Watchtower and Men
Thanks to Bill Bowen and others like him, women and children are finally getting more of their fair share of attention, not just from the media and the medical field, but also from the ex Jehovahs Witnessesmovement and its ever-growing numbers of non-Witness supporters. Much has been said on the private and public discussion boards concerning the known damage to the more vulnerable and less-empowered contingent of this religion-based corporation; less has been said about the damage done to those that make up the leadership and power base of the Watchtowerthe men.
From the time that Witness men are boys, they are taught not just that women are lesser and weaker (notice that they are NOT weaker when men are not present, such as isolated congregations; nor are they weaker when THEY are the single heads of families) but that the men must exercise headship over the women. In effect, being a male member of the Christian Congregation is definitely not a spectator sport. Overt acts are required on the part of the men, even boys, in order to maintain their status and to move upward on the spiritual ladder.
Now, a hundred years ago, when ALL women were likely treated and thought of this way, this perhaps was not a problem. But beginning from the 1960s and continuing untill today, the growing influence and contributions of women in the workplace have resulted in an improved status and treatment in the cultural and secular settings. They have better and equal access to education, and more freedom in which to use it. By no stretch of the imagination are men and women equal in the workplace mind you---but conditions have definitely have changed for both genders.
On the other hand, Watchtowers attitude towards women, and their expectations of males conduct and attitude toward women, have remained stagnant since at least the 1960s. Consider that a young 15-year-old baptized male teeenage boy is supposed to sit in the presence of his mother while she has a veil on her head (during a study) as a sign of respect and submission. This is after having been in school all day and having to give equal respect to his male teacher and female principal.
Now how, in his mind, does a young boy switch gears from his Witness home to the secular world in this way, and still maintain mental balance? If he does it by saying to himself "I am a Christian, and these people in the world are not" then he has taken the first step toward religious intolerance and a me versus them stance that may become so deeply ingrained that it matters little whether he remains a Witness upon adulthood or not----this plurality of viewpoints will still be there, baggage that must be carried wherever he goes in life.
Complicating matters further is if the women expect and look for dominance because to do otherwise would bring difficulty into their life from other Witness sources. (For example, the elders). At home, the young married Witness male is expected to exercise headship but then in the secular world he must give respect and some level of obedience to his female superiors.
Small wonder that the stress that this duality of mind can cause, releases itself through the overuse of alcohol or even physical acting-out toward other family members. Waking up in the morning to Alice-in-Wonderland (the Watchtower ideal of family and married life) then at midday crossing over to Mad Max (The Watchtower attitdue toward the secular world) and back again to Alice-in-Wonderland---and this day in and day out---can cause ambivalence on the part of men toward women throughout the whole scope of their daily existance.
It should come as no surpise how many Witness males prefer a meagre existance as window-washers, with its often all-male work teams, to the benefits and rewards a good secular career would have but with the price of equality toward women.
Watchtower doesnt let men off the hook as regards their own bodies either. Men as well as women can be expelled and shunned for engaging in oral/anal sexual relations. Men as well as women can be punished intra-organizationally if they undergo surgical steriliation. Men can be punished if they do not execise headship as well as the woman who will not accept it. And men will be expelled and shunned if they do not carry out the me Tarzan you Jane concept of male and famale relations whenever the issue comes up during organizational disciplinary events (juducal committees).
And when it comes to education, men take a big hit in the personal freedom department, for they as well as women are subjected to scrutiny if they wish to pursue higher eduction, even if they have a large family to support. And in any case, they are expected to make up the difference when the publishers do not contribute enough to the congregation cash flow to meet expenses.
Since women cannot occupy positions of responsibility in the Witness congregation, they can be police officers and advance themselves as high up the chain of command as they wish with very little reprisal, with the added benefit of male subordinates. Baptised male publishers, on the other hand, will lose any postions of responsibility they may have attained in the congregation and most likely, will not get them back untill they relinquish their police career entirely--plus the added weight of female superiors.
Ex-JW males hardly fare better. These antiquated attitudes toward one-half of the population by the other half (in the Witness world) cannot be rooted out with just a few visits to the mental health counselor; nor do they go away of their own accord as does the common cold. It perhaps is rather like having ingested just enough poison to be sick and uncomfortable; when the poison is discontinued the liver still show signs of damage upon inspection. Misogyny may well be a life-long condition.
Is there hope for a male JW exiting the Watchtower, to make peace with the women of the world in which he now finds himself a part? Some have found a way and made themselves a path. Some have in fact actually taken up the cause of bettering the existance of women and children within the organization; others have crept off into corners like injured animals licking their wounds and are still searching for their way; others still go through life pretending the problem doesnt exist and never existed. In all these cases, there still is manifest the beauty of the human world.diversity.
And in that, perhaps, as in all the worlds problems may lie the biggest solution. Change is constant.