Category: women

Jesus against the misogynists

A woman was ‘caught’ in adultery. Nothing new there. The man wasn’t accused. Nothing new there. She was dragged to be stoned. Nothing new there except that nowadays it’s more metaphorical. She would be used as a pawn. Nothing new there. To trap a good man. Nothing new there either.

In the end the accusers left her. And Jesus said to her ‘No one’s condemned you?…. Neither do I.’

That’s new. In fact it still feels new. A woman who is in the wrong has all her accusers and accusations made to leave. And she is not condemned.

The rape case in India showed up the attitude of a certain section of its population. It’s the girl’s fault. She shouldn’t have been out late. She shouldn’t be so westernised… blah blah blah… and we have condemned many innocent girls to horrible fates through our prejudices.

Jesus in this story seems to go completely the other way. The system of condemnation that has dragged this woman in, is made to leave. He declares the entire system to be without validity. The system of condemnation and misogyny for that moment crumbles. In the end it’s just him and the woman. He addresses her directly. ‘Is there no one to condemn you?’ No, she replies. ‘Neither do I’ he says, ‘Go and don’t sin anymore.’ This is the freedom that Jesus offers. The woman acknowledges his act by accepting that there is nothing to condemn her.

I think that this is the Jesus we all need to embrace.

Delusion of Gender

Recently my wife read a brilliant book. I must confess that I’m a bit of a vicarious reader with me reading over her shoulder or she reading bits out to me. But it is amazing how science and crucially the science that makes it to the mainstream media is so biased against women. There are a few experiments which seem to point that males are better at this and females are better at this. But there are many more experiments which can’t really can’t find any difference. But what gets reported? The one that normally reinforces prejudice. (Oddly enough I came across this as well.)

It is generally believed that men are better in math. An interesting experiment illustrated in this book was where one group was told that they were being tested on mathematical ability and one group was told something else but in actual fact they were also being tested in their math ability.

The result was that the women in the group who knew that they were doing math did worse than the men but the other group where they didn’t know about the real test men and women did the same.

That is interesting and disturbing. It is difficult when the oppressed share the delusion of the oppressor. It is also difficult when science seems to prove one thing but what gets to mainstream consciousness is totally different.

This is part of the great delusion. It has to be said though, that things have improved over the last few hundred years. But there is this strange yearning for a mythical simpler time when everything was? Simpler. Yes it’s as silly as that.

I have to add this distortion in science reporting is not skewed by the women reporting this as it happens on a wider scale. Check this.

A sign of hope

I thought Kim Clijsters winning the US Open was a real sign of hope. A lot of mothers end up with lower end jobs just on account of being mothers. They either lose their jobs on becoming pregnant or lose positions within companies and in some cases woman aren’t hired because they might become pregnant. Worst of all…

I thought Kim Clijsters winning the US Open was a real sign of hope. A lot of mothers end up with lower end jobs just on account of being mothers. They either lose their jobs on becoming pregnant or lose positions within companies and in some cases women aren’t hired because they might become pregnant. Worst of all if you’re a  mother there seems to be Continue reading “A sign of hope”

I’m glad

I’m glad…

. . . . . . . you’re born
. . . . . . . you’ve 10 toes
. . . . . . . you cry
. . . . . . . you sleep
. . . . . . . you awake
. . . . . . . you smile

I’m sorry…

. . . . . . . you cry
. . . . . . . you fall
. . . . . . . you hurt
. . . . . . . we fail you

I hope…

. . . . . . . you laugh lots
. . . . . . . you paint
. . . . . . . you sing
. . . . . . . you dance
. . . . . . . you’ll be honest
. . . . . . . you’ll be real
. . . . . . . you meet Jesus
. . . . . . . . . . . . . and play with him
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in the garden
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . outside the tomb