What a great week it’s been. I have been honored and thrilled to participate in the feminisms link-up and be included with some of my favorite bloggers. Today I’m highlighting the best of what I’ve seen this week.
1. On the Body and Blood
There’s a lot of my spiritual past I still have to sort through, even as it relates to women in the Church. It’s not all so tidy, but it does mean that when I approached the rail for the first time to receive the Eucharist, it was the most unconsciously natural thing for there to be a woman with the Body and Blood in her hands, just as a woman held the Body and Blood two thousand years ago. [“feminism & me, whether i knew it or not,” Antonia Terrazas]
2. On (literal) bra-burning
Those scraps of fabric finally started burning well, the polyester fibers casting out light and all of our bold pronouncements at the injustice of the world. We stared for a brief moment at our success.
The flames blossomed.
“Oh my gosh!” someone shrieked. “THE TRASH CAN IS ON FIRE!” [“The Fires of Feminism,” Emily Maynard]
3. On not being half
I was angriest that day because a boy had said out loud what I’m always afraid men are thinking.
That, as a woman in the church, I am by very nature a HALF.
Half a heart. Half a body. Half a purpose. [“today i embark on an expedition to take back my personhood,” Jesus Gypsy]
4. On needing femimism
This is how I feel. When someone asks me why I believe inequality exists, I want to scream, “Why do I believe you exist? You’re standing right in front of me!”
So actually, Christian church, you need feminism like the dying need a tourniquet. But I need your attitude like a fish needs a bicycle. [“What I Learned: Like a fish needs a bicycle,” Emily Joy Allison]
5. On being a feminist for our sons, too
I’m a feminist because I want my son to see all people as valuable human beings, created in God’s image. I want him to reject culturally constructed ideas about what it means to be “masculine” or “feminine” and to embrace biblical truth about what it means to be human, male and female, created in teh image of a loving God. [“for my son,” Amy at Making All Things New]
everything about my mother’s experience tells me a story about someone else deciding what women should do with their bodies. It tells me about dangerous assumptions and naive women and sickness being passed from one generation to the next, daughters without mothers and mothers without daughters. [“FemFest : My Daughter’s Body,” Bethany Suckrow]
7. On love and justice
But I agree with hooks that there can be no love without justice. Where unfairness, inequality, abuse, disrespect, victim-blaming, and rape exist, there is no love.
And feminism is one movement that fights for justice for women. [“Feminisms Fest: I need feminism because there is no love without justice,” Sarah Moon]
8. On taking ownership of misogyny and healing the hidden wound
We hear sermons telling women their only place in this world is the home. We buy toys that are deliberately designated for either boys or girls. We see movies that portray women as one-dimensional manic pixie dream girls who’s only mission in life is to rescue “sensitive” moody guys from their self pity. [“FemFest: The Other Hidden Wound,” Travis Mamone]
9. On speaking blessings over the feminist women and men of faith
So, I’m bending the rules a little bit. Next week I’ll probably do my own wrap-up, as well as a list of contributions that I thought were particularly helpful or well-done. In the meantime, I’m going to write something that’s on my heart: I want to speak a blessing over everyone who has participated this week. [“People of Valor,” Shaney Irene]
- Saying the F-word in church
- The Practical Sides of Feminism
- Feminisms and Me (#femfest link-up, day 1)
- Feminisms Fest: Why Wouldn’t Feminism Matter?
-
when the poet prophet @sarahbessey made me a feminist (#femfest day three)
Have a great weekend, everybody, and I’ll see you on Monday.
Thank you so much for linking me!
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