Part of the feminist movement that makes the more religious nervous is that sexual freedom has always been linked to it. The problem is not necessarily the act of sex in and of itself, but that are additional ramifications that act that need to be debated.For the sake of this discussion abortion and birth control will be ignored, as well as inheritance issues. Those are really just distractions.
A major part of the issue is that women want sex just as much as men do, but have more restrictions. Those restrictions have actually gotten worse since the Black Plague, when chivalry really started. The European world got a nasty shock when over a fourth of its people died in three years and so they did what they could to survive, which meant protecting the women at all costs. In Asia everything was about how everyone should remain in their spot, so women were locked into a subservient role. In the Middle East men and women were locked into their roles by religion. In the more civilized world, women were locked into their subservient role.
The bad news is that it put men in control of the sex, even though women enjoyed a number of protections. Yeah, it really sucked for the women. The most they could do was resist sex, but it was a bad idea.
[Interestingly, in more tropical climes women enjoyed more sexual freedom even though they were still stuck in specific roles. It seems that as a group became more civilized gender roles seemed to solidify and men took on a more governing role. When actual cities came into being women took over the home and men took over everything else. Europe was actually hitting a new stage where women were starting to take on some of the governing roles (women were allowed to lead men into battle in certain situations and women were beginning to be taken seriously as intellectuals). If not for the Black Plague, some feminists have estimated Europe would have seen gender equality by the 1600s.]
Suffice to say, chivalry sucked even more. It took women almost six centuries for women to dig out of that hole. However, as feminism has taken hold women have accrued more sexual freedoms. It needs to be noted that rich women and women on the fringe have enjoyed more freedoms; rich men had a lot to lose if their wives weren't happy and so turning a blind eye was worth it, while women on the fringe could pretty much make the rules up as they went. As long as long as the women didn't push too hard. It was an interesting societal contract.
Suffice to say that sexual freedom was a major component of the feminism movement; women wanted the same sexual freedoms of men. Somewhere along the way things got...weird. After the lead-up of the 1960s followed by the charge of the 1970s, the 1980s forced a cool-down thanks to the AIDS crisis. People actually started thinking about sex and its ramifications. One of the weirdest was that everyone, male and female, were expected to sow their oats in high school and college, but were to start settling down by their late twenties. Men were still expected to bring home the bacon and women were still expected to cook it, but then it got weirder. Really weird.
The most interesting aspect of this is that people lost track of what's happening on both sides. To put this in some sort of perspective, it needs to be pointed out that America puts more porn, more gay and lesbian movies, and is one of the leaders in amateur porn, yet is still seen as a puritanical country. The only thing you can't do in America that you can do almost everywhere else is buy sex without risk of legal issues (you can in some areas, but that's the exception to the rule). I'd really love to understand how people reconcile that.
It gets weirder when you realize that America is one of the few countries where a women can go to convention hall in a bikini and not only has the right to get offended if she is harassed, but can expect help if she asks for it. But that is somehow ignored. Another interesting trend is that boys can't lie about having sex in locker rooms any more; a boy will not only get called on it if other boys think he is lying, but faces severe punishment (i.e. a beating) if he lies about the wrong girl. Heck, a boy that has too many partners is going to be looked down, and that only gets worse as he gets older.
Yeah, you heard that right: Men are subject to slut-shaming just as much as women.
The other side is that a lot of women like how they were treated under chivalry. That is, they like that they were treated like queens. The problem is that they want Chivalry Lite; they want the Royal Treatment, but not the pedestal that goes with it. This confuses a lot of guys. Combined with a lot of miscommunication (women love romcoms but if a guy acted like a man in a romcom he would arrested as a sex offender), and it's really hard not to see why .
It's really hard to not understand why a lot of men want a return to traditional values; men knew where they stood and faced a lot less uncertainty. Making it worse is that you have a lot of women that say they want the same thing, but it's just more Chivalry Lite; they want the protections offered women, but not have to deal with a lot of the limitations. Suffice to say, a lot of guys are getting in a lot of trouble.
Sorry if it's a bit long-winded. Suffice to say that a lot of church leaders are facing some interesting issues. On one hand, if religion doesn't change with the worshippers it gets discarded, and legitimately as it is no longer relevant. On the other what people like about it is that it can be like the unchanging security blanket you can always hide under when things get scary. The problem is that people have figured out something else they can do under that blanket, and church leaders aren't really sure what to do about it...
A major part of the issue is that women want sex just as much as men do, but have more restrictions. Those restrictions have actually gotten worse since the Black Plague, when chivalry really started. The European world got a nasty shock when over a fourth of its people died in three years and so they did what they could to survive, which meant protecting the women at all costs. In Asia everything was about how everyone should remain in their spot, so women were locked into a subservient role. In the Middle East men and women were locked into their roles by religion. In the more civilized world, women were locked into their subservient role.
The bad news is that it put men in control of the sex, even though women enjoyed a number of protections. Yeah, it really sucked for the women. The most they could do was resist sex, but it was a bad idea.
[Interestingly, in more tropical climes women enjoyed more sexual freedom even though they were still stuck in specific roles. It seems that as a group became more civilized gender roles seemed to solidify and men took on a more governing role. When actual cities came into being women took over the home and men took over everything else. Europe was actually hitting a new stage where women were starting to take on some of the governing roles (women were allowed to lead men into battle in certain situations and women were beginning to be taken seriously as intellectuals). If not for the Black Plague, some feminists have estimated Europe would have seen gender equality by the 1600s.]
Suffice to say, chivalry sucked even more. It took women almost six centuries for women to dig out of that hole. However, as feminism has taken hold women have accrued more sexual freedoms. It needs to be noted that rich women and women on the fringe have enjoyed more freedoms; rich men had a lot to lose if their wives weren't happy and so turning a blind eye was worth it, while women on the fringe could pretty much make the rules up as they went. As long as long as the women didn't push too hard. It was an interesting societal contract.
Suffice to say that sexual freedom was a major component of the feminism movement; women wanted the same sexual freedoms of men. Somewhere along the way things got...weird. After the lead-up of the 1960s followed by the charge of the 1970s, the 1980s forced a cool-down thanks to the AIDS crisis. People actually started thinking about sex and its ramifications. One of the weirdest was that everyone, male and female, were expected to sow their oats in high school and college, but were to start settling down by their late twenties. Men were still expected to bring home the bacon and women were still expected to cook it, but then it got weirder. Really weird.
The most interesting aspect of this is that people lost track of what's happening on both sides. To put this in some sort of perspective, it needs to be pointed out that America puts more porn, more gay and lesbian movies, and is one of the leaders in amateur porn, yet is still seen as a puritanical country. The only thing you can't do in America that you can do almost everywhere else is buy sex without risk of legal issues (you can in some areas, but that's the exception to the rule). I'd really love to understand how people reconcile that.
It gets weirder when you realize that America is one of the few countries where a women can go to convention hall in a bikini and not only has the right to get offended if she is harassed, but can expect help if she asks for it. But that is somehow ignored. Another interesting trend is that boys can't lie about having sex in locker rooms any more; a boy will not only get called on it if other boys think he is lying, but faces severe punishment (i.e. a beating) if he lies about the wrong girl. Heck, a boy that has too many partners is going to be looked down, and that only gets worse as he gets older.
Yeah, you heard that right: Men are subject to slut-shaming just as much as women.
The other side is that a lot of women like how they were treated under chivalry. That is, they like that they were treated like queens. The problem is that they want Chivalry Lite; they want the Royal Treatment, but not the pedestal that goes with it. This confuses a lot of guys. Combined with a lot of miscommunication (women love romcoms but if a guy acted like a man in a romcom he would arrested as a sex offender), and it's really hard not to see why .
It's really hard to not understand why a lot of men want a return to traditional values; men knew where they stood and faced a lot less uncertainty. Making it worse is that you have a lot of women that say they want the same thing, but it's just more Chivalry Lite; they want the protections offered women, but not have to deal with a lot of the limitations. Suffice to say, a lot of guys are getting in a lot of trouble.
Sorry if it's a bit long-winded. Suffice to say that a lot of church leaders are facing some interesting issues. On one hand, if religion doesn't change with the worshippers it gets discarded, and legitimately as it is no longer relevant. On the other what people like about it is that it can be like the unchanging security blanket you can always hide under when things get scary. The problem is that people have figured out something else they can do under that blanket, and church leaders aren't really sure what to do about it...
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