Breathing While Female

When Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez spoke up about the verbal abuse leveled at her by Representative Yoho (I think yo-yo might be more appropriate), she challenged another strand in the DNA of our country: sexism and patriarchy.

If you breathe while female, you know what it is to be paid less than a man for the same work and/or judged for your physical appearance. You know what it is like to deal with inappropriate touching and comments. You know what it is like to be called honey and sweetie and darling. If you take exception to any of the above you are called a feminazi, man hater, bitch etc.  (My late mother had the best come back to being called a bitch, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” It has served me well). If you take exception to any of the above you are told you are being overly sensitive or that no harm was meant. Somehow the inappropriate behavior of another is turned to be your fault. If you breathe while female, you can add your own examples of how sexism and patriarchy have affected you.

What these examples have in common is that they minimize women and challenge the power and authority women have in any given situation. Sexism and patriarchy are the umbrella terms. Insult and minimization are a consequence.  One’s intent has nothing to do it. So we must persist in calling men out (and sometimes women) and risk being called ______; fill in the blank.

We have learned that “all men are created equal” does not apply to people of color in our racist society. It also does not apply to women in our sexist society. In fact, it does not apply to any marginalized people in our culture.

There is a long theological history that matches social history through the years. Sexism and patriarchy have been encouraged by Christianity. The Christian Lectionary, a three year cycle of scripture used for worship, excludes many of the texts that use feminine images for God.  For example, God is described as a mother eagle in Deuteronomy 32: 11-12. In Hosea 13:8 God is again described as a mother eagle protecting her young. In Isaiah 66:13 God is a mother comforting her child. The pronouns used for Spirit are feminine in both Greek and Hebrew.

The predominance of male leadership in worship has taught us to overlook the women who clearly kept company with Jesus and had leadership positions in the early church. In Luke’s gospel women who kept company with Jesus include Mary Magdalene. (There is no historic evidence to support the notion that she was a prostitute. This is an example of what history has done to women in positions of leadership in the life of discipleship.) Joanna and Susanna are also mentioned as evangelists with Jesus. In addition, Jesus routinely challenged the social norms of his day by including women, many whose names are lost to the history that didn’t value women. Women were also the first witnesses to the resurrection, though the men to whom they brought the news did not believe them.

Women were also leaders in the early church. Women were ordained to positions of leadership. A number of women served as leaders of the house churches that sprang up in the cities of the Roman Empire. The list includes Priscilla, Chloe and Lydia. Paul gave instructions to the women deacons in his letter to Timothy.  In the second century, Clement of Alexandria wrote that the apostles were accompanied on their missionary journeys by women who were not marriage partners, but colleagues. By the fourth century, however, women were largely excluded from the church structure. A male hierarchy emerged during the patristic period that changed the course of Christianity and shaped social norms that institutionalize sexism, imbuing it with a convoluted “divine authority.” It followed through the centuries and prohibited the ordination of women. It was l980 before the Episcopal Church ordained women. My own tradition, the United Church of Christ, ordained Antoinette Brown in 1853. It was a momentous event in the life of the Christian church.

Social and religious patriarchy has traveled through history hand in hand, to the detriment of women. Patriarchy is an entire system that is recreated by male dominated structures and processes. It creates an environment that makes the bad behavior of men acceptable and blames women for holding them to a higher standard. The quasi-religious blessing on male- centered culture makes it especially difficult to challenge.

While women have made much progress toward equality in the last decades, both in society and in the church, it is clear there is more work to be done. No man should every get away with calling a woman a “f*cking bitch” and no woman should be chastised for holding that man accountable. The patriarchy lives and the voice of every woman is needed to continue to challenge and dismantle it.

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