• Email Sign Up
  • Following me around the web…
  • Sermons on Video
  • Single in the Sanctuary
  • Want to know about me?

Michelle L. Torigian

~ God Goes Pop Culture

Michelle L. Torigian

Tag Archives: SCOTUS

Women’s Agency and Autonomy on Trial

20 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by mictori in Current Events, Pop, Pop Culture

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Brett Kavanaugh, Christine Blasey Ford, hearings, Lot's Daughters, rape, SCOTUS, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sexual harassment, Supreme Court

supreme-court-546279_1920

Shrugging off has been our mode of coping.  Most of us women have shrugged sexual assault or harassment as it was happening – either because we hadn’t wrapped our minds around what happened or we know we wouldn’t be believed.

And we, ourselves, do not want to go on trial when we did nothing wrong.

It’s exhausting to live in a word in which we have to be hyper-vigilant while also knowing that even in our vigilance we may still be taken advantage of.  Even when we work to ensure our own safety and assault occurs, we know we will transformed from victim/survivor to evil voice.  We will become the demon, the Eve, the Jezebel, the Gomer – all wrapped into one – when coming forth about the incident.

Living eighteen years after the turn of the millennium and nearly 100 years after women began to get the right to vote (although not all women), we still fall short of what it means to be fully human.

There’s a message we hear from our leaders and institutions:

We don’t care about your bodies.  We don’t care about your health.  We don’t care about your livelihood.  In many ways like people of color or immigrants or LGBTQ people, you matter less.

We don’t want you to make decisions about your bodies.  We want to make them.  We want to use them when it is convenient for us.  We want to control them to ensure that a traditional patriarchal system continues.  We want to dispose of them when they no longer suit us or if they don’t fit our ideal standard for what a woman should be.

This is how it feels.

And when I read the story of Lot offering his daughters to be raped just to keep the men whole and holy, it makes me sick.  It’s not just a story that was told centuries before the birth of Jesus.  It’s also a story in which many people believe is the inspired Word of God.

So God would rather women be raped than men?  Why do either need to be raped?  Why are we not bettering our systems to hold rapists accountable?

Which brings us to this standing theology: Men’s bodies are holy.  Womens bodies are sinful and unclean.  Men are to be believed.  Women should endure pain because they aren’t as fully human as men, right?

(As someone who endures chronic pain due to reproductive health issues, I’ve felt dismissed by doctors on more than one occasion – even female doctors.  I’ve seen the health of my friends dismissed as I’ve notice the maternal mortality rate hanging too high for a developed nation.)

Between this story of alleged rape, the story that Kavanaugh wanted female clerks with a “certain” look, and his record on women’s reproductive health care rights, I see the larger picture of Kavanaugh and how he values – or doesn’t – women’s autonomy and agency.

And I know – he hired many women to serve as his clerks.  But the way a Generation X man devalues a woman will be different than a man who is a Boomer or from an earlier generation.  The way that one man devalues a woman is different than man from another generation or a man from his own generation.  He may hire a woman because he knows that women provide intellectual services yet may still believe that a woman still holds less autonomy and agency in other areas of her existence.  A man can appreciate a woman’s mind while still objectifying a woman’s body.

So I stand against any nominee for the SCOTUS or anyone leader in our Executive or Legislative Branch who carries on this ethos of male supremacy.  I stand against a system that doesn’t question what he’s done or the choices he has made.  Shouldn’t we have learned something from the time that Clarence Thomas was accused?  It’s been well over 25 years; shouldn’t we be farther along in the process of full autonomy and dignity for all women?  Shouldn’t we choose presidents who don’t take advantage of subordinates or assault women or pay women or brag about what they can do to women without their full consent?  There are men in both parties who have devalued women.  Why do they still have power?

We are women.  We deserve to walk at night or go to parties or hang out in social clubs or anything else without having to worry about being raped.  We deserve to go to work without being harassed.  We deserve to go to doctors and be believed because we know something isn’t right with our bodies.  We are not disposable, and we are fully human.

When will the powers-that-be in America and across the world believe us?

Or will we humans still be having this conversation in three thousand years – just like the story of Lot’s daughters?

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford – I believe you.  You are a beloved child of God.  You are made in the Image of God.  No one can take that from you – no matter how hard they try in these next few days.  And we have your back.

Advertisements

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Print
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

CCblogs Network

CCblogs Network

RevGalBlogPals

RevGalBlogPals
Follow Michelle L. Torigian on WordPress.com

Michelle L. Torigian

Michelle L. Torigian

Archives

  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • September 2011
  • December 2010

Blogroll

  • A Southern Pastor's Life in the North
  • Ancient/Future Faith
  • Associated Luke
  • Coffeehouse Contemplative
  • Emily C. Heath
  • For the Someday Book
  • Go and Tell with Grace
  • Katie Steedly
  • Liturgy Geek
  • musings about liturgical adventures, poetic journeys and such
  • One Whole Step
  • Reflections of Ryberg
  • Scattered Graces

Tags

Advent advent prayer Advent prayers Armenian Genocide child-free Childless Childlessness Christ Christianity Christmas Church Communion Communion Liturgy death divorce domestic violence Easter Election 2016 Endometriosis Epiphany Feminism God Grace Grey's Anatomy grief grief prayers grieving Healing Holy Week Hope Infertility Jesus Justice Lent LGBT Life Liturgy loss of loved one loss of parent Love Made in God's image married Michelle Torigian Mother's Day motherhood mourning Newtown occupy advent pain pastor Prayer Prayers privilege progressive Christianity Progressive Christianty Psalm 139 racism rape Resurrection RevGalBlogPals sexism sexual abuse sexual assault Single Singlehood single in the sanctuary Social Justice Surgery Syrophoenician woman Thanksgiving UCC United Church of Christ Vashti widows wilderness

Categories

  • Advent prayers
  • Church Life
  • Current Events
  • Epiphany Liturgy/Prayers
  • grief
  • Health
  • Holidays
  • Lent Prayers
  • Life
  • Liturgy
  • Movies
  • Music
  • National Day Prayers
  • Poetry
  • Pop
  • Pop Culture
  • Prayers
  • Religion
  • Single in the Sanctuary
  • Social Justice
  • Social Media
  • Sports
  • Television
  • Wordpress Blogger University

RSS Michelle L. Torigian

  • “Illuminate Your Winter” Worship Service
  • Liturgical Prayers for Epiphany 4C
  • That Body of Christ Thing from a Mama Bear in the Pulpit
  • Epiphany 3C Prayers
  • Liturgy for Epiphany 2C
  • Epiphany 1C Worship
  • Communion Liturgy for Epiphany
  • Christmas Eve – Lighting the Christ Candle
  • A Prayer on International Migrants Day
  • Advent Candle Lighting Prayer for Joy
Advertisements
February 2019
S M T W T F S
« Jan    
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
2425262728  

Category Cloud

Advent prayers Church Life Current Events Epiphany Liturgy/Prayers grief Health Holidays Lent Prayers Life Liturgy Movies Music National Day Prayers Poetry Pop Pop Culture Prayers Religion Single in the Sanctuary Social Justice Social Media Sports Television Wordpress Blogger University

Recent Posts

  • “Illuminate Your Winter” Worship Service
  • Liturgical Prayers for Epiphany 4C
  • That Body of Christ Thing from a Mama Bear in the Pulpit
  • Epiphany 3C Prayers
  • Liturgy for Epiphany 2C

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
%d bloggers like this: