G
GemmaRose
Guest
Salonika, yours is one of the few intelligent responses in this thread.
The OP specifically stated that she was not referring to inclusive language when speaking about God, and everyone rushes to castigate her for (a) inclusive language when referring to God
; and (b) feminism.A) IMHO, just because some women don’t mind being referred to by masculine words, don’t you think it’s a little bit prideful to feel that everyone should feel the same way? Maybe you (generic “you”) don’t mind it, but I do - and I am certainly extraordinarily far from being the only one.
B) Furthermore, this is for all rabid anti-feminists:
Throughout history, in nearly every civilization, women have been considered inferior to men. Now, while I admit that some radical ends of feminism has bred terrible things such as abortion, let me list a few good things that feminism has accomplished:
- a woman’s right to vote (in the U.S., not until 1920, and it took a Constitutional amendment.)
- a woman’s right to attend the college of her choice (In 1879, the “Harvard Annex” for women’s instruction by Harvard faculty began operations. This was 243 after Harvard’s founding.)
- a woman’s right to attend any college (In the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century less than 20% of all college degrees were earned by women.)
- a woman’s right to any education (In the 18th Century, it was often assumed by both educational philosophers and conduct book writers, who wrote what one might think of as early self-help books, that women were incapable of rational or abstract thought; too susceptible to sensibility and too fragile to be able to think clearly. Female reformers of the time, such as Catharine Macaulay, maintained that women were indeed capable of rational thought and deserved to be educated.)
- a woman’s right to be employed in certain fields (At the beginning of the 20th Century about 5% of the doctors in the U.S. were women. As of 1998, 23% of all doctors were women, and today, women make up more than 50% of the medical student population.)
- a woman’s right to work at all (During WWII - 1941-1945, women worked because all the men were at war. Afterwards, however, the hard work, loyalty and patriotism of these women were repaid by no guarantee of employment status as much of the industrial economy rushed to rehire men.)
- a woman’s right to be paid the same salary as a man for the same work done (Both during and after WWII, women rarely earned as much in the occupations that became female-dominated - such as cashiers, tellers, and low-level loan officers - as their male colleagues had before.)
- a woman’s right to hold public office (No more than 2 women served in the Senate at any time until 1994, and fewer than a dozen were Congressional Representatives until 1955.)
- a woman’s right to own property (Old English Common Law transferred property held by a wife at the time of a marriage to her husband. French married women suffered from restrictions on their legal capacity which were removed only in 1965.)
- a woman’s right to serve in the military (In the U.S., not until 1948.)
- a woman’s right to enter into legal contracts
- a woman’s right to have marital rights
- a woman’s right to have parental rights
How about a little history?
- In the Mosaic law, women’s rights were minimized in favor of male authority. Divorce was a privilege of the husband only, except for extreme cases; the vow of a woman might be disallowed by her father or husband. Daughters could inherit only in the absence of sons, and then they must marry in their tribe (endogamy).
- Women had it worse in ancient Rome where, by law, she was completely dependent on her male relatives. If married, she and her property passed into the power of her husband; if unmarried, she was under the perpetual tutelage of her father during his life, and after his death, control passed to her nearest blood relations. If there were no close blood relations, the extended family would be responsible for her upkeep.
- In the East, up until 1500s, women were generally treated almost as untouchable and had very few rights. They were subjected to highly degrading practises like purdah (living separately from men or in seclusion); sati, the killing of the wife on the dead husband’s funeral pyre; and child marriage*, when girls of between 5 and 10 years old were married off, without their consent or knowledge.
- I believe it’s common knowledge that child marriages still occur today worldwide.
- In the British Isles, women’s rights varied by location and time period. However, as late as 1910, female heirs were still excluded from succession to real estate, except in the absence of a male heir. Also, a husband could obtain a divorce for the adultery of his wife, while a wife could obtain it only for her husband’s adultery if coupled with some other cause, such as cruelty or desertion.
So much for feminism being so terrible…
Women - do you really want to go back to being the property of your husband?
Men - try suggesting this to your wives tonight, then PM me in the morning to let me know upon whose couch you slept.
