Steve and I watched a documentary last night named for that line in a famed Christian children’s song. The main point of the documentary was that some literalist (those who believe that every word of the Bible is literally true) Christians use the Bible as a basis to discriminate against and encourage intolerance toward homosexuals. I don’t want to go into that issue because I feel that the debate can begin and end for Christians (being that Jesus Christ is supposed to be the center of their faith) with Matthew 22:37-39: “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
But anyway…
There was something interesting brought up briefly in a discussion by one of the theological scholars they interviewed for the movie. He mentioned the “fear of the feminine.” That is, that men have a fear of appearing feminine and of others who appear feminine. I don’t know how much I subscribe to this idea, but he made an interesting point, mentioning that when you want to insult a sports team, for instance, you call them a bunch of sissies or girls. What’s so insulting about being like a girl? Is it equally insulting for a girl or woman to be like a man? It would seem so, given the distaste many people seem to have for powerful/assertive women (for instance, Hilary Clinton). And does this gender separation serve a purpose in the modern world?
But anyway…
There was something interesting brought up briefly in a discussion by one of the theological scholars they interviewed for the movie. He mentioned the “fear of the feminine.” That is, that men have a fear of appearing feminine and of others who appear feminine. I don’t know how much I subscribe to this idea, but he made an interesting point, mentioning that when you want to insult a sports team, for instance, you call them a bunch of sissies or girls. What’s so insulting about being like a girl? Is it equally insulting for a girl or woman to be like a man? It would seem so, given the distaste many people seem to have for powerful/assertive women (for instance, Hilary Clinton). And does this gender separation serve a purpose in the modern world?
4 comments:
I've witnessed the "you're all a bunch of girls" type of scorn in the army and with the few sports activities I've been involved with and I've always wondered what women's teams were called as a term of derision.
I believe that much of the persecution of homosexuals is due to fear of the feminine IN MEN and by extension fear of the masculine IN WOMEN. This fear may have had a purpose in the past but I certainly can't see a positive purpose for it now.
I think it goes back to the need to be the toughest among the other men in order to stand out and get the attention of the female. While this sounds like Bio 101, its really just a more advanced (if you will allow me stretch that word) set of activities to put down others and appear to be the most appealing in the bunch.
I would also say that men have just as much pressure (if they choose to care)as women do to meet society's requirements. Women need to be thin, men need to be buff. As feminine (as a general term) is quite the opposite of that, it becomes a fear for men to appear that way.
regarding what women get called, "nappy-headed ho's," I believe, was Don Imus' term of derrision. I never stuck around in any group that tolerated derrision long enough to know many others.
I, too, find it perplexing that people who claim to follow the bible with great rigor prefer to follow the Old rather than the New Testament, although Jesus clearly stated that he had come to give a new law. It is impossible to follow all of the Bible with exactitude because it records a variety of different laws, followed by different people over the course of centuries. Our Constitution once allowed the owning of human beings. To do so now would be a federal crime. Times change.
Yes, I do believe that many are "homophobic" based purely on the unknown. I do not belive that the gender separation serves any purpose these days.
Post a Comment