Women and Religion

Some people think that feminism has done its job, that women are "equal" and can do anything they like and should stop their whining, and that all feminists do now is sit around arguing about the political correctness of blowjobs.

To those people I say, you should be paying closer attention.

I could give you statistics about the gender gap in wages. I could write about how sexual harrassment is still a fact of life for most women. I could write oodles about reproductive rights and how they are being eroded in America today. I could write about how the government seems okay with letting women die, whether it's from cervical cancer or complications from pregnancy. Or how women of child-bearing age are being told to view themselves as "pre-pregnant": in other words, baby-making machines.

But I've written about all of that before, and many other people are doing an excellent job of keeping up with it all.

I'd like to bring it back to the basics again here. Because yesterday I saw this:

If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt and politics, what would you do? Hoo-boy, this is where I get in trouble, and that starts with “T” and that rhymes with “P” and that stands for “pool.” I’d like to jump in a pool right now. Some may tell me to jump in a river for this one: I would remove women’s suffrage, and I might even consider making voting rights tied to property ownership.

That was written by a woman. A woman whose website makes it very clear that she is devoted to her religion, or at least her interpretation of what that religion is.

And so now I suppose I must talk about religion. Clare writes:

A widely held belief (even in the femosphere) is that religious women are somehow downtrodden, serving and suffering under a patriarchal rule. Whilst this may be the case for some women, it is not the case for all, and even if it is the case, it may also be their choice to submit to these rules.

It's pretty obvious by now that I am not religious, and although I try, I often have serious difficulties respecting the religion of others. Because in many cases, those religions teach that everything about me is abhorrent. And how can I respect someone who feels that way about me?

I do not think it is right for feminists to disparage the choices of other women. The whole point is supposed to be choice. So I can respect the choice of a woman who decides to stay home and take care of her children, even if I don't understand it and wouldn't choose it for myself. I can respect the choice of a woman who chooses to observe a religion and make her own choices on the basis of that religion.

What I cannot and will not respect is when women decide that it is their choice to take away the choices of other women.

Whether it is abortion or voting rights, there are people out there who want to make sure that women have sub-human status in society. And some of those people are women. I can't understand it, and I can't ignore it. These arguments regarding women's subhumanity are often based on religious arguments, and are therefore supposed to be given more respect.

Well, if we're supposed to respect religion, shouldn't we be respecting ALL religions? How about Islam? Not so widely respected in America today, what with the Modern Crusades... How about Buddhism? Buddhism doesn't say anything about women serving men. No, this is not about respect for religion. This is about one mainstream religion (Protestant Christianity, I suppose) trying to make a case for theocracy. People use it as a flag to wave ("family values!" "god-fearing"! etc.) to give their sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic beliefs some weight.

Is religion bad for women? In some cases, the answer is yes. But it certainly doesn't have to be. Unfortunately, the version of religion being advocated today all over the world (whether it is Christianity or Islam) is often about putting women, and other subhumans, back in their "place." Can women choose to follow these religions? I suppose so, but I often suspect that if they were given more choices in life, they would not do so. Maybe I am wrong, and maybe my atheism makes me insensitive. However, my primary issue here is not what individual women choose to do in their own lives. I have a problem with women who think they should get to decide what others should be doing. I don't go from door to door telling women that they have to have abortions and get careers and shave their heads and wear pants. Why should they get to tell me that I have to have babies and stay home and cook dinner for my husband and have no say in our government?

Submitted to the 18th Carnival of Feminists.