"Ladies Against Feminism"
You heard me: Ladies Against Feminism. A friend of my writing site discovered the Xanga blogring and was somewhat horrified with what she found. Quite frankly, I'm not surprised. I am, however, somewhat appalled.
What follows is the response I was going to write in her comments section until it started getting too long and I decided to post it here instead.
Bare bones: feminism is about equality. Therefore, logically, to be "against feminism" is to be against equality for women.
(I read 'Mrs Chancey's' opening letter and was forced to last.fm 'Ani Defranco' just to get through it without exploding. Poor argument aside, I honestly think 'Mrs Chancey' has some very good points about being a "godly woman" - all pulled straight from the Bible, of course - however her overwhelming insistence that all godly women want to get married and have children and be housewives was amazingly irritating.)
I believe that not being for equality will only hurt women in the future. I also believe that a woman can be a godly woman, be married and have children, be a housewife and still be a 'feminist'. I also believe that an unmarried, childless, feminist career-woman can be a 'godly woman'.
Say what you like about LAF and Mrs. Chancey in her defense, but the fact of the matter is she, if not stated, implied that the only way to be a 'godly woman' is to be a mother and a wife of a godly man while keeping the commandments of Christ.
Absolute crap. Yah, most Christians don't recognize the book of Judith (which I don't understand since we recognize the book of Ruth), but Judith was single (yes, because her husband was dead, however she was single); hers is also the story of a strong, single, childless, godly woman who used her sexuality (yah, it's true) to save her community from the Assyrians. And it bloody worked, too.
Another thing Mrs Chancey states that is amazingly contrary to the name of her organization, is that they at LAF are not against Feminists, but Feminism. This doesn't really say anything AT ALL. All this says is that she's willing to talk openly with you, but she'll still reject your lifestyle. Being a feminist, hopefully, means embodying what you believe in - mainly, equality for women. And I don't think you can really say that you are not against Feminists, but be against Feminism. (She might as well just boil it down to 'Love the Sinner; Hate the Sin' - something I actually believe in, but only when you're not actually passing judgment on the person because of their sin.)
What she's not stating, and therefore not acknowledging, is that LAF is against the crusade that SOME women have hidden behind the slogan of 'feminism'. She's leaving out the human element. She states very clearly that all humans are flawed. She writes "I'm a human being with a human spouse and human children." meaning that they are not perfect. No shit. We're sinners all, the Bible tells us so.
The Bible also tells us we have a little something called "Free Volition", or "Free Will". This is the basic belief that man must go to God when they are ready to accept his love and salvation. But this also applies to other aspects of life and is, somewhat abstractly, what that little line in the Enlightenment movement and the Declaration of Independence is talking about: all men are created equal with "certain unalienable rights" -- man has the right to "life, liberty and property/pursuit of happiness". OR if you've ever seen "Saved!", Patrick is impressed by wotshername Jena Malone because "God gave us all free will and that day at Hilary-Faye's you weren't afraid to use it."
I suppose this is a rather long-winded way of saying:
that Feminism is not 'anti-Christian' and to imply that it is is absurdly ridiculous;
Christians are not necessarily anti-feminist and to imply that is also absurd;
if you're going to use fallacies when making an argument, use them well -- don't half-ass you're argument, otherwise you'll lose you're reader;
there are also peoples' reasons for becoming a feminist - peoples' motivations affect how they act and what they do in the name of 'feminism' - example: a woman who has 'daddy' issues is going to be vocal about things another feminist, sans daddy issues, isn't going to be vocal about - some women legitimately become feminists because they believe in equality for all people;
if a woman identifies herself as a 'feminist' it does not mean that she a) hates men, b) is a lesbian, c) is a 'bra-burner', d) is a socialist, e) doesn't want to get married and have children, f) is immoral, g) is for 'Slut Feminism', h) is against 'Slut Feminism', i) is anti-family, j) is pro-abortion, k) is going out of her way to disrupt the American (or otherwise) Family -- I think most people, feminists included, understand this brilliant statement penned by Steve Moffat, "Girls, shag one of these [men] or it's curtains for the entire race. They don't realize that if it weren't for the biological need to populate the earth they wouldn't get a date!".
In short, as a Christian woman, I think LAF is laughable and absurd. If you have the strong, deep desire to be a godly housewife and mother and homeschool your kids and instill Christian values in your progeny then: Mazel Tov! God will give you the desires of your heart. If you have absolutely no desire for any of that, guess what? God will give you the desires of your heart. We are living in a day and age when women have more options than they've ever had before. And I know I've said this many many many times before, but I still strongly encourage woman - all women - to seek out those other things in life and find happiness on their own terms. If, in the end, you want to share your life with someone else and/or mother a child, by all means, do just that. But if it's marriage, make sure it's the right bloke. And if its children, make sure you can take care of it.
EDIT: I completely forgot I was going to give this link to Eagle Forum; just to give another perspective, that of a conservative feminist.
What follows is the response I was going to write in her comments section until it started getting too long and I decided to post it here instead.
Bare bones: feminism is about equality. Therefore, logically, to be "against feminism" is to be against equality for women.
(I read 'Mrs Chancey's' opening letter and was forced to last.fm 'Ani Defranco' just to get through it without exploding. Poor argument aside, I honestly think 'Mrs Chancey' has some very good points about being a "godly woman" - all pulled straight from the Bible, of course - however her overwhelming insistence that all godly women want to get married and have children and be housewives was amazingly irritating.)
I believe that not being for equality will only hurt women in the future. I also believe that a woman can be a godly woman, be married and have children, be a housewife and still be a 'feminist'. I also believe that an unmarried, childless, feminist career-woman can be a 'godly woman'.
Say what you like about LAF and Mrs. Chancey in her defense, but the fact of the matter is she, if not stated, implied that the only way to be a 'godly woman' is to be a mother and a wife of a godly man while keeping the commandments of Christ.
Absolute crap. Yah, most Christians don't recognize the book of Judith (which I don't understand since we recognize the book of Ruth), but Judith was single (yes, because her husband was dead, however she was single); hers is also the story of a strong, single, childless, godly woman who used her sexuality (yah, it's true) to save her community from the Assyrians. And it bloody worked, too.
Another thing Mrs Chancey states that is amazingly contrary to the name of her organization, is that they at LAF are not against Feminists, but Feminism. This doesn't really say anything AT ALL. All this says is that she's willing to talk openly with you, but she'll still reject your lifestyle. Being a feminist, hopefully, means embodying what you believe in - mainly, equality for women. And I don't think you can really say that you are not against Feminists, but be against Feminism. (She might as well just boil it down to 'Love the Sinner; Hate the Sin' - something I actually believe in, but only when you're not actually passing judgment on the person because of their sin.)
What she's not stating, and therefore not acknowledging, is that LAF is against the crusade that SOME women have hidden behind the slogan of 'feminism'. She's leaving out the human element. She states very clearly that all humans are flawed. She writes "I'm a human being with a human spouse and human children." meaning that they are not perfect. No shit. We're sinners all, the Bible tells us so.
The Bible also tells us we have a little something called "Free Volition", or "Free Will". This is the basic belief that man must go to God when they are ready to accept his love and salvation. But this also applies to other aspects of life and is, somewhat abstractly, what that little line in the Enlightenment movement and the Declaration of Independence is talking about: all men are created equal with "certain unalienable rights" -- man has the right to "life, liberty and property/pursuit of happiness". OR if you've ever seen "Saved!", Patrick is impressed by wotshername Jena Malone because "God gave us all free will and that day at Hilary-Faye's you weren't afraid to use it."
I suppose this is a rather long-winded way of saying:
that Feminism is not 'anti-Christian' and to imply that it is is absurdly ridiculous;
Christians are not necessarily anti-feminist and to imply that is also absurd;
if you're going to use fallacies when making an argument, use them well -- don't half-ass you're argument, otherwise you'll lose you're reader;
there are also peoples' reasons for becoming a feminist - peoples' motivations affect how they act and what they do in the name of 'feminism' - example: a woman who has 'daddy' issues is going to be vocal about things another feminist, sans daddy issues, isn't going to be vocal about - some women legitimately become feminists because they believe in equality for all people;
if a woman identifies herself as a 'feminist' it does not mean that she a) hates men, b) is a lesbian, c) is a 'bra-burner', d) is a socialist, e) doesn't want to get married and have children, f) is immoral, g) is for 'Slut Feminism', h) is against 'Slut Feminism', i) is anti-family, j) is pro-abortion, k) is going out of her way to disrupt the American (or otherwise) Family -- I think most people, feminists included, understand this brilliant statement penned by Steve Moffat, "Girls, shag one of these [men] or it's curtains for the entire race. They don't realize that if it weren't for the biological need to populate the earth they wouldn't get a date!".
In short, as a Christian woman, I think LAF is laughable and absurd. If you have the strong, deep desire to be a godly housewife and mother and homeschool your kids and instill Christian values in your progeny then: Mazel Tov! God will give you the desires of your heart. If you have absolutely no desire for any of that, guess what? God will give you the desires of your heart. We are living in a day and age when women have more options than they've ever had before. And I know I've said this many many many times before, but I still strongly encourage woman - all women - to seek out those other things in life and find happiness on their own terms. If, in the end, you want to share your life with someone else and/or mother a child, by all means, do just that. But if it's marriage, make sure it's the right bloke. And if its children, make sure you can take care of it.
EDIT: I completely forgot I was going to give this link to Eagle Forum; just to give another perspective, that of a conservative feminist.