what's in it for the women???

by chelsea 45 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  eclipse

  Hair must be really sexy.

  You know it! & lol @ mtsgrad

  in short, there is nothing really in it for women, sure they used to placate us with that stupid kingdom song, and say the women did the majority of the preaching work, like we were supposed to be so proud of that...

  I remember thinking that in the new system we wouldn't be subjected to men anymore because we all would be perfect...after all Adam and Eve were told that men would dominate women after they had sinned...before sinning, they were equals. (that was my theory as a JW).

  -e
• 

  Effervescent

  I was lucky enough to get out early, pre marriage, dating and all that. But as far as understanding that the average JW woman not having any rights or any lot in life aside from door knocking and being a broodmare for future contributors... I had been too indoctrinated to know it could be any different. It took a looooong time to get the idea out of my head that the husbands word is law and my only future was in being domesticated.
• 

  looking_glass

  Adam and Eve were told that men would dominate women after they had sinned...before sinning, they were equals. (that was my theory as a JW).

  That was totally my theory as well. I also loved that JWs say that man has dominated man to his injury and since women are dominated by men in the religion how is that not a red flag that is it a bad thing!
• 

  Kudra

  eclipse:
  
  yeah, tell e about it. And the African slaves did the majority of the cotton-picking work. Shouldn't they have been proud of the cotton industry??
  
  Laaaaame.
  
  Doing all of the work and getting sh@t on for it. Sounds like a hoot to me.
  
  -K
• 

  Numinous

  The Bible is the instruction manual in oppression for both men and women. The idea of having your wife do everything that you don't want to do plus do things she DOESN'T want to do...pretty appealing. At one point, after many years of going through the motions, I told my husband I felt like a whore. Not even a paid whore. And that "slave" thing they are so proud of is really the same situation, only the WT is the bad husband. It is a life of drudgery and unhappiness if the woman has a self-centered husband. Very few marriages were happy and some wives seemed the type that would do anything to be "taken care of". That whole situation just makes me gag.
• 

  eclipse

  I also loved that JWs say that man has dominated man to his injury and since women are dominated by men in the religion how is that not a red flag that is it a bad thing!

  Hey good point, looking_glass!

  And the African slaves did the majority of the cotton-picking work. Shouldn't they have been proud of the cotton industry??
  
  Laaaaame.
  
  Doing all of the work and getting sh@t on for it.

  and on top of that, we had to be SILENT because we were not to be teachers, and ''THANKFUL'' that we even had the ''priviledge'' of being on stage at all...since we are the submissive gender...gawd!!!! Paul was such a chauvinistic pig.

  -e
• 

  chelsea

  Of course eclipse!!!! A person without a penis is terribly incapable of looking and talking directly at an audience...
• 

  jgnat

  What's in it for the women? Instant martyrdom. I can see it in the sour faces of the older ones. Some women like it, and wouldn't know what to do with themselves if they didn't have anyone to blame for their life.
• 

  Odrade

  For one, a built-in social network. For women who didn't have very nurturing mothers, they can find surrogate "mothers" in the congregation. For co-dependents, there is a never ending supply of people who need to be "helped." Ambitious women can control a tremendous amount of the tone of the congregation with social gatherings, and influencing their husbands. Praise and rewards for being "traditional," it's very easy to get kudos for being a stay-at-home mom when you're a witness. "Headship" means never having to be responsible for bad decisions, since the "head of the house" is the primary (some say ONLY) decision maker of consequence in the family.

  Yes, women give up lots of power to be JWs, but if you can get past the mind-bending, thought-numbing cultishness of it all, there are definite bonuses. Just ask my mother.

  I'm not saying any of those things would be motivators for healthy, happy women, but they are getting something out of it.
• 

  Mary

  Ambitious women can control a tremendous amount of the tone of the congregation with social gatherings, and influencing their husbands. Praise and rewards for being "traditional," it's very easy to get kudos for being a stay-at-home mom when you're a witness.

  Bingo. I found most of the sisters in my Hall had no concept of life beyond their husbands, children, shopping, get togethers and Martha Stewart. They were all 'friends' so to speak, but all very competitive with one another and they would not hesitate to stab you in the back if the opportunity arose. The highlight of their week was getting together for "power breakfasts" or "power lunches"----a club for ONLY the elite that they loved to exclude others from. I found it frustrating trying to have an intelligent conversation with any of them. Most of them had never worked outside the home-----one of them couldn't even hold down a part time job at Tim Hortons for gods sake. While social gatherings could be nice, I found that some of the sisters' lives revolved around having get-togethers with their select set of friends, while ignoring the 'widow and orphan'.