Did the second-class status of JW women ever bother you? Does it now?

by True North 35 Replies latest jw friends

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  Maverick

  As a dud sheep I went with the program. But I failed the WTS in that I raised my daughter to be all that she can be. And by the age of 12 she thought the WTS was full of crap and run by a bunch of woman-hating whimps. Which is true by the way. I am proud of her. My goal was to raise my child to be better than me, smarter, stronger, and with greater and more deeply rooted qualities. And at 19 I see that she is fast surpassing me in all those areas.

  A modern girl at 12 years old could see beyond the WTS. They are dinosaurs and heading to the abyss!Maverick
• 

  Gretchen956

  right on, gaiagirl! I HIGHLY recommend the above list of books on your post. Excellent reading!

  Gretchen
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  blondie

  The Biblical laws against fornication were to protect the economic value of a man's daughters, as a virgin was economically worthless. Therefore, a man who "corrupted" a virgin was essentially a thief. Similarly, adultery was condemned because one man had stolen "property" which belonged to another man.

  Proof that it was an issue of property not immorality is in the fact that an engaged or married woman who was found guilty of sexual immorality was executed. An unengaged virgin girl was not, her father was paid a sum of money by the man who had sex with her.

  Blondie
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  shotgun

  Always bothered me....made me feel like outside the hall we put on an air that we were so different from other fundementalist religions yet inside the hall we lived by a different standard.

  I was an MS for years and at times the workload was crazy. Yet the congregation was full of sisters who were not only better teachers they also knew the scriptures better seeing that half of the brothers got their wives to prepare their talks.

  Seems the way women are treated in the hall is based on what Paul said and not what Jesus said.

  Remember Paul, the Apostle chosen by Jesus and directed by him in what to say and where to go, then when he visits Jeruselam he talks to a couple disciples to see if he's preaching the correct message. If he truly believed he was guided directly by Jesus why would he even wonder if his mesage was correct, they should have been checking to see if they're message was correct.
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  True North

  Marriage among most of these cultures was an exchange of property between men, with the woman having little if any say in the matter, and this survives today in the custom of the brides father "giving her away" to her husband.

  gaiagirl,

  I hadn't really thought about that one before. (No surprise there: I'm sure there are a lot of things I haven't thought about that I should.) That is kind of a strange one, isn't it; the groom is certainly not "given away", is he? I also doubt that most American brides these days who include this ritual in their wedding ceremonies have really thought much about what it implies or what its origins or significance must have been. Kind of makes me think of the Shirley Jackson story "The Lottery".
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  itsallgoodnow

  the groom is certainly not "given away", is he? I also doubt that most American brides these days who include this ritual in their wedding ceremonies have really thought much about what it implies or what its origins or significance must have been.

  Kinda makes me wonder why the WTS didn't decide the origin of that particular ritual was not to their liking. Is it like they are saying, "birthdays and holidays are out, but go ahead and give away your daughters like they are some kind of property" ?
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  Cicatrix

  Yes and Yes! It's one reason why I feel alienated from the Christian religion.

  "OK. I have to disagree with this. With the exception of breastfeeding & giving birth, I can do pretty much anything that Mrs. O can do, and vice versa"

  Hey Mr O,

  Actually, men CAN theoretically breastfeed, so the differences between you and Mrs O are even fewer than you thought:)

  http://www.freebirth.com/milkmen.htm
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  Atilla

  The whole second-class status bothered me especially when it came to giving talks. It always seemed like talk no 3 for the sisters was merely "window dressing" in order for there to be some appearance of equality in the org. for women. However, even though there was about the same number of men and women in our congregation, women only ended up giving a talk like every 3 or 4 months compared to me who ended up giving a talk atleast once if not twice a month. That's why it sucked.
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  Dan-O

  the differences between you and Mrs O are even fewer than you thought

  I'm grateful for some of those differences, though.
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  bem

  Even tho' I told myself we were honored. My mind knew better. I have the highest respect for older folks or ones who have challenges to overcome so it really disappointed me to see ones in cong. not value aged sis's that had been active for years but were now treated as a burden. I seen it in car groups for service some would argue about who was gonna get "stuck" with certain ones seen men and women both do this. Had a couple elders always reminding us we were beneath them for a reason...They said so do not forget it.