Thursday, August 24, 2006

WOMEN IN A MALE WORLD

Miroslav Volf, Yale Divinity School theologian writes perceptively in his book "Exclusion and Embrace":

"Even where no strict injustice is perpetrated against women, they are often plagued by a vague but persistent sense of homelessness. The social world which they inhabit is not constructed according to 'their measure'; it is a male world and they often feel as aliens in it."

An older book that also picks up on this theme is "Women's Reality: An Emerging Female System" by Anne Wilson Schaef.

2 comments:

  1. Hmm, is a 'persistent sense of homelessness' always a bad thing? I would think it could spark much more creativity in a person, and the ability to see things from different perspectives as they move from place to place. Someone who feels entirely 'at home' might possibly be someone who is balanced and can make others feel comfortable, from their position of rooted stability. Or that person could be very boring and smug.

    Pity those 'at home' men, while we women get on with our travels... We're not sitting on the sidewalk, just waiting for handouts, are we? ;-)

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  2. That is a good observation -- and ties in well with Scott McKnight's thoughts at Jesus Creed today
    http://www.jesuscreed.org/?cat=27

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