BINGHAMTON, NY—Patrons at Thirsty’s Tavern and Grill confirmed Monday that the objectifying male gaze has fallen upon a $6.95 plate of buffalo chicken bites, resulting in the menu item being treated as if it serves no purpose beyond providing pleasure to the man who ordered it. By valuing the dish only for its ability to satisfy male appetites, the gaze has reportedly stripped the food of its individuality and reinforced outmoded, centuries-old attitudes toward deep-fried chicken. According to sources, the man could be seen almost drooling as he projected his desires onto the platter before him, looking upon the happy-hour favorite as nothing more than a passive “thing” to be dunked in ranch dressing and eagerly consumed. Critics of the man’s perspective have argued that each buffalo chicken bite deserves to be considered on its own merits and valued accordingly as the piece of meat that it is.
Modesty Culture Part 10: Social Signaling
To dress like those in society at large is to identify with that society to some degree. To dress counter to that society is to signal that one is not part of that society, but rather part of a counterculture. This was done by hippies and goths in the past as well. It was a way of signalling disdain for mainstream culture and for those who chose to participate in it.
.. Social signaling is crucial to this. The members of the Reconstructionist army must recognize each other, and must differentiate themselves from the “evil” society. They must also not associate with the “enemies of God,” those “sinners,” any more than is absolutely necessary.
.. “Thank GOD we are not like other men.”
This sounds like the Pharisees
..To paraphrase Matthew 23:5-7 (NIV):“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their dressesphylacteries wide and their skirts the tassels on their garments long, they love the place of honor on reality shows at banquets and the reputation as the most godly family most important seats in the synagogues; they love to be greeted with respect in the home school conferences marketplaces and to be called “Godly example” ‘Rabbi’ by others.”
Modesty Culture Part 9: Inconsistent Application of Rules
(I will resist for the time being a longer discussion of the many economic and social changes that have privileged Boomers and earlier generations at the expense of later generations – or how millennials have shown longer sexual self control than any generation in recorded history – but I will just say that all of us – Gen X, Gen Y, and Millennials – feel your contempt, and feel it strongly.)
.. The madonna / whore dichotomy.
Remember it, because you will see it in action if you pay attention.Why does this exist? Well, two reasons combine. First, the promoters of patriarchy, past and present, have well known that they had plenty to lose if women stopped focusing on serving men, and instead insisted on being equals. This was and is terrifying to many.
.. Second, even in our secular and feminist-influenced culture, the most powerful weapon that men or women have against a woman is that of slut shaming.
.. There is also a fad of books – and indeed a whole freaking organization – trying to assert “Biblical” manhood and womanhood – also known as patriarchal gender roles. These books tend to denigrate men who do housework and women who work outside the home or engage in anything resembling leadership.
.. Jessica Simpson has unfortunately become the butt of too many unkind jokes, but her story is interesting. She attempted to sign on as a Christian recording artist at the beginning of her career. She was turned down. Why?
Her breasts were too big.
She didn’t fit the “good Christian girl” look.
As the writer puts it, she eventually fou
Modesty Culture Part 8: Sexism and Misogyny
Try to remember the last time you heard a “hard hitting” sermon on the problem of classism in American Christianity. Crickets, more likely than not.But did you know that this was one of greatest concerns of the apostles? In I Corinthians, Saint Paul is appalled that the rich are getting drunk while the poor go hungry. Saint James warns against showing favoritism to the rich. Christ himself warns that it is more difficult for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God.
But we have made it so that wealth is equivalent to Godliness in far too many things.It is beyond the scope of this post to discuss all of my observations on this point. I’ll simply say that if you analyze a lot of what is considered to be “godliness” by the conservative church, you will find that it is much easier to attain if you have money. And nearly impossible if you do not.
.. In fact, if you look at much of what is deplored as “immodest,” you will find that it is the sort of thing the “hoi polloi” wear.
The sort of stuff you find on the rack at WalMart.
The sort of stuff that people of limited means wear. I do not think it would be stretching at all to say that a lot of what is deplored as “immodest” is really just “low class.”
The big elephant in the room of conservative Christianity is an out-of-control classism.
.. This followed naturally from the limited medical understanding of the time. A man “planted a seed” in a woman. That seed would grow to resemble the parent (the father) unless something went wrong. (Our understanding of egg and sperm and DNA has superseded this idea, but the treatment of women as defective compared to males lingers.)
Thomas Aquinas, who attempted a unified philosophy and theology blending the ideas of Aristotle with Roman Catholic teaching in his Summa Theologica, put it this way:
“As regards the individual nature, woman is defective and misbegotten, for the active force in the male seed tends to the production of a perfect likeness in the masculine sex; while the production of woman comes from a defect in the active force or from some material indisposition, or even from some external influence.”
Protestants are not exempt from this. Martin Luther:
“Girls begin to talk and to stand on their feet sooner than boys because weeds always grow up more quickly than good crops.”.. An orthodox Jewish prayer, dating back to antiquity – but still in use today – states:
“Blessed art thou, O Lord our God and King of the Universe, that thou didst not create me a woman.”
(The same prayer also gives thanks for not being created a Gentile and for not being created an uneducated man. Get your racism, sexism, and classism all in one place. It is possible that Christ was referring to this prayer or a predecessor when he chastised the pharisees for saying “I thank God I am not like other men.”)
.. Early church theologian Tertullian wrote the following:
Do you not believe that you are (each) an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex of yours lives on even in our times and so it is necessary that the guilt should live on, also. You are the one who opened the door to the Devil, you are the one who first plucked the fruit of the forbidden tree, you are the first who deserted the divine law; you are the one who persuaded him whom the Devil was not strong enough to attack. All too easily you destroyed the image of God, man. Because of your desert, that is, death, even the Son of God had to die. And do you think about adorning yourself over and above your tunics of skins?
Perhaps St. Clement put it most succinctly:“Every woman should be overwhelmed with shame at the thought that she is a woman.”