‘Episode 3’ Can Christians be Feminists ?
DISCLAIMER: This is a long post that would take at least 6 minutes of your time and everything in this post is fully my conviction.
At the beginning of 2020, I drafted a post titled ‘A letter to Patriarchy Princess’ which never got published, as a simple summary of that post, I regarded every woman who was not a feminist yet benefiting from feminism movements as patriarchy princesses, and little did I know that being saved would change a lot of the beliefs I had held unto all my life.
Now a little backtrack, as young as my SS1 (Senior Secondary 1) I identified myself as a feminist because I hated seeing the injustice girls like me faced in school while the boys seemingly had everything in their favor. Attending a Christian secondary school meant some acts were considered immoral and there were instances when students caught indulging in romantic relationships would be punished and the female students were disgraced and punished more than male students, in short, I heard countless statements about how the male students were only using the girls, and some of the teachers termed them as ‘cheap girls’ or was it how I heard that guys had nothing to lose if the girl got pregnant, all of these acts always got aggrieved, angry and bewildered.
What changed?
I kept reading books and researching more on feminism and indeed I understood feminism to the full extent, at that point I was a radical feminist, in short, I wore my feminism badge proudly. But with all of the research I had done, I had conflicting thoughts on some topics, first and foremost I could never understand submission in marriage, I wondered why I had to see my future husband as the head of the family, in short, I saw Paul as an antagonist in the bible and I never believed in any of the books written by Paul. This did not end there, as a feminist, I believe in equality so much that I never asked any of my exes for anything, in short, I gave more than I received because I mean in my definition of feminism, all of that didn’t matter. I knew I could be everything without a man and I started to entertain thoughts of raising future children without the need of a man especially if I ended up with a scum bag.
Then also, on Twitter Pastor Adeboye tweeted about his wife being a great woman as a result of the things she had done as a wife for him like cutting his nails and always serving his meals, and the uproar by a lot of feminists baffled me.
Now do not get it twisted I still very much identify with the basic principles of feminism which is gender equality, I know so well that feminism is the reason why I have the right to vote and be voted for, to drive freely, to be educated, to work, and to even enjoy my fundamental human rights as a woman. But I became an extremist who discarded the word of God over what I believed. What changed is the fact that I began to understand the word of God and I now know everything in the bible comes from a place of love. I started learning the various biological and emotional differences in both genders because men and women are so different. The ‘Boss women’ mentality is so beautiful however God is teaching me that it is okay to desire to be cared for by a man who is my husband, I am learning that it is just okay to be submitted to a Godly man while still speaking up against the injustice and unjust treatments which women face from time to time. I dreaded the thoughts of being a homemaker and never did I ever aspire to become one, however, I am learning that it is okay to aspire to be a homemaker who would be submitted to a man and I am learning that submission is not subjugation.
Whether I like it or not, the Bible would always be my standard and Paul’s principle is something I have studied and read within the right context of which I now know better. Even the bible is against unjust treatment and unfairness. Now I might not believe in some feminism school of thought like the autonomy to be pro-choice because I know my body is not mine but God’s temple, also the disbelief in biblical term submission is something I do not agree with because I now know that being submitted to a man isn’t something I do unto my husband but it is unto God. Also, I cannot comfortably stand for queer peoples’ rights since I know my Bible is against homosexuality.
I sure believe in gender equality in the social-economic world and I’ll always speak up against injustice at every point in time. With all of my new understanding of how things work in the Christendom, I guess I might have some conflicting understanding on feminism.
I am not the world’s standard of a feminist today, well maybe I’ll stand as an equalist if it’s an actual word, and yes I do see myself as a women’s right advocate.
I got rid of the feminism title because some of the beliefs do not resonate with me anymore.
👌