#women and religious traditions

[tellingittash]

Religious Studies Term Of The Day: Theravada

[balkanradfem]

Holy practices and tradition that are okay and universally good:

making trees, forests, mountains, rivers, seas and springs holy places

protecting them and going there for special occasions

planting holy trees as a religious practice

making animals sacred and protected

promoting the communal instinct to help others who need help

solving the housing and starvation crisis

promoting peace

promoting the freedom of choice, human rights, healthy boundaries, freedom of thought, and survival resources and safety for everyone

meeting up to listen to stories and legends of the past, which come with wisdom and promote healthy morals and community

meeting up to sing together

celebrating life, freedom and happiness

creating art in celebration of life and happiness

connecting with cycles in nature, celebrating natural occurrences

acknowledging that women are the source of human life and that they have the sole right to make decisions over that sphere

rituals and decorations to cheer people up when the seasonal depression is up due to the lack of sunlight

Holy practices and traditions that are absolutely unacceptable:

promoting suffering, subservience, poverty, starvation, sacrifice and endless servitude as the only ‘correct’ and moral way to exist

rituals where everyone has to listen to a man speaking for an hour or longer

repeating stories where the moral is to submit, to give away your personality, identity, even friends and family, in order to serve ‘the greater good’, promotion of ‘don’t think, don’t doubt, don’t ask questions’, or, stories talking about the horrors that would happen to non-believers, where the goal is to terrorize children who ‘don’t believe enough’

promoting the depictions, statues and art, of suffering, body harm, slow and torturous death, glorifying such images as ‘holy’, celebrating torture and death in essence

promoting an idea that the only humans who are ‘pure and saint’ earned their sainthood by being brutally murdered or tortured

limiting what women can and cannot do, punishing and shaming women’s bodily functions, or telling them that certain body functions must be used for the sake of ‘god’ or cannot be intervened with because of ‘god’

shaming women’s normal and healthy feelings, emotions, urges, desires, sexuality and appearance

telling women that their rightful place is to be ‘property’ or ‘servants’ to the other half of population

suppressing women’s freedom of thought, women’s freedom of mind, women’s bodily autonomy, and the important decisions of her life

joining a man and a woman to live in an isolated private space where the man is in control of all major decisions, and the path of her life, while she gets to be in control of nothing

putting women’s sexuality under men’s control, allowing men to violate it or ignore it at their own will

telling women they’re responsible for male’s predatory and perverse urges, telling women to take steps to ‘prevent it’, in which the goal is to make men not accountable for their own actions, and women ashamed for being unable to control something beyond their control

making rape of women mandatory, or normal, or acceptable, or permitted or something that should in any world be going on

threatening women and children that god can ‘hear their thoughts’ and that they are to be punished if it goes against god’s ideals

encouraging people to bond and communicate with an imaginary ‘father figure’ who takes credit for the creation of human population (which women actually did), who then argues that women should suppress themselves and be convenient and pleasing to men if they want to reach the imaginary afterlife

promoting the beliefs of any book that men wrote

claiming to promote peace while having a history of religious wars and spreading the idea that people of all other religions are ‘less’ or ‘sinful’ or ‘needing to be saved (converted)’

putting men in charge of anything

equating male desires to god’s desires while female desires are condemned and punished

equating purity, innocence and value in women with inexperience with physical intimacy

punishing and shaming women both for accepting and refusing physical intimacy (if they accept they lose value and are seen as tainted, if they refuse they displeased the man who wanted it, she doesn’t get any agency and whether she wants it or not is irrelevant to religion, except if she does she’s sinful)

failing to promote well-being, satisfaction, health, freedom, human rights, bodily autonomy, natural rights to administrate or refuse to administrate a human life, and overall safety and happiness of women

[vintage-russia]

Portrait of Schema-Nun,Kashin (early 20th centery)

[wonder-worker]

"[Elizabeth Woodville's] piety as queen seems to have been broadly conventional for a fifteenth-century royal, encompassing pilgrimages, membership of various fraternities, a particular devotion to her name saint, notable generosity to the Carthusians, and the foundation of a chantry at Westminster after her son was born there. ['On other occasions she supported planned religious foundations in London, […] made generous gifts to Eton College, and petitioned the pope to extend the circumstances in which indulgences could be acquired by observing the feast of the Visitation']. One possible indicator of a more personal, and more sophisticated, thread in her piety is a book of Hours of the Guardian Angel which Sutton and Visser-Fuchs have argued was commissioned for her, very possibly at her request."

-J.L. Laynesmith, "Elizabeth Woodville: The Knight's Widow", "Later Plantagenet and Wars of the Roses Consorts: Power, Influence, Dynasty"

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

why is it so controversial among feminists to aknowledge that men who come from countries where women have no rights do not like it that we actually do have rights in the west? I'm a social worker in a part of town with a huge arab, turk and romanian-roma population, as immigrants they're more likely to require social services so I mostly have to deal with them. It's grimm what the men have to say about their wifes, daughters and sisters. despite living in a liberal western country the women are not allowed to go outside alone, the girls aren't allowed to join clubs where boys are present (tbh I'm ok with this bc the boys are incredibly sexist and all they do is sexually harass girls when one tries to befriend them, so sex seggregetation IS safer for the girls) they're forced to wear hijab and abaya (if muslim), men proudly proclaim they would divorce their wife and disown their daughter if they stopped wearing hijab. Like, this isn't racism it's reality if you don't preach from your isolated ivory tower but actually work with these people. They come here to reap the spoils of the social care system but want to opress the very people who provide it, since most social workers are women. the entitlement of these men knows no limits, we're all just whores supposed to service them and kiss their feet as feminists we need to stop being tolerant of ideologies and "cultures" that actually want to destroy our autonomy and see us as cattle, it doesn't matter if it's gender ideologues or immigrant men, they aren't poor little victims, they hate western women for stepping out of line and rising above their designated role as servants for men and they hate their daughters whenever they turn out too "western" raised here just as much

right. and white (western) men love women having rights thats why there is no pushback whatsoever. do you know how many white men love andrew tate? „ivory tower“ girl i used to volunteer at a refugee home and homeless shelter. nobody said these men are not misogynistic i dont know what you think you are proving here by listing all the forms their misogyny takes? i know! and this whole „they only come here to smooch of the social security“ is rightwing rhetoric. all i said is that race is no indicator of misogyny. all men are misogynistic and are as blatant about it as they can be without repercussions. also yall seem to heavily confuse race, nationality, culture, and ethnicity. please point me to where i called them poor little victims? racists are so annoying lmao

[missmastectomy]

tbh the truth is, i DO see detrans women as traitors on some level. i just don't understand how any woman can hate women so much that you believed the rest of us were slutty stupid bimbo cunts and only you were a real human being with a personality and thoughts, etc. it's the same way i consider rightwing women to be traitors to womankind, and religious women. i don't hate you, and i want the best for you, and i will always be ready to catch you when you fall, but i'll never truly trust you.

See what I mean about the so-called “sympathetic radfems?” The truth is you wouldn’t be there to “catch me when I fall” because you’ve already dehumanized detrans women and decided we were traitors. Sorry I didn’t pass your moral purity test.

Some of you really don’t know a damn thing about trans-identified and detrans people, truly. Y’all do realize that most TIFs don’t think women are “slutty stupid bimbo cunts” right. Again, people are transitioning younger. A lot of TIFs literally started identifying as trans as teenagers. I was 15 and I looked at things with a 15 year old’s eyes. I felt uncomfortable with feminine things, I felt ugly, I hated the feminine parts of my body. On the surface, all the other girls around me seemed so comfortable being women and I didn’t, therefore I must not be a woman. Literally nearly all teen girls go through a phase thinking they’re the only ones who hate their bodies so much and that other girls must not feel the way they do, because teen girls are pressured to conform to femininity and don’t realize the discomfort is a natural stage of adolescence.

Where do you think the self hatred came from? Childhood sexualization combined with an endless stream of gender ideology propaganda and a narrative that dysphoria is incurable and you’re literally doomed to suicide without transition. That being trans is innate.

There’s a lot of reasons a girl would transition and not think all women are worthless sluts or something, you ignorant asshole.

I’m sure you treat ex-religious and ex-conservative women with the same disdain you do with detrans women. As if. The truth is y’all are just bitter and you project the hatred you have for the trans movement and it’s most fringe online components onto detransitioners, because at one point we were attached to it.

Literally why are you even on my blog. Absolutely wild if you follow me, read my personal shit about detransition I share to help people understand us, and come to this conclusion.

[anetherealpoetess]

Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories; from ‘The Company of Wolves’

[ephemeral-winter]

also. not that i have to justify myself to the people who follow my anonymous tumblr blog. but it is perhaps obvious to those who engage with my posts regularly that i really do not talk about palestine or israel on here despite often talking about my jewish practice and synagogue life. and that is for two reasons 1) i look at my own blog when i am sad which is like three times a day so i like it to be filled only with nice or funny things and frankly thinking in public about i/p and the war is overwhelmingly distressing to me. which is a privilege yes and we can argue about how i wield that privilege some other time but neverthless it's my blog. and 2) i am increasingly sure that my judaism has to be rooted in diasporic traditions that reject nationalism in all forms, and it is important to me to show in my own small way that a vibrant (and observant!) judaism exists outside israel. can be meaningful without israel. and in fact is often better without israel. and despite my synagogue currently being far too pro-israel for my taste my jewish identity is ultimately rooted in ritual and liturgy and intergenerational community and synagogue is where i get that. so

[margridarnauds]

Reading Hazbin meta is weird because it's like "Here's a ten paragraph analysis of why Adam secretly drinks Respect Women juice despite telling Charlie that she should stay in her place, fetishizing her relationship with Vaggie, and overall acting like a stereotypical frat bro" and then "Anyway, Lilith's a bitch (and so's Eve)"

[tellingittash]

Religious Studies Term Of The Day: Dakini

Hey everyone! Now that the Christmas season is over, it’s back to Buddhism! Today I wanted to talk about a concept that I don’t think is super well known about in Buddhism: the Dakini. Dakini are complex creatures to talk about, but they are a sort of supernatural term that is pretty close to the English idea of a witch, or maybe even a fairy in some sense. They aren’t like a widespread Buddhist idea, but only find themselves in tantric traditions like the Vajrayana Buddhists. In these traditions, sex, whether it be literal or metaphorical, is a pathway to enlightenment, and it requires male and female sexual energy to accomplish that. I’m not an expert so please correct me if I am wrong, but my readings on the subject seem to imply that the Dakini is the source of the female sexual energy needed for the rituals, that she, whether she is a low class woman brought in for the job or an actual supernatural creature summoned for the task.

This term is super vague and flexible, so I have a hard time pinning it down, but a great example of a dakin would be Ma-gcig Lab-sgron, a figure of Tantric Buddhism born in 1055. She is complicated to pin down, as she is a real figure, but also a supernatural one, a person who has many titles and attributes that would take a while to look into, but she might be a good starting place for anyone curious about what a dakini means. But for now, that’s all I have to share. I hope you’re all safe and have a wonderful day.

[coochiequeens]

Gambia's parliament of 58 lawmakers includes five women. If the bill eventually passes through parliament, President Adama Barrow is expected to sign it into law. He has not spoken publicly about the legislation."

Ladies, this is why "every vote counts" means everywhere elections are held. Vote more women into office

Lawmakers in Gambia have referred a repeal of the 2015 ban on female genital cutting for further committee discussions

By ABDOULIE JOHN Associated Press and JESSICA DONATI Associated Press

March 18, 2024, 8:49 AM

SERREKUNDA, Gambia -- Lawmakers in Gambia referred an attempted repeal of the 2015 ban on female genital cutting for further committee discussions on Monday.

Gambian activists fear a repeal would overturn years of work to better protect girls and women. The legislation was referred to a national committee for further debate and could return to a vote in the weeks and months ahead.

Activists in the largely Muslim country had warned that lifting the ban would hurt years of work against a procedure often performed on girls younger than 5 in the mistaken belief that it would control their sexuality.

The procedure, which also has been called female genital mutilation, includes the partial or full removal of external genitalia, often by traditional community practitioners with tools such as razor blades or at times by health workers. It can cause serious bleeding, death and childbirth complications but remains a widespread practice in parts of Africa.

Jaha Dukureh, the founder of Safe Hands for Girls, a local group that aims to end the practice, told The Associated Press she worried that other laws safeguarding women’s rights could be repealed next. Dukureh underwent the procedure and watched her sister bleed to death.

“If they succeed with this repeal, we know that they might come after the child marriage law and even the domestic violence law. This is not about religion but the cycle of controlling women and their bodies,�� she said. The United Nations has estimated that more than half of women and girls ages 15 to 49 in Gambia have undergone the procedure.

The bill is backed by religious conservatives in the nation of less than 3 million people. Its text says that “it seeks to uphold religious purity and safeguard cultural norms and values." The country’s top Islamic body has called the practice “one of the virtues of Islam."

Gambia's former leader, Yahya Jammeh, banned the practice in 2015 in a surprise to activists and with no public explanation. Since the law took effect, enforcement has been weak, with only two cases prosecuted.

On Monday, a crowd of men and women gathered outside Gambia's parliament, some carrying signs protesting the bill. Police in riot gear held them back.

Gambia's parliament of 58 lawmakers includes five women. If the bill eventually passes through parliament, President Adama Barrow is expected to sign it into law. He has not spoken publicly about the legislation.

The United States has supported activists who are trying to stop the practice. Earlier this month, it honored Gambian activist Fatou Baldeh at the White House with an International Women of Courage Award.

The U.S. Embassy in Gambia declined to say whether any high-level U.S. official in Washington had reached out to Gambian leaders over the bill. In its emailed statement, Geeta Rao Gupta, the top U.S. envoy for global women's issues, called it “incredibly important” to listen to the voices of survivors like Baldeh.

The chairperson of the local Center for Women’s Rights and Leadership, Fatou Jagne Senghore said the bill is “aimed at curtailing women’s rights and reversing the little progress made in recent years.” The president of the local Female Lawyers Association, Anna Njie, said the practice “has been proven to cause harm through medical evidence.”

UNICEF said earlier this month that some 30 million women globally have undergone female genital cutting in the past eight years, most of them in Africa but some in Asia and the Middle East.

More than 80 countries have laws prohibiting the procedure or allowing it to be prosecuted, according to a World Bank study cited this year by a United Nations Population Fund Q&A published earlier this year. They include South Africa, Iran, India and Ethiopia.

“No religious text promotes or condones female genital mutilation,” the UNFPA report says, adding there is no benefit to it.

Girls are subjected to the procedure at ages ranging from infancy to adolescence. Long term, it can lead to urinary tract infections, menstrual problems, pain, decreased sexual satisfaction and childbirth complications as well as depression, low self-esteem and post-traumatic stress disorder.

[nirrvana]

1/3 of a triptych i'm cooking

[christshands]

i dont really consider myself to be part of any one denomination for a multitude of reasons, but every so often ill get fixated on a specific denomination/group of christians (christianity, in addition to being my faith, is my special interest. which is the whole reason i made this blog) and their practices. right now im obsessively learning about eastern orthodoxy, before that though i was learning about anglicans, and before that it was quakers. idk the different ways people seek god are just really cool to me

[hauntedbythenarrative]

I need people to stop romanticizing italian men

[laddess-865]

Post of shame for a heckler

The first picture is from a "pro project 2025" post that this guy posted. He then proceeded to come to my page to heckle. Hecklers on my page will receive a post of shame and a block <3

[timeisacephalopod]

Why do right wingers go on and ON about "father's in the home" when fathers are basically useless in the home? Like every year I see posts that go around about "dad finding out about what I got for Christmas" and it's like if fathers are so uninvolved they don't even know what Christmas gifts their kids are getting I don't think them being gone does much?? Like of course there's good and bad parents of all genders, but traditional gender roles- which the aforementioned right wingers ascribe to- mean men do jack fucking squat in the house OR anything with their kids so what the hell do right wingers think men are doing that's so important in the home if it's none of the childrearing or house work??

All I've got in this framework is a paycheque and these days women work so men wouldn't even be contributing something women DON'T, so I have no idea what these people think men are doing that it's so irreplaceable that being gone is damaging to children when by all means under their ideas of gender and family men are less than useless to their family. Women do all that work (and barring that, DAUGHTERS do more parental work than fathers so them being gone does what, exactly, except maybe rid the family of an overgrown child? Men who actually contribute are the ones families would be damaged without, not traditional men who probably don't even know how to do their own laundry OR cook or have any life skills because women have done everything for them their whole lives so???)