I looked up what you said about men and women being created
as equals in the Bible—and was surprised to learn that you were right! (I had
no idea! After all those years of Bible school! Ashamed!) But then God says
this in Genesis 3:16: “To the woman he said, "I will make
your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth
to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over
you."” So I think this is the biblical justification for women being
treated as below men, and is also the reason I can’t fully get on board with
the Bible.
I think it’s true that men and women
fall into certain stereotyped roles, and I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad
thing. But the problem I have with it is that the expectations of the genders
become too restrictive. If a woman joined the military or a man became a
kindergarten teacher, the social order would be upset. And my question is, Why
have such a rigid idea of the social order to begin with?
Of course, the answer is because
stereotypes—which can be useful—make it so. I don’t think anyone should ignore
stereotypes, but instead learn to look past them and gather other ideas to
compare them with. It’s always dangerous when a society becomes too
collectively conscious. Even though agreeing on social norms is what brings a
society together, I think it can also be what tears a society apart if people
refuse to think about things from a different perspective (even if they have no
intention of taking that perspective). I hear your point and see its validity,
but these concerns are the reason I think so many people are worried about
gender stereotypes, and are the reason I am as well.
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