Annotated Bibliography Burn, S. M., & Busso, J. (2005). Ambivalent sexism, scriptural literalism, and religiosity Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.portal.lib.fit.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c381c461-8e68-4702-94ae-ad1f009371ab%40sessionmgr4001&vid=3&hid=4204. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 29(4), 412-418. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6402.2005.00241.x In this article from the Psychology of Women Quarterly, the authors look into the suggestion that religiosity, "religious belief", and literal biblical interpretations are related to sexism. The study, via questionnaire, was only for Christianity, so there for excluded religions such as Jewish and Islam beliefs. They found that religiosity, and literal biblical interpretations were associated …show more content…
This documentary covers sex from ancient Rome to the Renaissance, topics such as human biology, art, humor, and attitudes. In the Middle Ages, celibacy was considered the only way, and such things as homosexuality and other sexual acts deemed sinful were punishable by death. The church actually would have art and paintings, some sexually explicit, around to depict in full view of what not to do. The Professors in this documentary discuss just how preoccupied the church became in regulating and repressing sex. A male dominated religious belief system grew from the desire to dominate politically. They felt they had a right to restrain and have power over sex. Centuries of sex being a sin has evolved into sex being embarrassing and even to extremes taboo. Religious beliefs are a powerful weapon when it comes to swaying opinions in politics and sex, especially when you are debating about sexuality, and equal rights. This documentary covers all of the sociological theories. Power and politics of the Church with symbolic, conflict and labeling theories used to rewrite and change interpretations of biblical verses in order to rule the masses by …show more content…
The author 's essay shows how the patriarchal society, were Christian symbols are used for dominating people into belief by fear. It was a kind of slavery. This essay has indications of the feminist, conflict, and symbolic interaction theories. She recognizes that women in the bible or in the eyes of the male dominated church have always been less than second-class, like how women should be veiled because she is only the reflection of "man", but men are considered the "image and reflection"
The largest part focuses on the valuation of virginity and taking action as a Protestant, as Argula von Grumbach, in male inaction as doctrinally sound. For the Catholic reformation, Wiesner argues women’s most impressive role came from remedying their husband’s Protestantism, most dramatically in England and Ireland, but not unknown in Italy. Many of the converting practices adopted like homes for repentant prostitutes and foundling homes eventually found place in Orthodox religions under Peter the Great. (241) Jewish women faced similar patriarchal issues as Christian women, with the added pressures of torture, exile, and murder at a governmental level. (250) Muslim women of the period, called “Moriscos” faced marriages similar to those practiced by Catholic women in which conversion dominated their religious involvement.
The changes in gender roles weren’t making everyone happy for examples in the story of The Kingdom of Matthias, Robert Matthews started a religious cult in New York during the 1830’s he came to believe that he was indeed not Robert Matthews, but instead he was Matthias, Prophet of the God of the Jews. Matthias was not happy with any of the changes that was happening in the roles of women, and he was not going to support any of it. His wife Margaret was suffering from the person he had become, he was extremely controlling and once told her that, “She had no God, that the husband was the savior of the wife, that as man was not whole without woman” (Johnson and Wilentz 80). Matthias was bitter because the women of this time had changed into
6 At the same time a large portion of criticism of the castrato was dedicated to his desirability to women, how his infertility allowed a potential female partner to enjoy sex without the possibility of pregnancy; this paper will discuss those more casual conquests and some castrati who married to women despite a papal ban on their doing so. 7 Castrati were desired because of their difference from other men, and acted on desire in spite of it. However, the phenomenon of castrati is a limited one, as Enlightenment sensibilities spawned an obsession with clear categories (sexual dimorphism among them) and the uncovering of ‘Truth’ in ‘natural’ bodies. Enlightened persons could no longer reconcile the “disparities of gender, voice, and body” the castrato demonstrated. 8
Discrimination toward women existed in ancient times, and certainly still persists through today. Women have suffered from prejudice for centuries, but a few religions and societies allowed women status equal or higher than that of men. Ancient Celtic matriarchal society operated with females powerful in religion, marriage, and property ownership. Women could study to become priestesses of the highly revered Mother goddesses. On the other hand, conquering Christians brought with them the end of the Pagan polytheistic priestess tradition in England and replaced Paganism that idolized women with male priests and a male deity with accompanying misogyny.
She speaks from the premise that men and women served in the early church together and provides imagery through examples of the second and third century women who were ordained as deaconesses along with the male deacons, served as mediators and cared for the emotional, physical and spiritual needs of the persecuted and imprisoned. The reader is invited to trek along the ebbs and flow of the presence of women in the daily administration, in Christian art and even as women bishops in the church. However, such demonstration and presence was not met without further opposition as Kjesbo brings to our awareness, the boldness of revisionists who altered faces on the artwork that resembled a woman to make it appear male. One went as far as to change the inscription of a painting of a woman in a mosaic from its feminine form “Episcopa Theodora” into a masculine form of the word by dropping the “ra”, because the Greek form would have authenticated the fact that women bishops were indeed present in the early church.(p.40)
An Exploration into the Roles of Women in Judaism and Christianity The 1991 documentary “Religions of the Book: Women Serving Religion” explores the role of females in the three major monotheistic religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism through the first hand lens of women rising through the ranks of their respective religions. It evaluates the evolution of power women have been allocated in their religious lives throughout history and the effects that feminism has had on this topic. Though the three aforementioned religions are very similar, this essay with focus of the accounts of the Jewish and Christian women as that it what most closely relates to course material. Thus, given the material presented both in class and in the documentary,
The Christian Century articles “Feminist Hermeneutics and Biblical Studies” by Phyllis Trible examines arguments made by feminist scholars about text in the bible that suggest mistreatment of women. Trible beings the article talking about the feminist movement and how they interpret and critique the bible. She states that the feminist’s argument focuses on how females were viewed unfairly and less desirable in the bible. Tribles then beings to focus on three perspectives of women in Scripture by mainly focusing on Hebrew Scriptures. She emphases a culture of patriarchy in Israel citing (Judg. 11:29-40), (II Sam. 13) and others to make the argument that there is evident of inferiority, subordination and abuse of women in Scripture.
Thus began a sexual debate that largely included marriage. “In order to remove marriage from the sexual debate, Pope Alexander III changed the marital law: consummation was no longer the deciding factor for marital union”. Marriage changed over time in order to conform to the existing societal trends. ‘Traditional’ marriage changed to better serve the people whilst instilling Christian and church ideals. ‘Traditional’ marriage henceforth does not exist, due, in part, to the fact that marriage laws were altered and aspects of marriage were often debated.
Through a careful rereading of the tale of Adam and Eve, Speght develops a convincing argument for gender equality on the basis of religion. A commonly employed argument against women—one employed by Swetnam himself, who claimed that women’s origin as a rib made them “crooked”—was that since the Bible stated that they came out of men, they were inferior (Swetnam 1615). Contrary to Swetnam, Speght inverts the common interpretation of this passage, focusing on where in the body Eve originated: “Woman was made of a part of man...yet was she not produced from Adam's foot, to be his too low inferior; nor from his head to be his superior, but from his side, near his heart, to be his equal” (Speght 1617). Speght was the daughter of a minister, thereby making her employment of religion unsurprising. However, the message which the author conveys through religion is revolutionary.
The use of women, by Biblical authors, offers a fascinating insight into the ideas and ideals of the Jewish people within the author 's own historical context, not necessarily the canonical texts supposed period. The ideas and ideals of the Jewish people that are most embedded within the characters of women are ancestry, honor, and holiness. Women, for these authors, become plot devices to establish authority, honor, and sacrality on behalf of men, as their daughters, sisters, or wives, but these women are not afforded the ability to carry their own plotlines as characters worthy of their own honor and authority regardless of their relations to men. Through Biblical women, men’s stories of honor, triumph, desperation, sinfulness are further
Christine spoke about the men and how their words, their writing, could lead to “so many wicked insults about women and their behavior” (Christine de Pizan 4). With the “knowledge and intelligence” (432) that god had given to women, as both Christian and Thiebaux pointed out, it makes us wonder why women had to be given the worst possible treatment in every piece of history we read about and even in real life. Women like Medea, Dido, and the many others we’ve discussed were and done the things they’ve done because of the actions that men had pressured them into doing so. Men, in the old days, treat women as housewives, nurses, sex objects, prizes, etc. They also had their rules for women not even receiving
Traditionally, the female image tended to center on two opposite aspects. The first, based on religion, was that men and women were placed in unequal positions since the day God created them. Criticism of Eve’s decision to consume the forbidden fruit and the ease with which she was convinced into temptation led to the common conclusion in the 1600s that women were more emotional, weren’t capable of reasoning and organization, and were associated with viciousness and dissoluteness in the men’s eyes. The second image was based in humanist concepts based in the Renaissance. Not only did it change the concept that regarded women as demons, but it endowed women with another new meaning: that women have the ability to rescue men’s souls and lead
Jacqueline Murray, an expert in Medieval studies, discusses about the relationship about men and sexuality and how during the Middle Ages society used to perceive men’s sexuality. Sexual relationships between a man and woman was natural, only if both the man and woman were married, however, self-stimulation was considered a sin. In the Middle Ages, man, were seen as superior, they perceive man’s body as a creation of God, and it signified grace(pg 1)1. These interpretation were influenced by religion, and it also had a very large influence regarding sexual morality during the Medieval Times, because of Adam and Eve (pg 2). Murray illustrates that masturbation was considered a temptation by the devil and ,as described by the philosopher Augustine, it was considered lower than an animal's appetite (pg5).
Some women were profoundly respected, whether as representatives of effective families, or for their age, intelligence and wisdom. There is no evidence that women' capacities were questioned in the pre-Christian period, and their relationship with wisdom and enchantment was outstanding. Their connections with both nature and the otherworldly were a wellspring of
Throughout many time periods, women have been penalized for thinking, speaking, and acting out against their societal norms. From birth, a baby boy that is smiling and giggly is referred to as handsome and happy, while a smiling baby girl is noted as being a flirt. When an individual’s actions do not meet their gendered stigma, the world is aghast. Medieval women have created a name for themselves as the rebels of history, and quite possibly started the societal awe towards those women who did not do as they were told. Through the stories of Abraham and Christina of Markyate, it is clear that even in different time periods, medieval women mystics had a unique, and often successful, way of standing up against the patriarchy.