Reparations

I have always been an advocate of women's rights. My favorite class in college (as it pertained to my Minor) was Women in European History. I believe that you don't make many friends by discussing politics so I won't get into my personal views on our presidential candidates, but I will express my feelings on an incident recently brought out in the media. Many of you may have seen the video clip of Obama's minister talking about racist white America (which I do believe exists in places) however, I don't think he communicated his message in an appropriate manner. I understand that discrimination has existed since the beginning of time, it is horrible, and should not exist. I can't think of a race of people or religious group that has not experienced some form of discrimination. Christians during the rule of Roman Emperors, Jews since almost the beginning of time heightened by the Holocost, Irish and Chinese emigrants given the most fatal jobs in the American mining and railroad industry, African slavery in Africa as well as in the United States and Europe, Native Americans driven off their land, I mean the list could go on and on. I however, would like to discuss the oldest and in some places still the most discriminated group of people since the earth began. Women! Yes, it is true, we as women are the oldest fall guys in history. From the time that Eve handed Adam the fruit we have been blamed, mocked, defiled, burned at the stake, tortured, and used. Aristotle describes women as "a deformed male" he then proceeds to state the reason women are a deformed male is, "The menstrual discharge is semen, though in an impure condition; i.e. it lacks one constituent, and one only, the principle of Soul." Now we are also Souless. Galen states that, "just as mankind is the most perfect of all the animals, man is more perfect than women, and the reason for his perfection is his excess of heat, for heat is Nature's primary instrument." That's right, we are less perfect because we are colder. He then proceeds to claim that men have heat so their reproductive parts protrude, we are cold so ours are inside. He compares the ovaries to inverted testes. Albert the Great claims that, "any woman might be venemous during menstruation (John would agree), but in a woman menstruating irregularly or in an older woman whose menstrual system was deteriorating, baneful fluids seeking an outlet could be transmitted through the eyes and could poison small infants." Wow, now we can poison small infants with our eyes, who could have thunk it. It only gets worse when we get to the Church Fathers, St. Jerome says, "For that man is lost as soon as he desires your beauty, and he has committed already in his mind what he desired and you have become his sword, so that, although the sin may not be yours, you may not be free from hatred." Now we lack Soul, we are cold, we can poison small children, and we are to be blamed for mens creepy thoughts based on our attractive features. Hmmmm. I especially love this part that St. Jerome says, "It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a contentious woman in a shared house." "She floods his house with her constant nagging and daily chatter, and ousts him from his own home, that is the church." O.K. so maybe I can't completely argue that one. The opinions of women at this time of Aristotle in 383-322 B.C. don't change for thousands of years. During the witch hunt in early modern Europe a majority of the people killed and tortured were women. In the 16th and 17th centuries 75 to 90% of all people accused of witchcraft and killed were women. In the book "The Malleus Maleficarum" (aka the hammer of witches), they explain the reason why so many women were witches, "women were intellectually inferior and superstitious, but also to their sexual passion", and concludes that "all withchcraft comes from carnal lust, which is in women insatiable." Yeah, that sounds just like all the women I know. Women of course made pacts with the devil, since Eve had sinned we are all predisposed to being disobedient and therefore we are evil and were burned. I don't want to get into the forms of torture, (although they are way cool) but really, to be blamed for the popular belief of "Eve's choice" for thousands of years is crazy. I could go on and on for pages about this topic, but I won't. What I would like to say is, if anybody has a right to be complaining it is women. It wasn't but a hundred years ago that we were finally given a voice, and in addition to this, I want my check in the mail. That's right I want reparations, maybe scholarships for my children, or even just my daughters since it was their distant female relatives burning on the stake. I think it's the least they could do. So, next time someone wants to talk about discrimination I'll empathize, but let's go back to the beginning and recognize that discrimination comes in all forms, shapes, colors, sizes, genders, and has no address. Whew, that was heavy Doc. On a lighter note isn't it amazing how the programs of the church promote and sustain women. I love that we are built up, recognized, and honored. Hooray for the gospel and the Churches understanding of the sacred nature of women. We rock ladies!