TruthBook Religious News Blog

March 28,2009

BOOK REVEIW: "Herland" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, first published in 1915.

Careful guys...this is a bit of tongue-in-cheek writing, but - what if???

What if women were to evolve the power of parthenogenesis – the ability to procreate asexually or without sex? It sounds like something out of the X-Files, right? Well, actually there are animals today, certain geckos and snakes for instance, that already have this ability. And if this ability exists in nature, then those who accept evolution should certainly accept the possibility that humans could also evolve a similar specialization – at least, it shouldn't be considered completely impossible in the grand scheme of Darwinian thought.

After all, it would only take one woman with this characteristic, a slight variation in the genetic code, to change humankind forever. In fact, when you consider that these animals with this strange gift are entirely female, and only produce female offspring with this same gift, this means that one woman with this strange ability could eventually devastate the entire male human population, making the future human race exclusively female.

The question then becomes: what use does the male of the species serve? Why are men, other than to procreate, even necessary? How would the world change without men, without male power and influence on politics, science, religion, art, philosophy, government, labor, sex, and war? Would sex, or our notion of its necessity, simply disappear as men vanish from the face of the earth?

In her polemic "utopian" novel Herland, originally published in 1915, Charlotte Perkins Gilman creates a similar scenario, addressing these questions and more. Gilman even takes it one step further by placing her exclusively female-built civilization side-by-side with the male-dominant society of her time, allowing her to criticize and satirize the male-dominant world by comparison.

Herland is the story of three scientists, sociologist Vandyck "Van" Jennings, geographer and meteorologist Terry Nicholson, and botanist and poet Dr. Jeff Margrave, who accidentally stumble upon Herland during a scientific expedition that nearly cost them their lives. Their notes, reports, and scientific data were all lost during their escape, and all that remains is Van Jenning's memory of the details collected in this one text.

As a sociologist, Van is the man best suited for the job of describing their adventures. Van's buddies, however, are the opposite sides of the same coin, each representing an extreme male personality. Handsome, rugged, adventurous, Terry Nicholson mistakenly projects his macho-masculine thoughts and expectations of the women he's more familiar with onto the women of Herland. Dr. Jeff Margrave, described as "a tender soul," is much different in thought and temperament than Terry. Jeff is interested more in the "wonders of science" than the cold, hard facts of scientific data that rule Terry's logical thinking.

It's important to note that Gilman is a socialist, which means that religion, however important to Gilman, does not include the existence of any recognizable God. Gilman will attack the masculine flaws of these foreign men using their own beloved science as well as their religion against them, in order to promote the idea of a single human consciousness without gender – a sort of feminist/socialist vision of the religion practiced in Herland, a collective mental outlook developed over the course of 2,000 years of continuous culture with no men. The men in her book, essentially held as prisoners, are taught the Herland language, culture and history. These men are unknowingly put on trial, as the open-minded women of the unisexual Garden of Eden consider the pros and cons of allowing the men to remain in their land and embracing a new bi-sexual society. What follows is a hilarious but ultimately sad portrait of a masculinity unworthy of such a union.

Perhaps Herland seems like a ridiculous utopian farce or like some creation of a science fiction writer. But have you heard of Natasha Demkina, the young woman in Russia who, according to The Discovery Channel, has been baffling scientists with her apparent ability to see through solid objects? In essence, some say this young woman has developed a kind of X-ray vision. Whether it's true or just a hoax, imagine the implications of a human being with this ability.

Either way, it's easy to see that Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Herland is a smart, funny, thought-provoking story worth consideration for both men and women alike. It's a fascinating book that makes one think, laugh, wonder, dream and maybe, perhaps, question his or her own views of the gender issues still plaguing Ourland.

Labels: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Frank Mundo, gender, Herland, parthenogenesis, women

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Friday, March 20, 2009

Men are from Tyre, Women are from Bethany

Robert P. Jones and Daniel Cox

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Just a generation ago, mainline Protestant clergy were made up almost exclusively of men. Over the last two decades, the number of women clergy in the mainline increased nearly three-fold, from only 7% in 1989 to 1-in-5 (20%) in 2008. While still a minority in the church, as the percentage of women in the ministry continues to grow, female clergy have the potential to dramatically shift the balance of opinion of mainline churches and denominations on a variety of key issues. They will also increasingly influence mainline congregants, who make up nearly one-quarter of all voters and 18% of the general population--an estimated 40.7 million Americans.

The Clergy Gender Gap on Social Issues

Consider the stark gender differences on the volatile issue of same-sex marriage, which most mainline denominations have been fiercely debating over the last few years. Nearly 6-in-10 (58%) female clergy believe that gay couples should be allowed to marry, compared to only about one-quarter (27%) of male clergy--a gap of more than 30 points.

This clergy gender gap is more than three times as large as the gender gap among all Americans. One-third of all women support allowing gay couples to be married legally, compared to one- quarter of men, an 8-point gap. Among all mainline Protestants, the gap between men and women is even smaller at 5 points (31% to 36% respectively).

This pattern is also clear on the issue of abortion, where the clergy gender gap is 34 points. Nearly 8-in-10 (78%) female clergy say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to only 44% of male clergy. Among all Americans, the gender gap is only 5 points on this issue, and among mainline Protestant laity, the gap is only 3 points.

The Clergy Gender Gap on Economic Issues, Priorities, and Political Identity

But this fault line between male and female clergy is not just confined to social issues. We found double-digit gender gaps also on key economic issues and issue priorities as well.

For example, 9-in-10 female clergy say that the federal government should do more to solve social problems such as unemployment, poverty, and poor housing. Among male clergy, about three quarters (76%) agree. More than 8-in-10 female ministers say that more environmental protection is needed, even if it raises prices or costs jobs, compared to two-thirds of male ministers. And 85% of female clergy support the government guaranteeing health insurance for all citizens, even if it means raising taxes, compared to about 6-in-10 (63%) male clergy.

Female clergy also hold starkly different issue priorities than their male colleagues. Half of all female clergy say that social welfare problems, like poverty, education and health care are the most important issues in the country that the church should address, compared to only about one-third (34%) of male clergy. Male clergy are more than twice as likely to cite cultural issues like abortion or same-sex marriage as most important (12% to 5% respectively).

These different issue positions, not surprisingly, lead to divergent political identities. More than three-quarters of female pastors identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, compared to half of all male clergy. Male clergy are about four-times more likely to identify with the Republican Party (40% to 11% respectively). Likewise, nearly three-quarters (74%) of female ministers identify as liberal, compared to about 4-in-10 (42%) male ministers.

Here, as above, the clergy gender gap far exceeds the gender gap in the general population. Overall, women are only slightly less likely than men to identify as Republican (25% vs. 30% respectively), and the proportions of women and men overall who identify as liberal are nearly identical (24% vs. 25% respectively).

Labels: clergy, Daniel Cox, gender, Mainline Protestant Clergy Voices Survey, protestants, Robert P. Jones

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Thursday, September 06, 2007

Women More Spiritual Than Men

Poll Finds Gender Gap In Beliefs, In Church Attendance And In Practice

By Lynn Doan
September 5, 2007

Kay Bartel and her husband, Fred, went to church every Sunday after they married.

She joined church groups, organized church events and volunteered for church projects.

He put $5 in the offering plate.

"That was the extent of his religion," said Rocky Hill resident Kay Bartel, a 70-year-old Protestant whose husband died in 2000. "He never did do anything else."

Bartel and her husband reflect a persistent, nationwide difference in how women and men view the role of religion in their lives - a difference confirmed in a recent poll of Connecticut residents for The Courant. Thirty percent of women, including Kay Bartel, ranked their religious beliefs as "extremely" important in their lives compared with 22 percent of men in the telephone survey conducted last month by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut.

A significantly larger percentage of women than men also reported attending religious services at least once a week and praying every day, according to the poll, which included the responses of 225 men and 263 women. The margin of sampling error is 4.4 percentage points.

"It's a nationwide phenomenon that women tend to be more spiritual than men," said Monika McDermott, research director of the center.

This "religion gender gap" has baffled experts for decades.

David A. Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research at Hartford Seminary, has been studying the gender phenomenon for 40 years, "and I'm still not fully sure why it exists," he said.

"It's just been one of those persistent characteristics of religion in the U.S. that nobody has ever been able to empirically explain," he said. "There have been lots of theories. Back in the '50s, it was because men were in the workplace and women were at home. The workplace was a hard, rash place. Home was a place of nurture."

Then, he said, women joined the workforce and the gender gap remained. Experts began instead attributing the gap to the psychological makeup of men and women but nothing has been scientifically proved, Roozen said.

Manisha Desai, director of the women's studies program at UConn, said women's traditional role as caretakers and "culture-bearers" is what brings them closer to their faiths.

"Women are traditionally the ones who pass down the values of culture and religion," she said, "so they'd of course be more likely to consider their religion more influential in their daily activities, whether it be going to church or watching television."

Thirty percent of women polled said their religious beliefs play a major role in deciding which movies or television programs their families watch compared with 19 percent of men.

Elinor Greenblatt, a poll participant from Norwalk, said she was surprised that the percentages of men who reported attending religious services and praying daily weren't lower. Forty-two percent of men said they pray every day compared with 64 percent of women, and 27.2 percent of men said they attend religious services at least once a week compared with 36.7 percent of women.

"I didn't think there could be that many men [going to religious services]," said Greenblatt, 68, who continued taking her ailing husband to Jewish services in the last years of his life. "If I hadn't pushed it, it wouldn't have happened."

Greenblatt said she even drove her husband every Friday to an Orthodox synagogue, where her presence "didn't count" because she was a woman.

This irony, of some women's fierce loyalty to patriarchal religions, has been the subject of many studies by women's studies experts.

"What we've found is that women can differentiate between the patriarchal religion and the need of all human beings to have a set of beliefs and values as a basis on how to live their lives," Desai said. "We all need music and poetry in our lives, and religion provides the poetry, the music, the companionship, the sharing and the socializing with others."

The Rev. John Gatzak, spokesman for the Hartford Archdiocese, said parishioners also understand that "while we are a church with a male clergy, women have always been the spark of faith that has ignited the hearts of both men and women to take a greater look at God's presence in our lives."

Gatzak said he wasn't surprised at the poll results.

"God speaks to our hearts," he said, "but he takes a lot longer to get through to the heart of a man."

Labels: belief, Center for Survey Research and Analysis, church, Connecticut, gender, God, Lynn Doan, religion, spirituality