I really appreciate your comments on the bible re: so few women. Recently I was doing some reading for a piece on women accused of witchcraft historically and ended up (don’t even ask) reading a book by Beth Alison Barr - The Making of Biblical Womanhood - in which she writes about how the various translations of the bible have seriously altered the way women are portrayed in the text. Moving us away from a time when women preached, to a time when women were barely able to be involved in church life at all. From woman to wife.
It’s more evidence of that deliberate erasure of women and it serves as a tool of the patriarchy.
Loved this piece. Loved the women-dominant Grammy’s. More of all this. xx
Okay, what what what!!?? I’m going to the link next. But also, the ways that men erase women from history to serve their purpose is shameful. I had no idea there were gospels of women that didn’t make the final ‘cut’. Thank you for sharing this!!
I am Christian (Church of England) and I did a project on the long campaign for women to be ordained in the church. Women were finally admitted to ordination in 1994. However, there are still male vicars and bishops who never ordain women and can ordain men who don’t believe women should be in church leadership. I also did a talk at church about women in the Bible - or lack thereof - and cited many verses where women were encouraged to preach and to be included. It was when the Romans adopted Christianity as their religion that the patriarchy got the upper hand. I also point out that though Paul said the Bible was God-breathed, it was translated by men and was translated again and again - by men. I’d love to read a gospel written by a woman. Especially Mary. We’d get far more detail than “Lo! A baby is born in the city of David”, she’d describe how he was as a boy, perhaps mention how mortified she was when he went missing for three days in Jerusalem. Or one by Mary and Martha. That would be cool.
Anyway, I started with a quote from my sister’s partner who believes women have achieved equality because he sees women everywhere. I ended with my response to that - we’ve always been here, you just never noticed before.
Wow, thank you for sharing! I think all of us (myself included) should get an education in how these texts came to be. So much editing, shaping, hermeneutics to serve the politics and angle of different powerful groups (of men.)
Then they are used to justify an “ancient” “natural” order 🙄
Absolutely. If you read Genesis chapter one, God created men and women equal. In chapter two, Eve was created as a helpmeet for Adam. Then Eve was tempted by the serpent and Adam was all “she made me do it”. I think the general consensus is that Moses wrote Genesis and my working theory is that he added chapter two to justify the subjugation of women. And ever since women have been erased from history. As they say, well-behaved women rarely make history, and even the badly behaved ones get forgotten too.
We must keep using our voices. Men take up so much space - physically, socially, emotionally, noisily…you name it. My husband hates it when I point out man spreading - But that’s just another way they take up space.
Moses didn't actually write the Torah. The differing accounts of creation are because they were written by different authors, certainly with different purposes, and renegotiated repeatedly throughout history and translation.
All of this is so good and so true. And despite writing a book aaaalll about sexism, it never ceases to make me mad when I hear a new statistic about women’s erasure like their voices make up 1% of the bible. JFC!!!
It's just always so shocking to be reminded of the actual numbers of women's voices in public sphere and in faith-based places. and how small they've been for so long. I think about the millennia of men who have shaped our understanding of the world -- and how much more work there is to do on this. I really appreciate how you're pointing out that women like Swift and Beyonce are pointing the way for more women's voices to move into the foreground of our lives!
Swift herself wrote about how all her elegies eulogized her in her lyrics for The Lakes. She is writing her own narrative and I love this.
I really appreciate your comments on the bible re: so few women. Recently I was doing some reading for a piece on women accused of witchcraft historically and ended up (don’t even ask) reading a book by Beth Alison Barr - The Making of Biblical Womanhood - in which she writes about how the various translations of the bible have seriously altered the way women are portrayed in the text. Moving us away from a time when women preached, to a time when women were barely able to be involved in church life at all. From woman to wife.
It’s more evidence of that deliberate erasure of women and it serves as a tool of the patriarchy.
Loved this piece. Loved the women-dominant Grammy’s. More of all this. xx
Many of us don’t know (I didn’t until well into adulthood) that There were many gospels from women, including the Gospel of Mary, that were removed from later “approved” version of the Bible by male Catholic Church leaders ex: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5451v7g8#:~:text=The%20Gospel%20of%20Mary%20is,to%20the%20early%20Christian%20movement.
Okay, what what what!!?? I’m going to the link next. But also, the ways that men erase women from history to serve their purpose is shameful. I had no idea there were gospels of women that didn’t make the final ‘cut’. Thank you for sharing this!!
Thx so much Natalie and thx for sharing this! Wow that book sounds fantastic. We don’t even know what we don’t know about women !
I am Christian (Church of England) and I did a project on the long campaign for women to be ordained in the church. Women were finally admitted to ordination in 1994. However, there are still male vicars and bishops who never ordain women and can ordain men who don’t believe women should be in church leadership. I also did a talk at church about women in the Bible - or lack thereof - and cited many verses where women were encouraged to preach and to be included. It was when the Romans adopted Christianity as their religion that the patriarchy got the upper hand. I also point out that though Paul said the Bible was God-breathed, it was translated by men and was translated again and again - by men. I’d love to read a gospel written by a woman. Especially Mary. We’d get far more detail than “Lo! A baby is born in the city of David”, she’d describe how he was as a boy, perhaps mention how mortified she was when he went missing for three days in Jerusalem. Or one by Mary and Martha. That would be cool.
Anyway, I started with a quote from my sister’s partner who believes women have achieved equality because he sees women everywhere. I ended with my response to that - we’ve always been here, you just never noticed before.
Wow, thank you for sharing! I think all of us (myself included) should get an education in how these texts came to be. So much editing, shaping, hermeneutics to serve the politics and angle of different powerful groups (of men.)
Then they are used to justify an “ancient” “natural” order 🙄
Absolutely. If you read Genesis chapter one, God created men and women equal. In chapter two, Eve was created as a helpmeet for Adam. Then Eve was tempted by the serpent and Adam was all “she made me do it”. I think the general consensus is that Moses wrote Genesis and my working theory is that he added chapter two to justify the subjugation of women. And ever since women have been erased from history. As they say, well-behaved women rarely make history, and even the badly behaved ones get forgotten too.
We must keep using our voices. Men take up so much space - physically, socially, emotionally, noisily…you name it. My husband hates it when I point out man spreading - But that’s just another way they take up space.
Thank you, Lane ❤️
Moses didn't actually write the Torah. The differing accounts of creation are because they were written by different authors, certainly with different purposes, and renegotiated repeatedly throughout history and translation.
Thank you for correcting me. I do sometimes go off on an “I know best” when I should really check. Also thank you for being gentle with me.
All of this is so good and so true. And despite writing a book aaaalll about sexism, it never ceases to make me mad when I hear a new statistic about women’s erasure like their voices make up 1% of the bible. JFC!!!