what's in it for the women???

by chelsea 45 Replies latest jw friends

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  Madame Quixote

  For one, a built-in social network. For women who didn't have very nurturing mothers, they can find surrogate "mothers" in the congregation. For co-dependents, there is a never ending supply of people who need to be "helped." Ambitious women can control a tremendous amount of the tone of the congregation with social gatherings, and influencing their husbands. Praise and rewards for being "traditional," it's very easy to get kudos for being a stay-at-home mom when you're a witness. "Headship" means never having to be responsible for bad decisions, since the "head of the house" is the primary (some say ONLY) decision maker of consequence in the family.

  Yes, women give up lots of power to be JWs, but if you can get past the mind-bending, thought-numbing cultishness of it all, there are definite bonuses. Just ask my mother.

  I'm not saying any of those things would be motivators for healthy, happy women, but they are getting something out of it.

  Very, very insightful, and very true from my observations and experience, Odrade. Also, jgnat, what you said makes me think not just about the jws who do this (blamegame), but some of us xjws who are having trouble moving on. It is very easy to fall into that trap from either side of the proverbial jw/xjw fence. In many ways I feel the time I spend here is well spent, but sometimes I wonder, what other things will I do and accomplish, if I just walk away from this computer/xjw boards and never glue myself to it again, instead of incessantly bitching about the jws and most particularly about my abandoning family . . .
• 

  Madame Quixote

  There are a lot of people who like the status quo - whether it is because of it being familiar pain or familiarly easy - no matter if one is a jw and no matter if one is male or female.
• 

  Honesty

  The Watchtower cult has fooled the JW's into believing that headship means domination and submission.

  Because their demon god treats the congregations like shit that makes it OK for the JW men to treat their women like shit too.

  Look at the way Christ treats His church today and you see how men should treat their women.

  Real men treat their women as side-by-side partners.

  Most of the men in the JW cult treat their women from the top down just like a dictatorship.
• 

  brunnhilde

  As several have noted, for normal, mentally healthy women, absolutely nothing. Oh wait, there's guilt, humiliation, being forced to keep quiet no matter how moronic the bright-eyed teenager Bethel stud wannabe is, oh yeah, just a regular embarrassment of riches! Anybody ever have the joy of walking up to an elder, bound volume in hand so he can read it to show him where he effed up since we were not to correct a man and instead let the "publication" do it? BLECH! I think part of why I keep reading JWD is so I don't forget just how horrendous it was to be in there!
• 

  onlycurious

  Loosie....

  "Hair must be really sexy."

  Hair IS very sexy....just not on my legs or pits..... :) At least not in my hubby's book. :0
• 

  onlycurious

  It must be the SEX!!!
• 

  fullofdoubtnow

  The watchtower have written quite a bit about the place of women in the congregation, some it somewhat insulting, like this article from the August 22 1961 awake

  The apostle Paul, in giving instructions on congregational meetings of Christians, stated, among other things: "I do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man." (1 Tim. 2:12)......

  This rule is based on a principle that governs the relations between the sexes, namely: "The head of every man i s the Christ; in turn the head of a woman is the man; in turn the head of the Christ is God," (1 Cor. 11:3) The logic of headship must be apparent to all. If two or more intelligent persons are to cooperate, there must be organization, and for organization to be successful there must be a head. That Jehovah God, the Father, is the Head of his Son, Jesus Christ, is obvious; also, that his Son should be the head of his congregation. But not so readily appreciated is the statement that man exercise headship over the woman and that therefore woman should not exercise authority over the man.

  However, the facts show that the headship of a man is both somatically and psychologically sound and in the best interests of all concerned, even as we shall see. Thus a leading authority on the human body (soma), Gray's Anatomy (1966 Edition), tells the interesting fact that as regards the human skull there is no difference between the male and the female until the time of puberty; but then as adulthood is reached the difference becomes more and more apparent. The female skull is lighter and its cranial capacity is about 10 percent smaller than that of a male, even as is the rest of the anatomy. The contour of the female skull is also more rounded and the facial bones are smoother. Apparently, with the lines of beauty goes less rugged strength.

  True, mere brain size in itself is not as important as brain quality, but where the quality is the same the larger brain size has an advantage. Thus Science News, April 1, 1967, told of twenty African children who were so extremely undernourished in the first few years of their lives that "head circumferences...averages an inch less that the others, indicating smaller brain." And over the years all these were found to have verbal, mathematical and perceptual capabilities far below those of other children. Implicit in these findings is that man is advantaged by a greater brain size

  http://www.quotes-watchtower.co.uk/women.html

  So there you have it - men have bigger heads brains than women, so it makes sense that they excercise headship.
• 

  jgnat

  <--------- intellectual lightweight checking in.

  Madame Quixote, you are quite right that we should regularly reflect on WHY we hang out here. We all can't be Danny Haszards, haunting shopping centre parking lots with our billboarded K-car, handing out anti-witness literature, and browsing google news for hits. For Danny, it works. It gives him a vocation and purpose. It sure beats sitting at home watching his colostomy bag fill up.

  I can't wallow forever. I stay to help.
• 

  Blueblades

  What's in it for women? " THE PRIZE, THE CARROT!" They thought that they too would get the prize, Remember the kingdom song, "Keep Your Eyes on The Prize" You can live forever on a Paradise Earth! This was and still is the hook that captures the emotions of some six million men women and children.

  Once women become JW's they soon find out that it's not all sweet smelling roses, unless you belong to the elite good old boys and sisters club.

  Blueblades
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  eclipse

  I wasn't part of that ''social network'', so being a JW woman was the most loneliest and depressing time of my life. -now ends my bitch fest.