Sunday, August 21, 2011

What I am reading....

Jane Austen Regency dress in Cream silk and White Cotton Voile
photo by Bonnie Blue Art in flickr
...not Donald Miller...for the moment. I am rather (still) steamed at a recent blog that, in my humble opinion, is caricaturing females as morally loose, experiencing "slutty" periods and dependant on men to provide the meaning in her life. Commenter Sydney said it best:
Donald,
WHY is a woman made worthy by her sexuality and man by his character and godliness? This is such a tired and harmful characterization that is used repeatedly by male church leaders.
How can you say that men get to write women’s stories? Does a woman not have a story until she meets a man to write it for her?
 (For more on the story read Elizabeth Esther's post and Rachel Held Evans' awesome reply)

I wish Donald had had the good fortune to read Jane Austen's words in Persuasion before he penned that fateful post:

"...Well, Miss Elliot," (lowering his voice,) "as I was saying we shall never agree, I suppose, upon this point. No man and woman, would, probably. But let me observe that all histories are against you--all stories, prose and verse. If I had such a memory as Benwick, I could bring you fifty quotations in a moment on my side the argument, and I do not think I ever opened a book in my life which had not something to say upon woman's inconstancy. Songs and proverbs, all talk of woman's fickleness. But perhaps you will say, these were all written by men..."

If your going to gripe promiscuity, Don, both sexes can be slutty and fickle. Not just the girls.

Onto a more interesting topic, I am reading a gripping blog titled "Broken Daughters"
A quote from the post 1995:
little girl with mitt
photo by meg81382 in flickr
"...A woman greets him and by the voice I can tell it’s a nice old lady from our community. She sees me and say “Oh and Lisa is here too! Hello Lisa!” and she looks at me. I look down but she sees it anyway and says “Oh goodness, what happened to Lisa?”. Daddy smiles and says “She was a disobedient brat at the toy store and this is what she got from it.” He sounds really proud when he says it and he pets my head with his hand. The Lady just frowns at me and says “Well it looks really bad, you might have to see a doctor.” and Daddy says “No, she’ll be fine. If she’s repentant, she’ll heal up just fine without a doctor.” They talk a little bit more but not about me and then the Lady leaves..."
Lewis Wells of Commandments of Men blog fame has this insight on some recent *ahem* Bachmann developments:



...Bachmann was asked about being submissive to her husband during the FoxNews Republican candidate debate on August 11th. She's yet to directly answer that question. Anyone in her campaign with any political savvy knows that if she answers that question honestly and directly, she has NO chance to win the election. Hence, you get half-truths, deflections, and rabbit trails about "respect". The fact of the matter is, few of us feel that someone who can't even lead within her own home is qualified to be the Leader of the Free World. As you can see, the "submission" issue is already grinding the honesty and integrity (assuming some exists) right out of her...

And to lighten the mood a bit...a humorous quote by Demetri Martin:
"Whenever I'm on my computer, I don't type 'lol'. I type 'lqtm' - laugh quietly to myself. It's more honest."
I absolutely did NOT laugh quietly to myself while reading Caleb Wilde's post of "Awkward Ringtones at a Funeral":
"...My wife recorded herself yelling, “Mom! Mom! Let me out!” in her mother’s cell phone and then set that as her mom’s cell phone ringtone. Awkward in real life. Extra awkward at a funeral..."
And lastly but certainly not leastly...a song by the group The Civil Wars...not reading but listening.Over. And Over. And Again.

Enjoy.



6 comments:

Mara Reid said...

"If you are going to gripe promiscuity, Don, both sexes can be slutty and fickle."

Guess Don forgot that it was men like Hugh Hefner who started magazine like Playboy and Penthouse that exploited women. Women did not start these magazines nor has any woman made a fortune off such a magazine.
And Don forgot that the major purchasers of such magazines, with a different centerfold every month, are men who are fickle and need their eyes tickled with several different naked girls to look at and commit visual adultery with each month. (Wonder what the ratio of girls who posed for the pictures are compared to how many men who leered at those pictures?)

How easy it is for so many men to turn a blind eye or make excuses for what men do but get microscopes and telescopes and magnifying glasses out where women are concerned, and then state, as though it were undeniable fact, that men are more noble than women. That women are the weaker and more sinful vessel that men must protect from themselves.

This is the trouble with overfocusing on gender and assigning certain 'sins' as more prevalent in one over the other gender.

The Cult Next Door said...

Amen, sister! You knocked that out of the park!

I am still so flabbergasted that it was Don that wrote the blog...I was expecting to see Driscoll's name on the post...Maybe he and Driscoll are hanging out now?!!??!

You are so right that male exploitation of female sexuality is absolutely no newcomer on the human scene.

Hopefully Don will snap out of whatever he was in when he wrote he wrote that condescending crap fest...

Mara Reid said...

Thanks, Darcy. That's definitly a compliment coming from you.

I hope Don snaps out of it too.
Christendom doesn't need any more Mark Driscoll wannabes prowling around the souls of women.

Mara Reid said...

blogger ate a line.
It should read:
Mark Driscoll wannabes prowling around, ragging at and devouring the souls of women.

Mara Reid said...

I called you the wrong name, didn't I?

I also spelled raging wrong.

That was a mixed up night in more ways than I can say.

Sorry.

The Cult Next Door said...

not a problem!! It was quite a compliment...I enjoy Darcy's writing very much :)