In her blog My One and Only Post on the Recent Hoopla Regarding #BiblicalWomanhood @ Cheesewearing Theology Amanda MacInnis writes:
“Here are just a few of the pieces of advice I have heard over the years by well-meaning older women eager to guide and mentor the younger generation of women, from a variety of congregations:
A woman’s highest calling is to be a wife and mother.
If you don’t invest 100% of yourself in your kids every single day, you are failing to show Christ to your kids.
If your kids walk away from the faith, it means that you weren’t obedient in your calling to disciple them.
If you work outside the home you bring spiritual unrest to the whole family, most importantly to your husband. Having a career demonstrates that you are selfish and have an unteachable spirit.
A woman should never have more education (especially theological education) than her husband, because it means that she is unwilling to submit to his authority.
College education is a waste of time since a mother doesn’t need a college degree to raise babies.
If more women would give up their careers and take their rightful place in the home then stress and worries of life would disappear, all their problems would be solved and they would live happily ever after.
Women’s bible studies don’t need to be deep and theological because women aren’t deep and theological.
Having sex is the ultimate act of wifely submission because women weren’t created to like sex; women have sex to show love to their husbands.
Men were born not knowing how to love; women were not born knowing how to submit. They have to learn it.
Make sure you greet your husband at the door with a kiss every evening, because he’s had a hard day at work. Likewise, make sure that the house is tidy and the kids are quiet, because husbands don’t like coming home to chaos.
Indoor housework must be done by the woman; outdoor housework must be done by the man.
Post-partum depression is a sign that you are fighting your God-given call to motherhood.
Unfortunately, Amanda is not alone. The things she was taught are not isolated to one local church, but is a result of a complimentarian understanding of the role of men and women.
Have you been taught similar things? What was your reaction?
Do believe at least one of the above statements? Why?
-jpserrano
While I have myself heard some of these things said to women, a couple of them are hard for me to believe are still being passed along to women these days. The only one of the bunch I agree with has to do with the truth that “having sex is the ultimately act of wifely submission…” Everyone knows this is true and should be taught from grade school on.
Let’s not get crazy here, I don’t think we should throw that one out.;)