various Christian misogyny and sexism

Last updated 11/1/2024

Note that because much of Christian theology is deeply cissexist, womanhood is often equated with body parts.

1. One complementarian teaching is that men need respect, women need love. Women are expected to respect and obey their husbands, even in toxic and abusive situations. But men who don't show love to their wives are often let off the hook.

Uncritical examples

None yet

Commentary

Love And R-E-S-P-E-C-T | Sarah Over The Moon (December 2013)

Women Need Love and Men Need Respect? by Shauna H Springer Ph.D. | Psychology Today (October 2012)

2. Conservative Christians often believe that (hetero) marriage is a reflection of the relationship between Christ and the church. The man is supposed to play the role of Christ and the woman is supposed to play the role of the church. Many who endorse this idea insist that women and men are equally valued in this situation, but that doesn't hold up.

Uncritical examples

[video] Q&A on Womahood [sic] & Gender Roles | Julie Roys (April 2018)

Archived on Wayback Machine and Ghost Archive

Commentary

Gender Justice and the Christ/Church Dichotomy | Sarah Over The Moon (November 2013)

3. Women who want abortions are often portrayed as wanting to have sex (presumed to be extra-marital) without consequences, or as needing to be reminded that fetuses are human. Any other reasons someone might get an abortion (poverty, conceiving due to rape, threats from an abuser, having a disability that would make pregnancy and/or childbirth unsafe, etc.) are often brushed off.

Uncritical examples

None yet

Commentary

God Help My Friendship With White Evangelicals After Dobbs by Brittney Cooper | The Cut (June 2022)

How I Lost Faith in the ”Pro-Life” Movement | Love, Joy, Feminism (October 2012)

I'm concerned that there's still an argument to be made for ”pro-life” policies where women die | Tell me why The world is weird (January 2024)

4. Some Christians push the notion that all women should be housewives and stay-at-home mothers, forcing all women into a box many won't fit into.

Uncritical examples

Addendum 1: Thoughts For Young Men & Women On Vocation by Brent Detwiler (2006)

Archived on Wayback Machine

Commentary:

Cleaning Up After Your Husband Is Not A ”Blessing” by Gemma Hartley | Ravishly (April 2019)

>The Unequally Yoked Club: The Terrible Bargain. by Captain Cassidy | Roll To Disbelieve (November 2013)

More about misogyny and sexism in Christian spaces

Jesus Wasn't A Slut-Shamer or How Conservative Theology Harms Black Women by Dr. Brittney Cooper | Crunk Feminist Collective (June 2014)

Keep Your Pedestals | Are Women Human? (November 2011)

The Tell-Tale Heart of #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear. by Captain Cassidy | Roll To Disbelieve (April 2017)

Essay: God Save Us From the ”Bad Days” of White Men by Mona Eltahawy | Feminist Giant (March 2021, discusses violence against women and racism that enables it)

The Blasphemy of Complementarian Dogma | Revolutionary Faith (May 2018)

Complementarianism is a scam. | Sarah Over The Moon (November 2013)

Evangelicals are one step closer to the ultimate prize: ending abortion in America by Matthew Avery Sutton | The Guardian (September 2021)

Biblical Inerrancy's Long History as an Evangelical Activist for White Patriarchy by Stephen Young | Religion Dispatches (February 2022)

The Daughters' Great Escape by Sarah Stankorb | Marie Claire (June 2018)

You Are Not Your Own: Benevolent Sexism as the Solution to Hostile Sexism | Sarah Over The Moon (June 2013)

That doesn't sound like attraction: what conservative Christianity teaches about the sexuality of women | Speaking When the World Sleeps (September 2014)

What Pregnancy Taught Me About Being Pro-Choice | Tell me why the world is weird (September 2020)

Elisabeth Elliot, Flawed Queen of Purity Culture, and Her Disturbing Third Marriage by Liz Charlotte Grant | The Revealer (February 2024)

What I Learned Undercover at a Crisis Pregnancy Center by Caitlin Bancroft | Huff Post (August 2013)

The Problem of the ”Rescue” Narrative in Christian Writing for Women | Not Peer Reviewed: By Laura Robinson (March 2023)

Leopards, faces, etc. | slacktivist (December 2022)

Analysis: What I unlearned about Roe v. Wade by Matt DeRienzo | Center For Public Integrity (May 2022)

What if pro-lifers already are consistently ”pro-life”? by Adam Kotsko | An und für sich (December 2023)

Further information

Forced Birth is Torture. by Bess Kalb | Substack

Of Course They Want Us Dead by Jessica Valenti | Substack (January 2024)

Christian misogyny and sexism documents

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