I have always viewed women as more clever, manipulative, and intelligent than me. No, I never walked around voicing my bias ... yet, over time, I must confess I have been afraid of the opposite sex. It has only been in recent times that I have begun to fairly evaluate each individual by their conduct and not their gender.
Why do I bring this matter up on this particular site? It is because I have come to believe that Jehovah's Witnesses are a female-driven organization using males to do the "dirty work."
Mother was a divorced, stubborn zealot for the "truth" who taught me early what she referred to as the evil "wiles" of women. She took me to Genesis and showed me how Eve seduced Adam into not only disobeying God but to also taking the blame. She labeled sex as "dirty" and inferred that women used it to control men. At night, I would walk down a street in fear that a women would jump out from behind a tree and attack me! (Later in life I would hope that that might happen ... it never has!)
At the KH I began to notice that mothers were at the forefront browbeating their children into compliance and in the bathrooms beating them into submission. I would see many Sisters without husbands but few men raising their children alone. I began to notice that while the complaints of men were most often ignored by elders that the best way to get something done was to have a female protest to the elders ... additionally, it seemed always to be abusive husbands having been heard of as being guilty of "driving their wives into sin."
As time went on my distrust became fortified. Mother began a series of affairs eventually resulting in the birth of a child and she was subsequently DFd. No wonder she was so aware of what women were capable of ... all that time she had been revealing her own heart. In the course of time, she was reinstated, never told her illegitimate son how he was concieved or even who is father was. The boy would later suffer severe confusion as a result. For the rest of her life Mother would remain in denial concerning the past while blaming others for her plight. She would never allow any of her five children to associate with their natural fathers.
My baptised older sister also honed in on a man and became pregnant. She faded from the organization and was never held accountable. Later, she would fade back in and become a regular pioneer which she remains to this day.
I married a Catholic girl who ironically became a Witness and although we have stuck it out for many years, she too has had affairs for which she avoided congregational action. While I have chosen to overlook her indiscretions my self-esteem has suffered.
Certainly, not all have experienced such hypocrisy from a Father or Mother. Yet, I can understand some of the crime and hatred that occurs against innocent women who end up in the line of fire perpetrated by sick, angry men. Fortunately, I never turned to retaliation.
Today I am maintaining, but I would speculate that since it took decades for me to recognize and break free from the control of a disfunctional parent that others may have a similar unrealized resentmant.