“systematic, institutionalized misogyny”

The Christian Men’s Oldest Prejudice: Misogyny, Hate Or Fear?more
by Anıl Öztürk
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women. Thus, misogyny of churchmen was stood on fear; feelings of shame and guilt arosewhenever a Churchman encountered with a woman, as women reminded churchmen of love,
and sex,
what they are trying to forget.

It is a matter of historical record that the Church fathers violated the teachings of Jesusand falsified the Bible in order to exclude women from the centers of power, but even that can be seen as an expression of fear rather than hate. While the Church was getting established, ithad to overcome the powerful goddess religions. In the religions before Christianity, theGoddess was the main object of worship. “She is the Great Mother, representing the fertilitywhich brings forth all life; as Mother Nature she is the living biosphere of both the planet andthe forces of the elements; as such she is also the great creator and destroyer; she is the Queenof Heaven; and she is the moon.” (Herbertson 11) As the role of male in procreation was notknown yet, The Goddess was believed as creator. The emergence of Christianity ended thesovereignty of Goddess religions. The Christian Church battled hard to kill off Goddess worshipand in the end “The Goddess along with all pagan deities were labeled as evil” They werelabeled as evil, because they had risked Christianity’s dominant position in the society. TheGoddess religions, which had a “female” creator, were rivals to Christianity which had a “male”creator. Thus, early Christians were afraid of the Goddess religions which were concentrated inthe female sex as it had the potential to take the power from Christianity.Even the misogynistic statements by the Church fathers show more ambivalence thanhate. Since churchmen had not wanted any thought or consideration except from those whichare about God, being attracted by women must have created feelings of guilt, later fear of women on them. Karen Armstrong says that “Because they believed that celibacy was the primeChristian vocation, they projected their own frustration on to women, whom they castigated asevil temptresses.” (21) This projection is clear in works of early Church fathers. For instance,according to Origen, “women are worse than animals because they are continuously full of
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lust.” (Tobin 23). Origen himself was filled by lust when encountered with a woman, andreflected his feelings to women, showing women as sexually perverted creatures. Works of St.John Chrysostom constitutes also constitutes a good example: “If you consider what is stored up behind those lovely eyes, the angle of the nose, the mouth and the cheeks you will agree that thewell proportionated body is only a whitened sepulcher.” (Tobin 24) St. John Chrysostom seemsto illustrate what attracts him in a woman but he struggles to remind himself that behind thatexternal beauty lies an ordinary human being which has the same amount of filthiness andugliness rather than defaming women. Churchmen’s desire to exclude women from the societywas not based on an intensive dislike or a strong aversion; on the contrary it was based on fear of sexual attraction of churchmen for women.As I have shown, exclusion of women from Church was taking its source from fear.Churchmen humiliated women and seem to hate them, but in fact, all of hateful actions takenwere rooted in fear. The early Church fathers could call women dragons and asps but that wasonly their attempt to hide their fear of female sexuality, whose power according to Tertullianexceeded that of the Devil. Actually, the men or churchmen were afraid of women seeing thatwomen are the only creatures which could shake the foundations of their authority and their admission to God by sexually attracting them. It is unavoidable for those beliefs which are based on a fear aroused by imaginary threats and selfish concerns are about to turn weak, andthus, it is normal for Catholic Church to lose its dominant force in Roman Empire.
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Anıl Öztürk
Works Cited
Armstrong, Karen.
“The Eve of Destruction”
, The Guardian. 15 January 2004.Ascetism, The Mystica, http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/a/asceticism.htmlHerbertson, Albert G.,
“Before Monotheism: The Goddess”,
Prehistory.com, 11 January 2010Malleus Maleficarum: The Hammer of Witches, Wikipedia, 25 February 2012Tobin, Paul N.
“The Position of Women: The Teachings of Theologians”,
Pascal’s Wager,2000.Witcombe, Christopher L. C. E.,
“Eve and Lilith”,
Eve and the Identity of Women,http://witcombe.sbc.edu/eve-women/6womenevil.html
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http://islamcomicbook.com

The Quran provides evidence that men and women are having the same human spiritual nature, and the same duties and responsibilities.
a. The same human spiritual nature:
1. God says in the Quran: “O Mankind! Fear your Guardian-Lord, who created you from one soul, and created of like nature, his mate, and from them two scattered countless men and women”[4:1].
2. Both men and women are recipients of the “divine breath”, because they are created with the same human spiritual nature as said above.
3. Allah has invested both genders with inherent dignity and has made men and women, collectively, his trustees on earth.
4. The Quran doesn’t blame women for “the fall of man”. Adam and Eve are hold equally responsible for their sin in the Garden. Eve is never singled out for blame.
5. The Quran does not view pregnancy and childbirth as Eve’s punishment for having eaten from the forbidden tree. It rather esteems pregnancy and childbirth as sufficient reasons for the love and respect due to mothers from their children.
b. Duties And Responsibilities:
Men and Women have the same religious and moral duties and responsibilities. The Quran says: “Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female: you are members of one another”[3:195].
According to Prophet Muhammad’s saying: “Women are but twin-halves of men” (shaqa’iq). This hadith relates directly to the issue of gender equality: The male is worth one half and the female the other half. Can “one half” be better or bigger than the other half?

c. Criterion for “superiority”:

The Quran is quite clear about the claimed superiority or inferiority of any human. It says: “O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other. Verily the most honored of you in the sight of Allah is one who is the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted with all things”[49:13].
Our having been created by the One and Only creator implies our basic equality before Him: He is just to all. Being a faithful creature, servant and worshiper of the One God is at the heart of one’s real spirituality and humanness.
Being created “from a male and a female”, referring to Adam and Eve means that all mankind belongs to the same family, with one common set of parents. Each component of the pair is as necessary and as important as the other one and hence is equal to him or her.
Nowhere does the Quran state that one gender is superior to the other. Some interpreters of the Quran mistakenly take the Arabic word “Quewamah” for superiority. But “Quewamah” means in fact “to take care of”, “to provide for”.

The Quran makes it clear that the sole basis for the superiority of any person is piety and righteousness, not gender, color or nationality.

The status of women in the Quran and Sunnah 2. The Social Aspect
2. The Social Aspect
What’s new Islam had brought to the social aspect of women’s life?

A. As a Daughter
1. The Quran ended the cruel pre-Islamic practice of female infanticide, “wa’d”.
2. The Quran went further and rebuked the unwelcoming attitude of some parents upon hearing the news of the birth of a baby girl, instead of a baby boy.
3. Parents are duty bound to support and show kindness and justice to their daughters.
4. A crucial aspect in the upbringing of daughters that greatly influences their future is education. Education is not only a right, but also a responsibility for all males and females.

B. As a Mother
1. The Quran elevates kindness to parents to a status second only to the worship of Allah: “And we have enjoined on every human being (to be good) to his/her parents: in travail upon travail did his/her mother bear him/her and years twain was his/her weaning: hear the command show gratitude to Me and to your parents: to Me is your final destination”[31:14].
2. Naturally, the Prophet specified this good behavior to his followers, rendering to mothers an unequaled status in human relationship. A man came to the Prophet asking: “O Messenger of Allah, who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship?”. The Prophet said: “Your mother”, the man asked: “Then, who is next”. The Prophet said: “Your mother”, the man asked: “Then, who is next”. The Prophet said: “Your mother”, the man further asked: “Then, who is next”. The Prophet said: “Your father”.

C. Towards Women in general
Prophet Muhammad taught kindness, care and respect towards all women, he said: “I commend you to be kind to women”. “It is the generous among you who is good to women and it is the wicked who insults them”.
D. As a Wife
- Marriage:
1. Marriage in Islam is based on mutual peace, love and compassion.
2. The female has the right to accept or reject marriage proposals. Her consent is a prerequisite to the validity of the marital contract, according to the Prophet’s teaching.
3. The woman is entitled to receive a marital gift, “Mahr” depending on the groom’s financial situation, which is to be included in the nuptial contract, and such ownership does not transfer to her father or husband.
4. The woman keeps her maiden name. She has separate identity from her husband’s. She keeps all her properties and enjoys full right to dispose of them.
5. In consideration of the physiological and psychological makeup of men and women, both have equal rights and claims on one another, except for one responsibility, that of Quewamah “maintenance”, “providing for, taking care of” as described in another verse [4:34]. This refers to that natural difference between the sexes that makes the man more suitable to “provide for” the woman, the only one capable of bearing children and bringing them into existence. It is important to fulfill all the needs, spiritual, intellectual and material of the woman so she can carry on this noble function. The Quran delineates another function for males to create a balance in human relations and to allow the continuation of human existence.
The Quran recommends kind treatment and consideration to the wife. Even if a wife falls out of favor with her husband, or disinclination for her arises within him. The Prophet Muhammad said: “The most perfect believers are the best in conduct and the best of you are those who are best to their wives.”
Should marital disputes arise, the Quran encourages couples to resolve them in a spirit of fairness and probity.