I’m a Christian and a feminist. Unfortunately, either of these words can be laughable to some, especially when associated with each other. I myself am learning how to feel about them at times and having a hard time figuring out how the two can be interconnected
I spent years of my life thinking feminists were damaged, confused women. Let it be known that I was uninformed, or that I believed exactly what much of the world wanted me to believe as a young, impressionable girl. It wasn’t until the past few years that I came to terms with the fact that much of my young adult life was spent as a victim and that I had a lot of anger and resentment in me because of it - towards women. Because I thought we were responsible, I was responsible, for getting hurt.
It was through some very helpful counseling and our women’s retreat that I came to terms with where my issues lay and simultaneously what I was passionate about. Daily life as a woman in America is bad enough with women being objectified in ways that have begun to seem natural; getting hollered at on the street, celebrities who are constantly physically critiqued, women still getting paid a lower working wage than men. My sense of outrage is the most rampant when I read stories about injustices towards women. Like the fact I just came across on the Amnesty International website that in the Russian Federation, one woman an hour dies at the hands of a relative, partner, or former partner. The idea that women throughout the world are treated as lesser people is something I cannot wrap my head around. What would Christ think?
This is where I need some help. I believe that Jesus loves us all equally and that means every gender, gender preference, nationality, age and ailment. But how are we called to empower the disempowered? How can we, out of love, help the “lesser of these” to be treated fairly? To be thought of fairly? How can we as a community be a catalyst for change without embracing some of the very un-Christian ideals of feminism? I think it will take a very intentional change of thought, of actively rejecting the mindset we are constantly pushed to buy into. I don’t want my desire for change to come from anger. I want it to come from Christ.