{"id":34472,"date":"2017-12-28T09:07:35","date_gmt":"2017-12-28T13:07:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=34472"},"modified":"2017-12-28T09:07:35","modified_gmt":"2017-12-28T13:07:35","slug":"evangelical-gender-teachings-exchange-a-present-reality-for-a-shadow-of-possibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2017\/12\/evangelical-gender-teachings-exchange-a-present-reality-for-a-shadow-of-possibility.html","title":{"rendered":"Evangelical Gender Teachings Exchange a Present Reality for a Shadow of Possibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I grew up in a conservative evangelical home. I learned early on that it was my responsibility, as a female bodied person, to cover any part of my body that might cause men or teenage boys to look a second time. It was my responsibility, I was told, to protect them men around me from thinking lustful thoughts.<\/p>\n

In recent years an increasing number of critics\u2014including many with upbringings like my own\u2014have argued that evangelicals\u2019\u00a0emphasis on women covering up, rather than on men learning to responsibly govern\u00a0their sexuality, promotes a culture of victim blaming. Evangelical purity culture places the\u00a0burden of restraining men\u2019s sexual impulses, the argument goes, not on men but on the women around them.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals have not listened to this line of reasoning with equanimity. Several years ago when GRACE was conducting its review of Bob Jones University\u2019s response to sexual abuse and assault<\/a>, Bob Jones\u2019 Jim Berg, who spent thirty years as dean of students (read more here), pushed back\u00a0against just the\u00a0allegation that the university\u2019s modesty teachings shifted the burden of protecting men from their own sexuality to the women around them:<\/p>\n

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Dr. Berg reported, \u201cNo one ever dealt with modesty here without putting the blame for lust in the heart of the one lusting.\u201d Reference 38. In addition, the Dean of Men stated, \u201cWhat I am constantly focused on is bringing guys back to, this is your responsibility.\u201d When asked if he had heard messages or lectures for women, emphasizing that women have a special responsibility to protect their Christian brothers from their lust, he stated, \u201cSure there would be plenty of scriptural evidence that we would draw from and say that ladies, you should protect your brothers in Christ, just like men, your primary obligation in life is to protect a woman.<\/strong> This kind of thing is going to come out in a chapel message or a ladies meeting or a men\u2019s meeting where we talk about different things.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am struck by the equivalence being made here.<\/p>\n

When evangelicals talk about the importance of men protecting women, they tend to mean protecting women from peril\u00a0or\u00a0eminent\u00a0danger. This is why Vision Forum, a now disgraced organization that sold product and ideas to conservative homeschoolers, had a love affair with the Titanic disaster\u2014for Doug Phillips, the organization\u2019s leader, the \u201cwomen and children first\u201d policy practiced during the loading of the Titanic\u2019s lifeboats\u00a0was the perfect example of men protecting women and children (even as Phillips\u2019 take on what happened there was itself ahistorical).<\/p>\n

Men,\u00a0evangelicals argue,\u00a0have a responsibility to run into danger to protect women. It is part of their nature and the role God has created for them. Women have a responsibility to run into danger protect children, perhaps\u2014though this is far less discussed\u2014but they do not have a responsibility to run into danger to protect men.<\/p>\n

This, of course, is balderdash. Heroes come in every gender. But for evangelicals, it offers a handy comeback to any concern about the role laid out for women\u2014if men are expected to literally lay down their lives<\/em> to protect women, is it really so unreasonable to expect women to wear clothing that covers more of their skin\u2014or wives to submit to and obey their husbands? Men, after all, are willing to put\u00a0their literal lives<\/em> on the line to protect women.<\/p>\n

For someone like Berg, the concerns being raised about evangelical modesty teachings must seem\u00a0baffling. If men are expected to lay down their lives to protect women, is it really so much to expect women to wear a certain dress code? But to those outside of this culture something else entirely feels baffling.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t live in an era\u2014or a place\u2014where violence and danger is commonplace or everyday. My parents have been married for over thirty years and my father has never once had to risk his life to protect or save my mother\u2019s. This, I imagine, is typical. Berg, then, expects women to make their clothing selections with men\u2019s sexual purity in mind, in exchange for having their lives protected by men in case of danger\u00a0that for most women will never come<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is not balance. It trades a present reality for a shadow of possibility.<\/p>\n

Besides all of that, if my husband and I were in a situation of danger, I would hope that we would work together<\/em> to respond to the threat. This man-is-de-facto-the-protector mentality can lead to less than ideal outcomes when it gets in the way\u2014as it naturally will in some cases\u2014of more level-headed decision making in dangerous or\u00a0survival situations. I don\u2019t want a man who will throw himself into danger to protect me. I want a man who has my back while I have him\u2014a man who can depend on me as I depend on him.<\/p>\n

But to Berg\u2019s mind, invoking men\u2019s role as protector is all that is necessary to wave away questions\u00a0about the dress code\u00a0his tradition places on women\u2014and the mentality that comes with it.<\/p>\n

I have a\u00a0<\/b>Patreon<\/b><\/a>! Please support my writing!<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When evangelicals talk about the importance of men protecting women, they tend to mean protecting women from peril or eminent danger. This is why Vision Forum, a now disgraced organization that sold product and ideas to conservative homeschoolers, had a love affair with the Titanic disaster.<\/p>\n

Click through to read more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":34686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,12],"tags":[131],"class_list":["post-34472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","category-purity","tag-modesty"],"yoast_head":"\nEvangelical Gender Teachings Exchange a Present Reality for a Shadow of Possibility<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is not balance. 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