On the verge of hysterics? I ask you a question and you say I'm on the verge of hysterics...puh-leeze...this is a calm, logical discussion. In fact, I commend you for not retreating behind your apostate radar screen and actually having the balls to come out and chat with me like this. It's not a very common experience for me!
So tell me about the way you treat women with deep respect. Do you force them to stick a dishcloth on their heads if they have to say a prayer in the presence of a young boy? Do you call DFing a woman for not crying out during a rape when she had a gun to her head respect?
If this is the kind of respect your religion teaches you, I think you need to do some serious thinking about the meaning of the term 'respect.
Dictionary.com:
re·spect Pronunciation Key (r-spkt)
tr.v. re·spect·ed, re·spect·ing, re·spects
To feel or show deferential regard for; esteem.
To avoid violation of or interference with: respect the speed limit.
To relate or refer to; concern.
n.
A feeling of appreciative, often deferential regard; esteem. See Synonyms at regard.
The state of being regarded with honor or esteem.
Willingness to show consideration or appreciation.
respects Polite expressions of consideration or deference: pay one's respects.
The way I see it (which you don't seem to care about) is that the WTBTS treats women HORRIBLY. They are basically forced into being lower-class people. They have to show submission to the men in the Congregation. They have to wear dishcloths over their head to show their submission to a bunch of ludicrous principles engineered by the GB.
And they are not allowed to question this.
You question what the Society teaches, and you are out. You don't question what the Society teaches and your child dies due to a lack of a vital medical operation, and they change their policy (which would have saved your child's life if it had been done sooner) and you question that, and you're out. Lovely. Does the word dictatorship ring a bell here, anyone? Big Brother is watching you!
That is the worst part of the whole mess.
I've posted a giant rant about this before elsewhere, when someone said something similiar to what you said. I won't insult you by repeating it here, I respect the fact that you are quite intelligent enough to go and find it yourself.
YouKnow, women are not our slaves. They are not our servants. They are our partners, and they should be treated not as equals, but as complements, for a man is not a woman's equal, nor is a woman the equal of a man.
Prove me wrong here. Come on. Take your best shot.
And, of course, without referring to your Holy Book.
The earlier in the forenoon you take the sun bath, the greater will be the beneficial effect, because you get more of the ultra-violet rays, which are healing. - The Golden Age