Nigeria – Feminism and Religion

It has been more than a month since Boko Haram militants kidnapped nearly 300 girls from their school in Nigeria. The social media cry for justice #BringBackOurGirls has fostered global attention; however some have criticized the campaign claiming it is low level information that does not offer any real purpose. It has been argued that hashtag activism is lazy, frictionless, and functions more as a self-serving public acknowledgment of concern rather than an act for justice. Likewise, it has been stated that it is the privileged outsider rather than those who need help that launches campaigns like #BringBackOurGirls. I won’t deny that such critiques do have a basis; however we must also acknowledge that #BringBackOurGirls is making an impact.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oUG-7YL11E

Continue reading “#BringBackOurGirls is Making an Impact by Gina Messina-Dysert”

This week Twitter has been a flurry with information for victims of domestic violence and rape. This ranges from the U.S. redefinition of rape to include men to Nigeria’s first anti-rape toll free hotline for women. There is even a male movement to stand against rape. This problem is an ongoing issue, one that shows no sign of diminishing or going away. According to Amnesty International, one in three women worldwide have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused and their abuser is normally someone they know. As I contemplate this very difficult issue, I am reminded of the Biblical Hagar in Genesis 16. The story of Hagar and Sarai is abundant

Men Can Stop Rape (http://www.mencanstoprape.org/)

in ethical situations that draw in the reader and presents complex issues that can be very troublesome. If you take the text hermeneutically, through an ideological examination in its English translation, we have an Egyptian woman, who is also referred to as slave or concubine, forced to engage into sex with her owner’s husband for producing an heir. Here the abuser is a woman with a docile and obedient husband portrayed by Abram. What can we glean from such a story for today’s battered women? Hope or horrific defeat? Continue reading “Hagar: A Portrait of a Victim of Domestic Violence and Rape”