Sisters and the Double Standard in the Hall

by Apognophos 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Apognophos

  " I do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence." -- Paul

  Okay, so this means that a sister has to speak to a householder when on the platform, so she isn't addressing us herself and teaching us something. Gotcha. But a sister can give a lengthy comment from her seat, addressing the congregation directly over the mike. Sure, she's basing her comment on the literature, not "teaching", but what else is she doing but summarizing literature when she gives her talk?

  And if commenting is permitted, why on Earth can't she do a Bible reading, a talk #1?! It's not teaching, it's reading an assigned passage! Sisters do that from their seats all the time too! And they can certainly do it at the door, even when speaking to a man; I guess those men don't count because they're not "Christians"??? Someone important a few decades back must have had a serious complex about seeing sisters stand up in front of him and speak... or perhaps he was afraid the brothers would be staring lustily at her ankles....
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  MrFreeze

  It's a way to keep women down and subjective.
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  Scully

  One of the very basic reasons why I could not, in good conscience, continue as a JW. The constant reminders that I was "just a Sister™" and therefore amounted to a worthless 'hank of hair and a bag of bones' just never sat right with me.
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  ShirleyW

  I know women will always be "held down" in the Borg, but, have to say though, when we moved to Queens and a new congregation in 1962, at our "Area Study" as it used to be called then also known as the Book Study, a Sister was our conductor for a while.
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  LongHairGal

  APOGNOPHOS:

  I never had any desire to "teach" in the hall, and they could have this privilege, if you want to call it that. This wasn't my real issue with them and I feel it is just a "smokescreen" to hide the real problem: their lack of boundaries with their behavior towards women, namely single ones.

  SCULLY:

  I was offended at the same things you were, but because I work and kept the elders at a distance I suppose I didn't care as much. I didn't give a shit what thought and it showed. Personally, I thought their stand on women was garbage and I thought the religion were assholes who needed to make themselves feel better by putting women down. The problem was, they couldn't hold me down "personally" and I had no problem with them taking the so-called lead in the ministry.

  No, my problem was when these idiots tried to inquire about my personal business. They didn't get anywhere!
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  Apognophos

  @ShirleyW: Wow. That would be kind of cool. Were there not any baptized brothers in attendance, or how did that come about? Incidentally, I would love to see a TMS conductor flip out one day and assign a sister for a Bible reading, and challenge his fellow elders to show where it's unbiblical to do so.

  Edit: In fact, how about getting the sisters up there for some WT readings? After what I had to sit through today, I'm ready for someone who can actually read a single paragraph without making two mistakes, for once. Everyone knows the sisters are better readers anyway....
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  Apognophos

  @LHG: I saw you mention that issue before. Can you give any examples (anonymized or otherwise) of how the brothers were overstepping? I'm genuinely curious because as a single brother and non-servant, I've never been in a place to observe that happening.
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  tiki

  back in the really olden days - 40's and 50's sisters sometimes were accounts servants, literature servants or magazine servants if there weren't enough brothers. when i was a kid there was a period of time my mother was a literature servant....she had to keep her hat on behind the counter, and answer to the congregation servant. she made rate because her father was anointed.
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  tiki

  back in the really olden days - 40's and 50's sisters sometimes were accounts servants, literature servants or magazine servants if there weren't enough brothers. when i was a kid there was a period of time my mother was a literature servant....she had to keep her hat on behind the counter, and answer to the congregation servant. she made rate because her father was anointed.
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  ShirleyW

  Of course there was a good amount of Brothers in the Cong, not to long after we moved to Queens the Cong split and started another so, I'm sure there were enough brothers, I guess Sis. Parker was more "spiritually minded" than some of brothers in the Cong !