Like many of you I have been following discussions of the revelation that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam dressed in blackface or as a member of the Ku Klux Klan when he was a medical student. It was reported that Northam… Read More ›
Rape
This Is What Rape Culture Looks Like: Part 3 by Carol P. Christ
Warning contains images of rape in the history of art portrayed through the pornographic male gaze According to the myth, Danae was the only child of the King of Argos who longed for a male heir. After an oracle declared… Read More ›
Hear Me by Winifred Nathan
I found the confirmation hearings of now Justice Kavanaugh deeply disturbing. I have ideas for preventing a replay. First, secret keeping doesn’t work. For too long girls/women have suffered in silence with their secret while boys/men move along often without… Read More ›
A Tribute to Viktoria Maroniva by Judith Shaw
It’s been a very tough month for women. The “Me Too” movement started in 2006, when Tarana Burke coined the phrase “Me Too” as a way to help women who had survived sexual violence. Then on October 15, 2017 it was… Read More ›
Fuck This Sexist Shit by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Our whole lives, we are taught to be nice. To be considerate of others. To play fairly. To fess up when we mess up. Do unto others, turn the other cheek, respect your elders, obey the rules. And for what?… Read More ›
I Believe Dr. Blasey Ford by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
I had a completely different post that I was going to submit for my FAR contribution this month, but that went out the window on Thursday September 27th with the Supreme Court Justice Nomination hearings of Brett Kavanaugh and the… Read More ›
I Was Brainwashed to Believe I Wasn’t Human. Now I’m on a Mission Against that Cult – Part 2 by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Trigger warning: rape, sexual assault, domestic abuse, graphic sexual content In Part 1 of this story, I introduced a discussion of Johan Galtung’s theory of cultural violence as it relates to my experience as a young woman in an abusive… Read More ›
Why We Don’t Tell by Gina Messina
Roy Moore is the next in line to be exposed as a sexual predator in a long list that has unfolded since the Harvey Weinstein scandal. I find it both comical and distressing that Moore has attempted to justify his… Read More ›
Rape, Community and Healing by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
During my last months in Cape Town I have been facilitating a series of workshops on Rape, Gender Justice and Culture of Consent. I am blissful for the opportunity to teach and learn with a group of people with whom… Read More ›
In This Fractured World, I Will Not Remain Silent by Karen Leslie Hernandez
The recent killing of 17 year old Nabra Hassanen is on my mind. Not only was she killed—brutally beaten with a baseball bat—but it is thought that she was raped, too. Twice. During Ramadan. By an undocumented Latino from El… Read More ›
Outraged? Yes, I Am! by Karen Leslie Hernandez
Readers, please note: this post includes accounts of rape and violence agianst women and quotes distrubing statements of assault made by Donald Trump. These are easily identifiable by the use of italics or as indented, quoted text. Of course I’m… Read More ›
A Crisis of Faith-We’re Not Listening by Karen Hernandez
Orlando. Syria. Sandy Hook. Belgium. Somalia. Ethiopia. Venezuela. Paris. After the shooting in Orlando I was numb. In fact, every time a mass shooting occurs now, I am numb. I think we all feel that way, but we all handle… Read More ›
What Traci West Taught Me about Dominant and Excluded Voices by Elise M. Edwards
In my previous post, I mentioned a book I am writing about how theological and ethical considerations in architectural design can define good architecture. In that post and in ones to follow, I am acknowledging the feminists and womanists and mujeristas… Read More ›
A Complicated History by Elise M. Edwards
In my previous post, I wrote about my participation in planning a memorial event for the lynching of a man named Jesse Washington in Waco, Texas one hundred years ago. It prompted me to reflect on the challenge of faithfully… Read More ›
To Work and to Pray in Remembrance by Elise M. Edwards
One hundred years ago, Jesse Washington was lynched downtown in Waco, Texas. Next week, on March 20th, some of my colleagues and I are organizing a memorial service to remember this horrific event and pray for a better future for… Read More ›
I Am a High School Drop-Out by Karen Leslie Hernandez
In 1985, four months before I was supposed to graduate from high school, I awoke one morning, made a hasty decision to escape my harsh reality, and by the end of the day, I was a high school drop-out. Even… Read More ›
Wisdom Fiction (Part 2) by Elise M. Edwards
“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston In my previous two posts, I’ve discussed the wisdom that can be found in black women’s literature. Continuing this series,… Read More ›
Wisdom Fiction (Part 1) by Elise M. Edwards
“I was born in a strange little country town that may be like all other country towns, but I do not know. It was the world I was born to. The world is such a place that you need special… Read More ›
E Pluribus Unum and The Unrecognized Black Goddess of Rome by Stuart Dean
E pluribus unum (‘EPU’), which first began to be used by the U.S. in the 18th century, comes from a poem entitled Moretum that until well into the 19th century was generally attributed to Vergil. During those centuries Latin would… Read More ›
The Religion of My Rape by Jennifer Zobair
Whenever the epidemic of rape in Egypt makes the news, I am destined to think of Joyce Carol Oates. Last summer, the author took to twitter to question whether Islam was responsible for the widespread incidence of sexual assault in… Read More ›
Painting Women from Judges – Part 3: The Sacred Account of the Levite’s Pîlegeš by Melinda Bielas
Reading the story of the Levite’s pîlegeš – found in the Hebrew Bible, Judges 19:1-20:7 – is unlike any other scholastic endeavor I have undertaken.1 The narrative is of a woman who leaves her husband’s house, only to be retrieved… Read More ›
Abuse Does Not Have “Fifty Shades of Grey” by Michele Stopera Freyhauf
WARNING: This article or pages it links to contain information about domestic abuse and sexual violence which may be triggering to survivors. No matter what you call it abuse is abuse. This is highlighted in the popular book and now movie Fifty… Read More ›
Breaking The Silence About Sexual Violence by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
My last article for Feminism and Religion had a very brief reference to an episode of sexual violence; since its publication I have received emails from women who decided to tell me their experiences with rape and abuse. I am… Read More ›
#YesAllWomen, the Darwin Debate, and the God Complex by John Erickson
#YesAllWomen proved that although not all men commit horrible crimes against women, the men that often get the headlines and create the most controversy are the ones that need to be watched out for.
RAPE IS A NATIONAL CRISIS by Carol P. Christ
When I was in high school I heard a story about a girl who got drunk at a party after a football game and had sex with more than one of the football players. The story was told at the… Read More ›
“Never Again…” by Ivy Helman
Every year, the Greater Lowell Interfaith Leadership Alliance, GLILA, sponsors an interfaith service on genocide. During these services, the community gathers together to remember, to mourn, to heal, to honor and to work towards a world in which Elie Wiesel’s… Read More ›
Early Marriage and Early Islam by amina wadud
This week, in the state where I am living, Kerala, India: “…nine prominent Muslim (sic) organizations have decided to approach the Supreme Court to exclude Muslim women from the law prescribing a minimum marital age. According to them, the present… Read More ›
RAPE CULTURE IN THE MILITARY AND “TURNING BOYS INTO MEN” by Carol P. Christ
Rape is not something that “just happens” in the military. It is an inevitable product of military training. Unless and until we understand this and change the way soldiers are trained, we will never be able to stop rape in… Read More ›
Second Class Rape Victims: Rape Hierarchy and Gender Conflict
Deconstructing masculinity isn’t the key to solving social, sexual, and domestic violence across the world but it is a step worth taking when attempting to engage men in affecting change to stop these violent actions since men, statistically are the perpetrators of such crimes that both cause such outcry as well as perpetual silence.
On Love, Theodicy and Domestic Violence by Ivy Helman
Last week, I introduced my students to the theological concept theodicy. Theodicy is a theological explanation of why suffering and evil occur that usually includes some kind of defense of divine attributes. For example, if G-d is all-knowing (omniscient), ever-present… Read More ›
