Gender and Religious Expectations
Do you think the general public expects women to be religious more so than men? I do. People seem disgusted when a woman says she is atheist as besides being forced to inhabit that dreaded nurturer role, a lot of men and women too, expect women to be godly or religious by default.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.People in general, at least in my generation, are fearful of women who think, especially if they speak their mind. Men seem to be respected for thinking, while women are not. This has been my experience anyway, with people of my own age and older.
Julie808
Level 8
Feb 12, 2023
1
True. And women are bitches if we are assertive, especially at work. Men hate women with opinions as they are used to ours not mattering or not being voiced.
Your sample may be biased. I have not seen it in either Australia or the United Kingdom that the general public expects women to be more religious than men. This may be consistent with my understanding that the American Deep South is infested with religious misogynists.
anglophone
Level 9
Feb 12, 2023
2
@Garban I have a word for such Christians: idiots.
America is built on the bullshit nurturer role of women. Men here go crazy if you don't smile when they are around even strangers in stores! We get demonized if we aren't encapsulating the psuedo bs ideology of feminism and compassion. It's almost as if we exist just so men are mothered. Lol
Religion and the promise of heaven are supposed to shine through women somehow, again as a comfort for men. So when we as women choose not to believe, it's seen as a betrayal to the psychological need men have to feel comforted by the perceived, "weaker sex".
It is EXHAUSTING to be a woman in America.
I was getting gas yesterday and minding my business, which I try hard to do as I like my privacy and try not to bother anyone, and some man screams, SMILE. From another pump. I was like wtf? I own my face. I will contort it how I see fit I told him
I was just thinking about gas! How much was in my car and estimating what I needed and apparently that required a feminine smile! Hahah
I’m sure that there is an unspoken expectation among men that women are more religious and this is tied to the traditional role of the female in most cultures with which I am familiar. In nearly every family women are the care givers, looking after the children, and those who are sick, many are employed as end of life carers. The first person that an injured child runs to is his/her mother. The female is usually the first to provide comfort within the family. Historically, female roles have led to the expectation that women be more religious than men. I think that when sick most men would prefer to be attended to by a female nurse or doctor. I think that it is a combination of factors that produce such an expectation in men.
ASTRALMAX
Level 8
Feb 12, 2023
1
Yes to all of that.
I think spirituality, and therefore religion, is a female's game. They are behind most of it and the men are only after the money and women.
rainmanjr
Level 8
Feb 12, 2023
1
In the Dao De Jing by Laozi there is a reference to women being the gateway between heaven and earth and this may simply be viewed that is through women that both men and women come into being. However, I am inclined to think that Laozi was referring to the balance within nature. The Chinese Yin Yang symbol represents the principle of complementarity (cooperation) and it contains both the masculine and feminine. Interestingly, Neils Bohr who was a close friend of Albert Einstein was awarded a Coat of Arms by the Royal Danish Court for his contribution to physics. Bohr designed his own heraldic shield which is adorned by the Yin Yang symbol.
@ASTRALMAX I know. I used to have a copy of the Bohr COA but the computer seems to have lost it. Yes, Taoism is a feminine religion as it births the ten thousand things. I would only quibble with Bohr being a friend of Einstein. He was more of a contemporary and a competitor, much like Tesla to Edison.
The heritage of patriarchy, means that the general public expects women to be more compliant in every sphere than men. Women are placed under greater expectations, greater pressure to comply, and are expected to accept that, and are judged more harshly than men if they do not conform to what are regarded as social norms. Women are expected to be people pleasers in all respects.
Whether that is because they are naturally more sociable than men, the expectation is self fulfilling and women are more compliant due to social conditioning, or it is a completely false judgment is perhaps another issue. How you would answer it, would depend on whether you were a feminist or not, and whether you are a difference feminist or not if you are. It could also be a blend of both social conditioning and genetic differences. Though that is not likely to be a popular answer since humans, both male and female, tend to like single simple absolute answers, since we are both too lazy to want complexity and fearful of uncertainty.
Fernapple
Level 9
Feb 12, 2023
3
Even the Gaia earth mother stuff gets me. As a woman, I do not want to inhabit this crap nurturer role. It is exhausting to be expected to birth and mother and comfort. Never in my life have men given me this luxury lol
Women are like men we are all different and being religious or not is the same, some of us are and some of us are not.
I gladly relinquish my role of nurturer that was foisted upon me at birth and with all the expected religiosity that goes with that.
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