creeeeeeepy

[floatingleaf]

Another mind-boggling example of how religion messes with some people's heads:

http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/149022/creepy_christian_patriarchy_movement_shackles_daughters_to_their_fathers_and_homes/

As in, women AGAINST feminism. Because, you know, feminism is so very bad for you. And, apparently, God doesn't like it. Or, in other words, your daddy and your pastor don't like it - which obviously means that God doesn't like it either. *bangs forehead against the wall*

My favorite quote? (...) prime purposes of feminism are to establish a lesbian-socialist republic and to dismantle the family unit (from the pro-patriarchy website Fathers for Life). God(ess) help me!... I LOL-ed so hard I almost fell off the chair. Not that I would necessarily mind a lesbian-socialist republic... but yeah. Sometimes stupidity is so great it achieves accidental brilliance.:/

My next favorite quote (from the notorious preacher Pat Robertson): feminism is a socialist, anti-family political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism, and become lesbians. Now, kindly note the order in which said calamities are listed: "destroying capitalism" seems somehow worse and more terrifying than killing children, but "becoming lesbians" is the ultimate evil. Looks like I started my descent into darkness from the wrong end, LOL. But I often do stuff backwards, so no worries. Now can someone please tell me how to destroy capitalism?... I'd like to get that done before I move on to the witchcraft. Killing children doesn't sound appealing, so I think I'll stop there. Also, no need to leave a husband, since I never had one. See? I messed the whole thing up. I'm not even a "proper" lesbian, since I do get hetero-crushes every once in a while. Maybe I'm just not feminist enough. Because, apparently, heterosexual feminists don't exist (see above). Just like lesbians never have children or start a family. Gahhh. I think I have moved past the stage of being outraged at such vicious nonsense and achieved a state of semi-permanent hysterical amusement. It's a coping mechanism, I'm sure. Otherwise I would probably have to become a terrorist and blow something up. Like Pat Robertson's church, for example.

Yeah. Just this little tidbit to mull over on a Friday night. Will try to catch up on comments/emails over the weekend - no predictable success rate, though.;)

Comments

[dissonant-dream.livejournal.com]

This. I just...I read this with shock and disgust and disbelief and it's bad enough when girls are raised like that but I can't fathom how any woman would choose to live like that.

In a complex world where women have more choices than ever, perhaps the appeal of this lifestyle for both men and women is perpetual female childhood. Men make all decisions and are never told they are wrong, always getting their way, while women are free of any decision-making: a markedly different, albeit less complicated relationship than one between two equals. Only time will tell how far this new movement will spread.

There you go. The ideal world.

How does this exist? (Apparently I'm still outraged, but I can see the path to hysterical amusement. This scares me).

[floatingleaf.livejournal.com]

I can't fathom how any woman would choose to live like that

To most of those women, "liberal" is synonymous with "immoral". They have often been homeschooled and isolated from any "modern world" influences - so even if they do get exposed to 21st century reality at some point, the culture shock they experience is simply too great. Or sometimes they come from abusive families/relationships, and believe that this new highly religious lifestyle is going to protect them from all evil. Sadly, they often find that "biblical" family model is a perfect set-up for abusive men to test their limits.:/

How does this exist?

I think it's actually more political than "spiritual" in nature. Conservative Americans have a terrible phobia of "socialism", which they equal with atheism, which in turn they take to mean "lack of respect for traditional values" (whatever those are) - which somehow implies total moral corruption (I fail to follow that logic, but I've seen it applied enough times to recognize the pattern). So women from conservative families are under a lot of pressure (even internally, from their own subconscious, I think) to not be seen as "liberal" or "feminist". It's like a stigma, you know. So they often stifle their own pesonalities in order to conform. I've been reading this blog for women who escaped the "patriarchy movement", and there is one common element to most of their stories: fear of rejection by their rigidly conservative families/communities etc. at the slightest sign of developing a will of their own. So unless they suffer too much under the yoke and can't take it anymore, they're rather likely to convince themselves that this is all for their own good. A psychological survival mechanism, I think. Very scary and depressing, nonetheless. *sigh*

[dissonant-dream.livejournal.com]

It scares me, deeply, that so many people think that way. In what I consider to be a free and enlightened and modern world. Scary to remember that often it isn't. I feel so bad for those women.

I think you're right about the politics of it, but jeez. It's terrifying.