interesting conserv christian male's view of rape

[bobbieinok]

very long; in this he discusses his debt to Andrea Dworkin

http://www.cornerstonemag.com/pages/show_page.asp?705

Are Men Really Human?
A Melancholy but Not Without Hope Personal Reflection on Male Sexuality
By Jon Trott

....

Then one day, I get just a taste. Just a moment, a window that flicks open and closed. But I discover something.

I am parking a car near our Jesus People USA headquarters, talking quietly aloud to God. Our Uptown neighborhood this summer afternoon is full of people, an urban landscape of rich, poor, black, brown, and white. I am happy, carefree. I pull onto a side street and find a place, but just as I turn the ignition off, I hear a voice. An African American female voice. She is leaning into my passenger-side window, which is open due to the heat. And she is suggesting that for five dollars she will do this and that and thus and such. Except what she says is descriptive. Far, far more descriptive. Her words fall on me, and on my sex, like a truckload of filth.

There is no temptation in this for me, no momentary flicker of desire. The woman is old beyond her years, emaciated looking, quite possibly ill with AIDS or some other disease. But her words, her words themselves are like death to me. It is painfully obvious that what she wants is drugs, and her offer to me is one driven by the logic of money and of maleness. Every man is nothing more than his penis. For me, who only moments before had been thinking of what a beautiful day it was, I felt as though I had been vomited on. It was a disgusting, diminished feeling I had. “Why me? Why did you say all that to me? What is there about me that would make you think I would respond to you? Is there something wrong with me, do I put off some kind of vibe?”

And then it hit me.

This is how women feel. This is how it is to be a woman – a sex object – in a man’s world. This is how it is not just once, not just this one abnormal time, but continually. The cool male eyes running up and down your body like they own it, like they possess you by right. The casual comment, the wolf-whistle, the wink. Open yourself to this feeling. Drink it in. Then look at your sisters, both the ones in Christ and the ones who do not yet know Him. Remember this feeling when you look at your sisters, when you talk to your sisters, when you talk about your sisters with other men.

Yes Lord, I will try to remember. Truly. This is how women feel.

more....

[BlueIris]

1. Okay. Interesting is one word for that.

It's curious he assumes all women feel that way. For the official record, I don't. I have that pesky self-respect thing that enables me to not feel exploited everywhere I go.

And what a strange example for him to use as the catalyst for his "enlightenment."

Also? Seeing the term "conservative Christian" in the feminist forum is--upsetting. Conservative is the term Republicans and Bush supporters use to make their attempts to legalize misogyny, bigotry and hatred seem legitimate.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. Surprising, actually.

For a self-described evangelical, he's got some pretty liberal - and dare I say - feminist - ideas! That said, I can't really get with the religious stuff and if he interprets the Bible as the literal word of God, then he would probably think that women should ultimately be submissive to men. But he's still a damn sight better than a lot of non-religious guys I know.

[bloom]

3. "I didn't want to be made of snips and snails…"

"I believe radical feminists have furthered me toward becoming a mature Christian man."


He sounds pretty liberal for a "conservative".


Though I don't think he should assume he knows how women feel.

[ismnotwasm]

4. Damn---My take:

I read the whole thing, and "Conservative Christian" is not how I would describe his life experience. He uses different parts of the bible for instance, I almost never hear the Song of Solomon used in reference to the bible. There are a lot of negative instructions in the bible concerning women, this man doesn't mentions them-- I'm under the impression that he probably feels they are the rules of the time, and not applicable for a modern Christian. (Women not speaking up or teaching in church, or wearing adornment, covering hair, in the NT, the "unclean" status of menstruating women in the OT for example)Of course even the Extreme RW Christians don't mention those parts much. (Mostly that "Women submit"- head of household crap and SOME of the stuff about the role of women in church and household Then they try to justify it as "just different roles")

I find it fascinating he ended up choosing between "sex or love", and he found his way to love in Christ--his point being that it freed him enough to love women, and come to terms with the common objectivity toward women as generalized body parts. The man sounds like he has a lot of love for his fellow human beings and that counts for much. His plea toward Christan women at the end of the piece was quite beautiful.

I'm not a Christian, but I'm not one of those who engage in "Christian bashing." I've read the bible out of interest. I still read parts of it I hear quoted, so I can get the context. (I'm muddling through the Koran right now)
That you for a very interesting post