The problem with reinforcing submissive (religious) values in girls is that even if you realize they are bullshit 10, 20 or 30 years later, you still are so brainwashed by those values that you honestly have no idea of how to break free of them and fend for yourself.
You realize you are a vulnerable being with no viable options at the same time you realize how badly you have been fucked. And the same men (and even women) who have told you how exemplary these values are your entire life are the same people who won’t help you out of the hell hole they have imprisoned you in.
When we teach girls to be powerless from the get-go, we have a responsibility to make amends. We can't sit back now and wonder why women are still making 77cents on the dollar (if they are white) and why so many women and children are living in poverty.
It was laid out this way intentionally. This is what keeps men in power.
I was shocked the other day to hear my son say he identified as Christian. I think it was because it was at that moment I realized that I owed both of my children an amends for raising them in patriarchal religion when they were younger. I had reinforced the same system that had oppressed me my entire life because I believed it was "good" for them.
I know now this is far from the truth. Even the progressive churches have not progressed far enough to empower women and children.
The Church owes women and girls an amends. So do all the world religions.
Sadly, most of them remain completely silent on this issue.
-Trista
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