Brethren Women Speak! — about their feminist consciousness-raising experiences
Discussion Guide to accompany the DVD — to watch the movie, click here!
General Questions from the Video
1. What was one experience you remember of your own consciousness-raising?
2. Where have you found support for your own journey toward liberation?
3. What impressions did your parents make on your understanding of gender roles growing up?
4. How have you been a support to other women and men challenging the institutions and cultures of women’s oppression?
Jan Eller, Peace Church, Portland, Oregon
“I thought, ‘You mean you don’t just grow up and get married and have kids?’ It just floored me that you would choose whether or not you were going to have children… There’s choices out there I hadn’t thought about.”
What choices had you not thought about because you were never presented all the options other people had, because of your race, gender, class, sexual orientation, or some other identity?
Deb Peterson, Plymouth Church, Plymouth, Indiana
“My therapist asked me one day, ‘Deb, who are you?’ And I said, ‘I don’t have a clue. I’ve spent a lifetime being who everyone else wanted me to be and I don’t have a clue who I am.’ She said, ‘Well, I think that’s pretty important; would you like to find out?’ I eagerly said yes, and then every assignment she gave me when I would come back in a week or two weeks it wouldn’t be done. Finally one day she asked me, ‘What are you afraid of?’ I said, ‘What if I don’t like her?’”
How can we work together on the first step in overcoming sexism: loving ourselves?
Lucy Loomis, State College, Pennsylvania
“It’s assumed that you’ll get up and get the ketchup, or you’ll get the water. You know, everyone can work together; [the woman] doesn’t have to be the servant in the household … [We had to] think of ways to be able to address that. The trick was to try to make those changes without being totally sarcastic or angry.”
What are some ways you have successfully been able to make changes, using humor, anger, discussion, or other techniques?
“We talked about women not being in leadership very much, or in the ministry. There were very, very few women in ministry and there were people who longed to be there, longed to be in leadership and to be pastors or go to seminary …so we talked about what changes to make.”
What challenges do women and other oppressed people face today in entering the ministry and being supported by the Church while working in the set-apart ministry?
Carla Kilgore, Beacon Heights Church, Ft Wayne, Indiana
I said ‘Yes, but don’t you think it would be better if we said he or she or he/she?’ She said, ‘No, we’re doing things how they are, not how they should be or could be.’”
What do we lose when we only do things ‘the way they are, not the way they should be or could be’? How is our imagination for a better world stifled?
How does our language – in church and in wider society – perpetuate sexism?
1 response so far ↓
woaemnscaucus // November 10, 2007 at 8:04 pm |
What challenges do women and other oppressed people face today in entering the ministry and being supported by the Church while working in the set-apart ministry?
I had an experience this week that specifically addresses the above question. My emotions have gone from “Yeah, that’s sad but that’s the way it is,” to “This really pisses me off but I don’t know what to do about it!”
I went to our District Office to update my profile, which is like a pastoral resume. I am feeling I have taken my current congregation as far as I can and that it is time to explore other pastoring options. There are currently 5 churches in my district which are searching for pastors and since I am not planning on moving, it seemed like my chances might be pretty good. Well, the District Executive shot that down in just a few words: “You know,” he said to me, “Three of the five churches won’t consider a female as pastor.” Then he matter-of-factly adds, “I give them female as well as male profiles, as a matter of my personal integrity.”
You know how you always think of things LATER that you wish you would’ve said? I wish I would have reminded him that not only does the Church of the Brethren have a specific Statement addressing that women have full equal rights as pastors, but discrimination based on sex in this COUNTRY is also against the law!
I don’t see much that I can do to change this situation. BUT…what if we had District Executives who said to congregational search committees (when they tell him, “We won’t even look at a woman’s profile”), what if the D.E. said, “That’s against denominational polity and it is also against the law in the United States. Do you want a discrimination lawsuit on your hands?”
How about those of you reading this? Any ideas?
Deb