In Which Troutsky's Replies Merit Another Post

The conversation with Troutsky concerning the role of women in the family and society at large continues herein. He asks:

Do you support men taking enough responsibility to equally empower women to pursue equally fulfilling lives outside of child rearing? This power issue lies at the heart of the feminism to which I ascribe.

It depends. Christians are called to give ten percent of their earnings--a tithe--to their church as well as charities which are either explicitly Christian or espouse the values taught by Christ. At least for Catholics, some of the money could go to a group of nuns; and what are nuns but women pursuing "fulfilling lives outside of child rearing"? I think this isn't what you had in mind, but it does show evidence that even the most patriarchal of Christian men are not opposed to women doing something besides raising children.

However, a Christian man should not work to allow a woman to leave the home except in special circumstances. The role of a mother or a father is to raise good children. This cannot easily be done if both parents spend forty plus hours a week outside of the home. The woman does not have to stay home--the man is also capable--but if it is in anyway possible to avoid a situation in which both parents will be absent from the home for hours at a time, we--Christians--are called to make this a reality, even if it requires sacrifice, which it most assuredly will.

Sure enough,the Church is exactly the type of commune/community/village which provides an alternative model to the nuclear family.

Which is perhaps why I love her so.

While your mother may have been fulfilled with her child raising role and whatever other activities she pursued, i believe it is acknowledged empirically that this was not the general case and that race and class issues were also contingent factors.

I agree, but only because I see the world as fallen. Most human beings are unfulfilled, and without Christ one can do nothing. A fallen soul will have little luck finding fulfillment either in the home or in the corporate world. This is a bit unpleasant. Direct all complaints to God.

Women are not so much "being told" they can't find happiness being a mother as much as they are discovering the power issues on their own and rising up. All big questions witha great deal of depth, don't you think?

I disagree. Young women are told that being only a housewife is less worthy than working in the 9-5 world. As feminism is supposed to be about choice, I find this abhorrent. I have no qualms with a woman who wishes to forgo raising a family so that she can have a career; one of my friends is doing this exact thing. I do not know whether or not this decision is right for her; she is a very sharp bio-chemist, and may indeed find her research more fulfilling than a life with a husband and a horde of childen. But she should not be told that one is automatically better than the other. If we wish women to be free to make a choice, we cannot tell them which choice they must make.

It may seem I have contradicted myself, but I haven't. If a woman wants a career she can do so. This country remains somewhat free. But if she chooses to have a family, either her career will suffer or she will be remiss in the raising of her children. The simple application of the principle of scarcity has fascinating ramifications.

As for "sanctioning the capitalist status quo", it is hardly a socialist protest to stay home and not work, socialists want women to share equally in all phases of building a just society, in work, the cultural sphere ,the political etc. so men have to concede a little space.

I find that by entering the work force, women are making the concessions. My mother has had a tremendous impact on my life; were she to have been a career woman, her power would have diminished substantially--all so she could fight the patriarchy by answering phone calls or creating power point presentations.

Few of us have a significant impact in the corporate world, as we are, most of us, interchangeable cogs in the wheels of the capitalistic machine. It makes precious little sense to give up the power to form one's children so as to become a pretty cog.

You take exception to the women who are "compelled" to work, who are "victims" of social pressure.Big Bogeyman I think, invented by traditionalists who like their patriarchy just as it is.

I find it interesting that you are so apathetic toward the manipulation of women by the capitalistic system. Wouldn't it be desirous to have fewer of us dwelling in cubes? Wouldn't staying home "stick it to the man"? From an economic perspective, feminism does not seem to fit with your larger philosophy as it is aiding the system which you so rightfully loathe. Am I wrong?

I believe Little Houses is also a myth, the reality being dysfunction and repression.

Yet Little Houses did exist. It wasn't utopic, but it was good enough that one did not often hear of women buring their little houses down, or drowning their babies in the bathtub. Having a healthy hatred of manual labor, I would not have liked to live in a Little House; nor would I have thrived in such an environment. But I don't know that this was dysfunctional and repressive. The government seemed to leave people well enough alone; women were taken care of by men, who ran the house as they saw fit--always under the observant eye of his better half. Since women will always be weaker than men, they will always be prone to being repressed thereby. It seems to me, romantic that I am, that the Little House era had some things right. Men protected the women, and having not been liberated by bizarre feminist theory, the women were generally grateful. It beat having to fight off bears on one's own.

I find it more than a little ironic that Christians disavow utopianism. If Love Your Enemy and Do Unto Others are not utopian sentiments I'll quit fishing forever.

Christians believe that man is fallen. We can, by the grace of God, hope to live a perfect life, but we always fail. The only utopia is the New Jersualem. Still, we work for the Kingdom on Earth. Faith, hope, and charity are strange things, are they not? And please don't quit fishing. Something would then be wrong with the universe.