In New Zealand, I grew up hearing that American missionaries loved my congregation, my city, my country and me. They would often effuse from the pulpit, ‘We love the people of New Zealand so much’. I’m sure those speakers hadn’t intended the opposite effect because their frequent effusions of love delivered so emphatically by passing American missionaries, and American church ‘authorities’ didn’t make me feel loved at all. I knew love in quiet and small spaces where familiar eyes... Read more
As a teenager, my sister and brothers and I would sometimes read out excerpts from’Fascinating Womenhood (Andelin, 1963) to gafaws of laughter. Amazingly its gone into its 6th print edition and still produces a chuckle (albeit an indignant one) with statements such as: “Men admire girlishness, tenderness, sweetness of character, vivacity, and the ability to understand men.” (p. 16-17) My feminist awakening however occurred as a defiant response to the teaching material in the Young Women programme (in the early... Read more
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