and oh, being a man or being a Christian does not make a person "real" or not real, and I sure hope this sign is not implying that submission to God belongs more to one gender than to the other, but IT PROBABLY IS.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
JUST THE OPPOSITE, ACTUALLY: the subject & object are mixed around and the verb is not, in fact, bestowed only upon one gender, thanks
and oh, being a man or being a Christian does not make a person "real" or not real, and I sure hope this sign is not implying that submission to God belongs more to one gender than to the other, but IT PROBABLY IS.
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Yes, if I'm reading this sign correctly, it suggests that Christianity is sort of a men's club. The sign also makes me want to pose the characteristically Linwickian question: what is "love," and how does a "real man" love Jesus? I only have a pair of X sex chromosomes, but if I love Jesus like that, can I, too, become a "real man"?
ReplyDeleteYeah, the more I try to figure out the intentions of this phrase, the less clear it becomes to me. I've actually seen this in front of a few churches recently. All I've really discerned so far is that it's intended to be clever. My best guess, though, is that they actually think they're making a bold, counterintuitive statement here: it is not manly to love, or else it is not manly to love Jesus, and they're trying to redefine masculinity by claiming that in fact, *real* man (aka manly men) are proud and secure in their love of Jesus. And so, this isn't really all that offensive to women- on the contrary, a redefinition of masculinity based on love is, in a way, refreshing. But then again, it's not, because, as you say, Linwick, it's still a smug little men's club. It still implies that while "real" men love Jesus, real women.... well, don't matter enough to be included on the sign for one thing (more likely than not, because "real" women love the "real" men who "love" Jesus, and this is all a given.)
ReplyDeleteIn general, if the (contemporary American Protestant) church could just stop believing it's their job to define and enforce gender roles without bothering to inform themselves of the last 30 years of feminist scholarship on gender, my life would improve tenfold. If I hear the terms "Godly Man"/"Godly Woman" or "Woman of Christ"/"Man of Christ" one more time, I'm probably going to have to put a sticker on the pastor's face.
Orrrrr.... possibly homophobic Christian males feel insecure about their love of a male savior, so this sign is helping validate them? This is when your medieval expertise comes in, Linwick. You know. All that stuff about the sexualization of Christ's wounds and... blood... and stuff. Maybe I'll email the pastor of this church that he should have made a reproduction of this statue instead-
ReplyDeletehttp://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O14798/relief-christ-showing-his-wound/#