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Basically...
Rebecca Traister says everything I tried to say about Sarah Palin and sexism and ties it up in one neat little video.
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/09/04/palin_sexism_video/index.html
Okay, I'm done with this soapbox for now. Anybody else need it?
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/09/04/palin_sexism_video/index.html
Okay, I'm done with this soapbox for now. Anybody else need it?
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Please explain something to me Owlmoose, because I'm totally stumped by this one; the thing i've never really understood about women and religion is how, despite being so obviously anti-woman, so many women still follow Christianity, Islam, Judaism et al with such devotion. I don't... I don't get it.
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As for the much more sexist variations, generally the fundamentalist/evangelical denominations, the thing about them is that they tend not to encourage independent thought. So the women (and men) in them don't ever think to question it. Women, and other people who aren't white men who practice their particular type of Christianity, are second class citizens, and that's just the way it is, ordained by God, and who wants to go against God? People do break that mindset, but it's hard. And I can understand why, when it's all you've ever known. It would be like escaping a cult.
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In our western, scientific culture, we've a habit of dismissing what can't be backed by reason and "facts," however, the human mind doesn't actually work that way. The human mind consists of conscious thought -- which may or may not value reasoning and logic, depending on our education and upbringing -- plus a HUGE amount of emotional and unconscious content: our memories, our urges, our fears, tendencies of behavior and preconditioned patterns of thought which Jung (let me give my hand away) called archetypes-- those kernels of human psychology, shaped by millennia of common human experiences like puberty, marriage, loss and aging, which have left a stamp in our psychology such that we tend to gravitate towards symbols that encompass those things: mother goddess figures like Mary and Isis, tricksters like Loki and Coyote, ghost stories, widowed young woman stories. (Jung was never sure whether the inheritance of archetypes was totally nurture or whether the common experiences of human life actually tended to leave a "psychic imprint" that was passed down via a subtle Darwinian mechanism.)
At any rate, not to get sidetracked by archetypes: the conscious, thinking, rational part of us is only the tip of the iceberg. We've got all this unconscious STUFF that makes us gravitate towards this or that job, feel nostalgic over old Hanna-Barbara cartoons, yearn for a partner or a Mommy or a place to call our own. The unconscious gives us our dreams, hopes, fears, hang-ups, and poetic and creative inspiration.
Dismissing the irrational part of us is like dismissing the taste of food, and only judging food by its nutritional value.
Religion does something that reason alone can't. Instead of giving us logical answers that satisfy our reasoning minds, it gives us emotionally charged and gut-level answers that satisfy our unconscious. It may not make rational sense, but it makes irrational sense, like Santa Claus and having certain rituals when you get married. It imbues human experience with meaning and satisfies the same part of us that craves tasty (not necessarily nutritious) food.
Unfortunately the meaning people often crave, archetypally patterned by millenia of survival and clashes over resources, is "we are special, we are superior to you, our race/tribe/group is better, we are possessed of secret knowledge/wisdom, we deserve a greater share of the mammoth meat." The Big Three monotheisms have a lot of that.
Another aspect that a lot of depth psychologists have commented on, starting with Jung: religion arises as a reflection of and supporting framework for the cultural, social and behavioral patterns of its members. Our monotheisms are rooted in pastoral clans of 2000+ years fighting over scant resources in the Levant; they don't work so well in a pluralistic and diverse, technological and urban society. Religion no longer has the soul-satisfying answers; its meaningfulness shoe no longer fits.
Much like people hitting a point in their lives where old habits, relationships, the job or some passion no longer fit, western religion is currently in a state of psychic crisis. Three things may then happen to an outmoded belief/behavioral system:
1. Adaptation. It may be reinterpreted, augmented, reformed, or new sacred texts/rituals/myths may be added. The recent popular fascination with Mary Magdalene, Lost Gospels, Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Black Revivalist Church are examples of Christianity trying to adapt.
2. Rejection. People toss it aside because it no longer works. Sometimes they'll attempt to fill in the loss of meaning and passion by superficial popular movements (see: celebrity worship, fandom, professional sports).
3. Defensiveness/denial. Some people refuse to see the relationship they're in is abusive, the religious or behavior model they're using no longer works. They cling to the obsolete model all the more fiercely, enshrining and calcifying it. They will rationalize, justify, deny, and wear rose-colored glasses so as not to see the holes in their leaky ship, because it's upsetting. This urge is what breeds fundamentalism.
Those who aren't educated in critical thinking and haven't been raised to value and understand logic and reason are likely to go for #3.
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