Nurturing the Nations Reclaiming the Dignity of Women in Building Healthy Cultures

1. Nurturing the NationsReclaiming the Dignity of Women in Building Healthy Cultures The Culture of Sexism

2. Questions • Why is it that there are 100,000,000 dead women? • What is the root of men’s emotional or physical abuse, or even brutalizing women? • Why are women treated as property, as inferior to men?

3. One of the greatest causes of poverty in the world is a lie! The lie: “Men are superior to women!”

4. The Crushing of Women Based on Atomism’s Sexism Men and women are different and men are superior to women Women by nature are inferior to men The Disappearance of Women Based on Monism’s Feminism Men and women are equal, therefore they are the same Women are equal to men when they act like men The Lie is Manifest in the Social Order

5. Outline • Machismo • African Traditional Religions • Hinduism • Buddhism • Islam • Confucianism • The Unheeding Church

6. Macho • Macho simply means “male.” • Machismo’s culture values virility - a man’s ability to procreate, not to husband or father. • Machismo is about power of men over women.

7. ‘bien gallo’ “Being macho is considered synonymous with being a wife-beater, a philanderer, a drunk, a ‘bien gallo’ – a fighter, like a rooster.”

8. Mariology • Roman Catholicism venerated the Virgin Mary as “The Mother of God.” • The simple Jewish peasant girl becomes the “Queen of Heaven.” • Approaching a “quadrian” view of God as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and the Virgin Mary.

9. The Perpetual Virgin “As the Virgin Mother, Mary of church tradition remains a virgin forever, untouched by the passion of sex…. This symbol of perpetual virginity points to the dangers of female sexuality. … the perpetual Virgin Mother of church tradition denies the reality of women’s entire embodied life as good and spiritually significant.”Lilian Calles Barger Eve’s Revenge

10. Three Types of Women • Las buenas mujeres – “good women” – who spend their days in the kitchen • Mujeres renegades – “embittered women” – like Catholic nuns who denied their womanhood • Mujeres pintadas – “painted women” – who were women of questionable reputations

11. The Distant Father –The Close Mother “Latinos tend to portray Christ as dead and dying, yet Mary is radiant and beautiful. God is viewed as very distant (just like Latin fathers), but Mary is close, carrying, and always ready to intercede for God’s children (just like Latin mothers).” Joel Comiskey Missionary

12. Machismo Cannot Exist Without Marianismo.

13. African Sayings • “The man is an axe; he can cut as many trees as he wants.” • “Men graze widely!” • “Real men beat their wives!”

14. Women as Property “The image of the woman in most African societies is that of a human being to be exploited for the benefit of the man. Women pass for wives, mothers, farmers, cooks, drawers of water and hewers of wood.” Rev. Karimu Damap Editor of the RURCON

15. Hinduism Sacred Text the Puranas “Let a woman who wishes to perform sacred oblations wash the feet of her lord and drink the water, for her husband is her lord, her priest, her religion. Wherefore abandoning all else she ought to chiefly worship her husband.”

16. Legitimized Genocide of Women “These religions clearly and unambiguously justify and prescribe the crushing of women to the status of sub-humans. Rather than being due to some kind of ‘corruption’, the ghastly practices of sati, female infanticide, dowry and related acts are actually enforced by Vedic and Hindu scriptures. … these religions, and nothing else are the main culprits behind the most anti-woman system the world has ever seen…. Indeed, Brahminism is nothing but the legitimized genocide of women.”

17. A SongMourning the Birth of a Girl On my birth there was no singing But sadness filled the air, No people came to visit To bless or to give child care “Kill her, Kill her, Kill her,” Was what my father said A world wide declaration Because I was a girl.

18. Poem: TheSixth Finger A lump of flesh, A deformity, Ugly, “Cut it off!” How helpless, And yet … How true. Do you want to meet me? I am the sixth finger! Grace I hang there, Limp, Shriveled, Not Needed. An embarrassment to the owner, An object of ridicule for others.

19. Results of Hindu Belief • Sex Selection Abortions • Female Infanticide • Child Bride • Disfigurement • Dowry Death • Kitchen Accidents

20. The Vedic Roots of Sex Selection Abortions and Female Infanticide • Atharva Veda, 6.2.3: “Let a female child be born somewhere else; here, let a male child be born.” • Taittirya Sambita VI.5.10.3: “Hence they [Aryans] reject a female child when born, and take up a male.”

21. Female Infanticide “This annihilation of 50 million children, most by violent means after childbirth, has occurred during the last 50 years of India’s Independence, and confirms the estimate of 1 million girls murdered by Brahmins each year for the last 50 years. It is to be noted that Hitler, one of the greatest mass murderers of all times, exterminated only 5 million Jews. The Brahmin mass murder of 50 million female children in the 20th century has thus been TEN TIMES more severe than the Jewish Holocaust. And the killing continues.”

22. Child Marriage • “Lawbooks [sic] prescribe that the best partner for a man [is] one-third his age.”[1] • Manu.IX.94: “a man, aged thirty years, shall marry a maiden of twelve who pleases him, or a man of twenty-four a girl of eight years of age; if (the performance of) his duties would otherwise be impeded, he must marry sooner.”[2]

23. Roots of Disfigurement “ ‘Lord’ Rama practiced the savage cutting off of women’s noses for minor offenses, thereby providing divine sanction for this sadistic custom. In the Ramayana, Shurpanakha is described as a black Dravidian lady … who fell in love with Rama. She proposed marriage to him, but he refused her, directing her to his brother Laxman. This pious Hindu god immediately cut off her ears and nose for the ‘crime’ of daring to propose to him. The ‘mighty’ Ram fully condoned this cruel act.”

24. Roots ofWidow Burning A Sati Hymn Rig Veda X.18.7: “Let these women, whose husbands are worthy and are living, enter the house with ghee (applied) as corrylium (to their eyes). Let these wives first step into the pyre, tearless without any affliction and well adorned.”

25. Roots of SatiThe Rig Veda • Garuda.Purana.II.4.91-100 states that if a woman does not perform sati, she will be continually reborn in the “lowly body of a woman” until she does. • In contrast, Daksa Smrti IV.18-19 states that a woman who performs sati on her husband’s funeral pyre will have eternal bliss in heaven.

26. Religious Orders of Buddhism • Bhikkus – Order for monks • Bhikkunis – Order for nuns

27. Buddha’s Teaching on Women “You should know that when men have close relationships with women, they have close relationships with evil ways… Fools lust for women like dogs in heat.. Women can ruin the precepts of purity. They can also ignore honor and virtue. Causing one to go to hell, they prevent rebirth in heaven. Why should a wise delight in them?”

28. Dialog with the Buddha Ananda: ‘How are we to conduct ourselves, Lord, with regard to womankind?’ Buddha: ‘As not seeing them, Ananda.’ Ananda: ‘But if we should see them, what should we do?’ Buddha: ‘No talking, Ananda.’ Ananda: ‘But if they should speak to us, Lord, what are we to do?’ Buddha: ‘Keep wide awake, Ananda.’

29. Popular Sayings • Burmese: “Males are much nobler than females …[so much so that] a male dog is nobler than a female human.”[1] • Thailand: “Men are the front legs of the elephant, women are the back legs.”[2]

30. Body-Spirit Dualism • Buddha taught and practiced asceticism • Goal of Buddhism: Nirvana – liberation from this world • Monks taught to have an esthetic hatred of the female body: “Monks are encouraged to meditate upon a woman as bags of skin filled with bile, impure blood, pus and viscera.”[1]

31. Karma and Rebirth • Karma - the law of cause and effect • Samsara - reincarnation

32. The Path to Nirvana is Male • A devout Buddhist woman’s prayer: “I pray that I may be reborn as a male in a future existence.”[1] • The Queen Mother of Thailand: “By power of my merit, may I be reborn a male….”[2]

33. Sex Trade and Tourism • Thai population of 60 M people • 600,000 Thai women are prostitutes • Forty percent of these were forced into the trade. • The “industry” brings in $12 – $15 billion a year and contributes between 2.9% - 3.6% of Thailand’s GDP.[1]

34. “Islam is Deeply Anti-woman.” “Islam has always considered women as creatures as inferior in every way: physically, intellectually, and morally. This negative vision is divinely sanctioned in the Koran, corroborated by the hadiths [all that is narrated from the Prophet], and perpetuated by the commentaries of the theologians, the custodians of Muslim dogma and ignorance.” Ibn Warraq Islam’s Shame

35. Islam’s View of Women • The Koran states: “Your women are a tilth for you (to cultivate). So go to your tilth as ye will” (2:223). • The Prophet Mohammed said: “The woman is a toy, whoever takes her let him care for her.”

36. Men are in Charge of Women “Men are in charge of women, because Allah hath made the one of them to excel the other, and because they spend of their property (for the support of women). So good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish them and brandish them to beds apart, and scourge them” (4:34).

37. The Birth of a Son “Certainly, desire for male children is common in much of the world, but no place can compare with Arab lands, where every woman must endure boiling tension throughout her childbearing years, waiting for the birth of a son. Sons are the sole reason for marriage, the key to satisfaction for the husband.” Princess Sultana Royal House of Saud

38. Islamic Shari‘ah Law • “… and remain in your house, and do not go about displaying your fineries as women used to do in the days of ignorance…” (33:33). • “… they should not stamp the ground in walking so as to reveal their hidden decorations (ornaments, etc., by their jingle)…” (24:31). • “… do not talk in a soft voice, lest the man of the unhealthy heart should cherish false hopes from you …” (33:32).

39. Islamic Sayings • Bengal Proverb: “Wife’s heaven is under the husband’s feet.” • The Prophet: "Hang up your whip where your wife can see it." [1]

40. The Burka • Questions: What does this reveal about: • women? • men? • Islamic concept of morality?

41. Confucianism Establishes a Social Hierarchy • Father/Son - filial piety • Ruler/Subject - loyalty • Elder Brother/Younger Brother - superiority of the elder, “wiser” brother • Husband/Wife - segregation and male superiority • Friend/Friend - mutual trust

42. Three Elements Establishing Male Superiority • The Korean phrase - namjon yobi • Three Tenets of Obedience - samjong • The Seven Evils for Expelling a Wife - chilgo

43. The Korean phrase - namjon yobi • The phrase that all Korean children learn as they learn the Korean language • It means: “elevation of men and subjection of women” • It is translated: • “men high, women low” • “men are honored, women are despised” • Founded on the myth of the bear

44. Three Tenets of Obedience - samjong • Obedience to her father before she is married • Obedience to her husband in marriage • Obedience to her eldest son after the death of her husband

45. The Seven Evils for Expelling a Wife - chilgo • Disobedience to the parents-in-laws • Inability to bear a male son • Adultery • Jealousy • Having an incurable disease • Talkativeness • Stealing

46. Neo-Confucian Sayings[1] • “Woman’s greatest duty is to produce a son.” • “A woman ruler is like a hen crowing.” • “Disorder is not sent down by Heaven, it is produced by women.” • “Those who cannot be taught, cannot be instructed. These are women and eunuchs.”

47. The Social Consequences • In 2002, for every 100 girls born in China, 117 boys were born. • By the year 2020 there will be 40 million more men in China than women.[1]

48. The Unheeding Church

49. Accommodating the Culture • Sexism • Historic Church • Church in developing world • The Crushing of Women • Feminism • Modern world • Reaction to Sexism • The Disappearance of Women

50. It All Began with Plato God “made the soul in origin and excellence prior to and older than the body, to be ruler and mistress, of whom the body was subject.” Plato Timaeus