The Silencing of Women
The system of patriarchy that is still in practice today in the American church has roots that go back decades and decades that are oppressive and extremely damaging to women's ability to fully embrace who she is.
What I have discovered through my research and study of this topic is a greater understanding of why I have struggled unworthiness, seeing myself as having little valuable, and never feeling enough. I originally thought it must be from a specific event, or prior teaching I had received. Now I see that all of those things did have an effect, but they were really just reinforcing a system that has been in place for a very, very long time.
Not to long ago, women in the United States were simply seen as property, objects that had no rights or recognition. Once married they were absorbed into their husband's property, and had no rights. They were a non identity apart from their husbands assets. More and more we are seeing this very old system active in today society and it is no longer just in the religious institutions.
Patriarchy enforces a hierarchy based on sex. Women are taught that they are beneath their husbands. Likewise, single women are told they need a male covering to be safe and protected. Young girls are trained in how to be submissive as women, we are taught to be self-sacrificing, and obedient without questioning. We are to do this at the expense of our own physical and mental health. Marital rape is approved of and encouraged, justified, and demanded by the teaching that our bodies are no longer our own. We are just our husbands property to use as he sees fit.
To deny our husbands sex is taught as rebellion and sin, opening the door in our marriage for Satan to come in. It also allows the husband an excuse to have an affair as the blame is placed solely upon us.
Did you know that marital rape wasn't considered a crime in all 50 states until 1993?
Our voices are have been stifled, and now we are witnessing it more than ever. We are being taught that we are not as capable as our male counterparts simply due to our gender.
We are told our place is in the home raising our children and anything outside of that is selfish and self-seeking.
How can we as women ever expect to begin to see ourselves as valuable, worthy, and enough, under this system of oppression? One that is constantly telling us how lacking we are. How can we understand how important our voices are, how powerful we truly can be, if we don’t demand to be heard.
How will we ever see ourselves as equals, or feel confident to trust our own intuition? Will we teach our daughters to confidently follow that still small voice of wisdom that is found in each of us, or will we let them fall into the oppressive system of patriarchy. If we can’t believe these truths how can we expect them to.
These teachings are all about control, and manipulation, about stripping away the power of the divine feminine. It may seem harmless to those enforcing them and sitting under them but as a married woman who has gotten out from under this damaging mindset I sincerely believe that this oppression of the feminine due to christian patriarchy is raping women today of the ability to see and walk in their inherent worth and truest identities.
It is stealing away the immense power that we carry and the world is paying the price for this silencing of the divine feminine voice.
All life is brought into this earth by women. This one truth is what binds us all together, it is us that are the creators. It is what we all have in common. A women brought us forth from her body through pain and labor.
Now is the time that we must bravely begin to recognize and walk in the fullness of our power, to recognize the value and worth, and to raise our voices for our future daughters and granddaughters. To stand together and demand equality and no longer accept and live under this damaging system.
