Sisters and the Double Standard in the Hall

by Apognophos 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  LongHairGal

  APOGNOPHOS:

  They would 'corner' you and ask nosey questions about your job and finances. This happened more than once.

  Not that they wouldn't do this to a brother but they got out of hand and vocal with trying to lay guilt trips (I always felt there was a measure of jealousy involved, ie, they thought you had "no" problems..)

  I suspected one of them tried to use an older woman there to try to wear me down. I suppose I was an anomaly compared to some of the gullible women there, but that's too bad.

  Sorry, those are all the details I care to provide.
• 

  pontoon

  Used to have a sister audit our accounts. She was a bookeeper. Did a great job, on time. That was back when we used spreadsheets. Brothers never questioned it because they were happy not to do it. Then some new Circuit Overseer put a stop to that in a real hurry. I did the accounts before I was a MS and became the account servant after I was appointed MS. When that sister stopped doing the audits the brothers had to take turns doing the audit and it was seldom done as well and about never on time. Pontoon, Hudson Valley NY
• 

  At last the truth
• 

  blondie

  Actually women did not give talks in the school until 1959. Brothers had been doing that since 1943 (16 years later women get to talk).

  Notice that men give talks to the audience and the origiinal purpose of the TMS starting in 1943 was to train public speakers not to talk to people at the door. In fact men never are trained to talk to people at the door. It could be why many brothers sound like they are giving a public talk at the door never giving the homeowner a chance to say anything.

  *** yb75 p. 197 Part 3—United States of America ***

  Does that sound familiar? If you are one of Jehovah’s witnesses, you know what started over three decades ago at Brooklyn Bethel—the Theocratic Ministry School. Soon other praisers of Jehovah were benefiting from this education too. At their “Call to Action” Assembly, held in 247 cities throughout the United States on April 17 and 18, 1943, the “Course in Theocratic Ministry” was announced and demonstrated. A surprise printed release bearing the same name was a 96-page booklet that told how to conduct the new school in each congregation and also furnished information for weekly instruction talks. The appointed school instructor was to act as chairman and offer constructive counsel on six-minute student talks, delivered on various Biblical topics by male enrollees.

  *** w59 2/15 p. 120 Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses ***

  The thirty-minute discussion of “Theocratic School for Fearless Ministers” stirred up a sustained applause when the speaker, the Society’s president, sprang a surprise on his combined audience of 173,079 Friday night. What was it? That, from the beginning of 1959, sisters in the congregations were to be privileged to enroll in the weekly Theocratic Ministry School. They would then take part in the platform presentations to the extent of demonstrating how to give six-minute sermons to people at their homes, these sermons being based on an assigned number of pages in the new publication entitled “From Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained.” This was for the sisters a really serious assignment in the Theocratic Ministry School, for they were to be counseled afterward by the school servant on their presentation. This talk on how the program of the school will thus be expanded was followed by an hour-long platform demonstration of a School session that combined the new feature. There were the usual instruction talk and two student talks first by three brothers, but then at the close there came two six-minute sermons, each given by a sister from the Brooklyn Bethel headquarters family to another sister playing a counterpart. Each of the two sisters giving the sermons was then counseled by the school servant, the same as the two brothers giving student talks had been counseled.

  I can remember many older sisters that wondered out loud why giving a talk on the platform was not teaching....in fact the audience learned more of how to talk to someone one on one about the bible than any brother did giving a public talk. Or heard a well-though out comment from a sister that prompted a growth of knowledge.
• 

  booker-t

  I remember in the late 70s when I was in elementary school my JW aunt who has been a JW for over 45 years temporaily conducted our book study on Monday nites because our book study conductor Bro Simmons was in the hospital for about 3 weeks(he was also one of our elders). My aunt did a great job as many of the witnesses praised her after the book study was over. She had to wear a scarf on her head and if I remember she asked one of the teenage brothers who was not baptized to give the prayer.
• 

  TD

  Okay, so this means that a sister has to speak to a householder when on the platform, so she isn't addressing us herself and teaching us something. Gotcha.

  I've never understood that. Aren't the people giving talks on that night students and therefore by definition not teachers?
• 

  Band on the Run

  Does it make any sense that a piece of tissue or napkin on your hair negate your evil vagina? It remiinds me of burning "demonic" items. Is Satan, a spiritual being, truly thwarted by fire? Fire can burn physical items. Spiritual creatures are not flesh and blood. They have no atoms for all we done. Satan is a big joke if fire scares Him.

  I could post a rageful post forever. Being female I always felt dirty. My mom was utterly furious about Rutherford "bag of bones and a hank of hair." Our father was convinced we were his possessions b/c of the time he spent with Rutherford. Rutherford, destroyer of women. The man Bethelites spied on as he had his affairs. Marriage was bad until Nathan Knorr married. My parents were shunned in Montclair, NJ b/c they married. The time was so imminent why bother with earthly affairs.

  I received different messages at the KH and the larger culture. The KH treated me as though I were invisible while my brother's penis was worsihpped. They were very short of penises. After decades of kotowing to my JW relatives, feeling rejected, my Maoist underground brother showed up for the first time after 15 years. My uncle told me I must listen to him and obey b/c he had a penis. Well, said, formerly respected uncle, had the trauma of a nonsubjugated women screaming at the top of her longs-what merit is a penis appendange? Women give birth. We do the miraculous. YOu guys have vagina envy.
• 

  Scott77

  marked
• 

  Apognophos

  @TD: Indeed, another good point!

  @blondie: Very interesting, thanks for that info. It's a bit misleading considering that the name of it is Theocratic Ministry School and yet, as you said, it doesn't really train brothers for the ministry, only for giving longer talks, working up to a Sunday talk. No wonder we mostly suck at the door.

  Besides the obvious sexism behind not letting women teach at the meetings, I think it's the height of ridiculousness from a logical standpoint for Witnesses who accept the headship principle to still not let sisters read the Bible or Watchtower in front of the congregation. I say this not so much as a feminist but as someone who can't stand listening to most of the brothers who are assigned to read :-) The TMS overseer reads with as much feeling as a dead fish, and then he counsels me in my Bible readings for not having enough feeling, when I'm putting twice the energy into it that he is....
• 

  Finkelstein

  JWS woman should consider themselves lucky to be let to inside a Kingdom Hall.

  Back in ancient times a woman wasn't even allowed inside the temple of where the Hebrews worshiped.

  But I guess since a woman can be taught to distribute/peddle the WTS. literature door to door, just as a man, well why not.