Friends, it has been a few months since I’ve posted in this community. I’m amazed at how much our world has changed since then. Here in the northern hemisphere, spring came and went. It felt like a tide of turmoil… Read More ›
Sexism
The Messy, Wild Mystery that’s Stronger than Wrong by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
I am an annoying feminist. I annoy pretty much everyone about it, because I’m never NOT applying a feminist lens to every aspect of life: science (looking at you, Larry Summers), politics (Joe Biden is a rapist), art (objectification is… Read More ›
I Hope “This Changes Everything” by Elise M. Edwards
Last week, I attended a film festival in Waco, Texas that showed the 2019 documentary This Changes Everything. Spending Friday evening at a film festival seemed like an enjoyable and appropriate way to kick off a weekend that would culminate… Read More ›
The Terrible-Horrible, Wonderful-Beautiful, Superbowl Halftime Show by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
A lof of people have been raving about the Superbowl Halftime show, and for good reasons. A lot of people have been raging about the Superbowl Halftime show, and for good reasons. [Please hang in there with me as I… Read More ›
Charity Is Not Enough by Susan de Gaia
Gift giving is an important focus this time of year, along with reflection, reconciliation, and renewal. This spirit of charity is needed now more than ever. And yet, charity is not enough. Thousands of women, maybe even millions, re-experienced the… Read More ›
Woke Men, Stop Shitting On Women by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Woke Man is often a Leader of some kind, someone Well Respected for his Work in some sort of Important Progressive Cause. Woke Man may, understandably, think pretty Highly of himself. He’s got quite a Clever Sense of Humor, you… Read More ›
A Predator by Sheree La Puma
“Have I had two roads, I would have chosen their third.” ― Mahmoud Darwish, In the Presence of Absence Now I tell myself that I’m street smart. I did the Jack Kerouac “On the Road” trip when I was 18, driving cross… Read More ›
Untapped Communal Potential and Yom Kippur by Ivy Helman
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, was the 9th of October 2019. On this day, Jews typically attend shul, offer various prayers, and participate in some form of fasting. The day is meant to be a reflection on the ways… Read More ›
Coming to Terms with Privilege: A Personal Reflection by Elise M. Edwards
In my two previous posts, I shared my recent experience talking about privilege at a church near me. Today, I will wrap up this short series with a more personal reflection about privilege from a Christian perspective. Last month, I… Read More ›
Scary, Scary Vaginas* by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
I finally figured out what my feminist superpower is: I shrink the genitals of insecure men. No, really– all it takes is a few words, or sometimes just a look, without saying anything. Sometimes all it takes is not looking… Read More ›
What Can We Do to Weaken Privilege? by Elise M. Edwards
In my previous post, I talked about discussing the concept of privilege (male privilege, white privilege, and class privilege) with nuance. Earlier that week, I had led a workshop at a local church on “Fine-tuning Privilege,” using Peggy McIntosh’s 1989… Read More ›
Talking about Privilege with Nuance by Elise M. Edwards
Yesterday evening, I led a seminar at a local church as part of their series on “Unpacking Privilege.” Once before, I’d been invited to this church, Lake Shore Baptist Church, to speak about intersectional feminism with one of my colleagues,… Read More ›
Superstorm (a poem of feminist rage) by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Sometimes it whirls together, a superstorm of pain and despair, and the shittiness of it all is just too damned much to bear girls and women beaten, raped, abused, and all you nice guys don’t care and my little daughter… Read More ›
The Modern Problematic Nature of the Sabarimala Temple, Part 2 by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
The Sabarimala Temple has received an influx of global attention since last October. In my last FAR post, I researched the origin story of the Sabarimala Temple and its dedicated deity, Ayyappan. Ayyappan’s unusual parentage and chosen attributes and patronage… Read More ›
Exercising Women’s Religious Voice and Authority – Why is this Still an Issue? by Elise M. Edwards
Over the past few days, I’ve been spending time at a church in Alexandria, Virginia conducting oral history interviews. I’m doing research for a project about the arts and the church that has me diving deep into the church’s congregants’… Read More ›
Part One: The God Ayyappan and The Sabarimala Temple by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
The Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, India has been recently thrown into the news. It has made world news due to the two centuries long tradition of denying females from the age of 10-50 entrance into the Temple. As of September… Read More ›
Past Transgressions by Esther Nelson
Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat in the state of Virginia, has many people calling for his resignation after a picture from a 1984 medical school yearbook surfaced showing what some people assert to be Northam wearing blackface or a KKK… 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 ›
Claim Your Expertise by Katey Zeh
Years ago I attended a women’s workshop hosted by The OpEd Project, an organization dedicated to diversifying voices in the media. The first exercise was for each of us to state our particular area of expertise to the group. I… Read More ›
My Church Won’t Let Me Call the Divine “Father” by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
I had a startling experience in church recently. It was Father’s Day, and the pastor was talking about how “God is our heavenly Father.” For the first time in 17 years, that idea held some appeal to me. But no… Read More ›
#MeToo and the Idolatry Trap by Tallessyn Zawn Grenfell-Lee
Really – everywhere we look – there are dead white guys. National holiday? Most likely in honor of a dead white guy. Statue on a green? Founder of a major Christian denomination? Dead white guy. Classic literature, painting, play, music… Read More ›
What Happened When I Dared to Wear a Kippah by Ivy Helman
Last week Sunday, my partner and I were in Budapest, Hungary. We stopped at the Dohany Street Synagogue, the second largest synagogue in the world and the largest in Europe. After we bought our tickets and proceeded through security, we… Read More ›
Gas-lighting on Al Franken(stein)’s Street by Lache S.
I will add my #metoo, but don’t feel like going into details. I will just say that in light of my past experience and Al Franken’s statement of apology, I’m realizing why some of us don’t tell at an even… Read More ›
Should Sexual Misconduct of Theologians or Sexism in Their Writings Affect Evaluation of Their Theologies: What Consitutes Complicity in the Rendering of Woman as Sexual Temptress? by Cynthia Garrity-Bond
The accusations made by over seventy women against entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein carved out a safe space for other women to come forward with their stories of sexual harassment, abuse and assault against Hollywood elites, namely big name actors who… Read More ›
High Stakes for Women in Leadership: A Reflection and a Prayer by Elise M. Edwards
A few weeks ago, I was asked to give the invocation for a luncheon at my university. Baylor University was celebrating our presidential inauguration and there were several events leading up to the installation of the university’s 15th president. The… Read More ›
Suggestions of Self-Restraint to Male Monks in the Acaranga Sutra by Lache S.
Sometimes there are tricky statements in wisdom literature, as we all too-well know. For instance, in Acaranga Sutra—a Jain text on the teachings of Mahavira—the author says, “The world is greatly troubled by women. They (viz. men) forsooth say, ‘These… Read More ›
Do You Know Why We Are Marching? by Marcia Mount Shoop
When we got into the car to go, I asked my twelve-year-old daughter, “Do you know why we are marching today?” “To protest Donald Trump?” she replied. I explained that some people may be going for that reason, but that… Read More ›
Hate Trumps Love? by Gina Messina
This election cycle has left many of us in a serious state of mourning. The idea that Donald Trump could be elected president following the many bigoted, xenophobic, and sexist statements he has made seemed impossible, and yet it has… Read More ›
The End is Nigh by John Erickson
How will the world end? No, it isn’t Lucifer himself coming from hell to bring in the end times, it is someone far worse, and his name is Donald Trump.
“You Look Trim” and Resisting the Tyranny of Thinness by Xochitl Alvizo
I caught myself reinforcing the norm. The ever present default of focusing on women’s body size and prioritizing their weight gain and loss. I did this with a colleague/friend of mine. After not seeing one another for most of the… Read More ›
