Feminism.. again!

Good job Alex and Stephen for guessing the weird title reference. I love the Beatles.

I'm just going to keep writing about these issues in Christian feminism regardless of who is reading-- maybe I will eventually stumble on an answer to my questions by doing so, or maybe a faithful reader will.

Anyway, I was reading an article by Elizabeth Fox-Genovese about Catholicism and Feminism, how the two do not need to be mutually exclusive. I appreciate EFG for holding onto philosophical feminism while exploring more of what I call civil feminism.

I find myself caught in the middle of these two camps: I disagree with the view of freedom taken up by civil feminism (freedom as it pertains to all people, not just women, a "freedom from..." rather than a "freedom to..."). They are mostly existentialists. But I do empathize with issues like equal pay, preserving the dignity of women in the workplace, passing better legislation regarding sexual violence and discrimination, providing assistance for single mothers.

Philosophical feminism has my heart-- I want to plumb the depths of the female mind and soul for answers as to our particular view of reality, explore history to uncover and uproot the ugly beginnings of sexism, to help create a feminine voice and logic. But I want to see these ideas passed on to the women of the Church in a very real and practical way, to have feminist philosophy mean something in the lives of all women.

Alan loves Hans Urs Von Balthasar. I must admit, most of his work goes over my head. I understood clearly, however, the dichotomy he sets up between the sexes (as addressed in EFG's article). He calls women the answer to the question of man, femaleness this reflection of what maleness is and isn't. Many Von Batlthsar followers are dismayed by this analogy as well. It wounds so deeply to see yourself described as something as fleeting as an answer.

So much of what I've read from Christian authors and scholars views women as receptacles, servants, receivers, derivative, existentially dependant on men, weak, material rather than divine, like the Church rather than like Christ, bodily rather than spiritual, emotional instead of rational. Men reading, please take a moment to think of what it would be like to be referred to this way your whole life, so be constantly told you are destined to be second to the other gender. Doesn't produce the most positive outlook on reality!

I hope God uses me in some way to restore women's identity, to start seeing ourselves as people who can reflect the image of Christ as well as any man.