|
By Karabo
Mohlakoana
| |
| Photo
credit: Morguefile.com /Clarita |
Introduction
My Christian beliefs, that form the very component
of the blood that runs through my veins, teach me
that the ways, norms, values and teachings of the
church are not to be questioned. The pillar of this
culture through which I have always analyzed my
life and actions says, in terms that cannot be negotiated,
that the Bible (the holy book on which the Christian
faith is based) cannot be critiqued as written works
from other spaces. Somehow, the same non-questionable
status is bestowed on the interpreters of the word;
individuals through whose mouths God communicates
with the congregation.
Questions
My interest in this paper is to question the interpretation
of the word of God, and not the word itself. Our
interpretations of the word of God, as other aspects
of our lives and thinking are influenced from outside
the word itself. The interpretations we receive
as well as give are indeed political, value- laden,
and promote certain ways of thinking; which in turn
support certain world views. Interpretation of the
text is often not accidental or a coincidence but
it is planned and negotiated to suit the climate
and the politics of the time.
Sermon
As I listened to a particular sermon on the radio,
a live broadcast of a service held by a certain
church minister, one of the many I have heard from
different mediums of communication, I gasped with
wonder. I thought of the space called church. In
my context the church space is dominated by a large
female presence. This large presence of women has
led me to theorize that the women, more than anybody
else, are expected to conform to certain ways of
being. The women in the church, according to the
teachings and interpretation of the word of God,
should conform to the “Good Woman Models”,
models packaged, sold and promoted in different
contexts of the women’s lives.
Labels
The sermon began with a reading about a son who
was born to a woman whom the pastor described as
a sexually immoral woman - a prostitute. According
to the pastor, the ‘bad’ woman could
have had the baby with any man; he named a trucker
and motor biker as possible examples. It is important
to note here that when the woman exercises her sexual
agency, she is given labels, often derogatory labels;
but the possible partners she may choose have occupations.
This is how the woman prostitutes while the men
operate machinery of some kind.
Warning
The pastor went on to warn young girls - the listeners
– saying, “Any man that wants to have
sex with you does not love you. Even after marriage
he will doubt you because you taught him you cannot
be trusted”. The sexuality of young women
becomes an issue that causes the pastor to criticize
the way women project their sexuality. It is imperative
to observe the different meanings of sex before
marriage as interpreted in the sermon.
Women have to stay away from sex before marriage
as it is an indicator of ‘untrustworthiness’.
Women are the ones who have to strive to be trusted
after marriage by abstaining before marriage. Men
desire sex but expect women to decline so that the
men will not doubt their partners in marriage. The
mixture of love, sex and trust happens to be much
gendered.
‘Evil Women’
The pastor in the radio programme touched on the
way women dressed in church. One wonders why pieces
of clothing become surrounded by such political
undertones. Dress is political and not innocent
to those who dress and those who observe the dressing.
In church sermons, such as the one under scrutiny,
clothes have close connections with issues of morality.
The clothes determine the morality of the woman
as either bad or good; especially because “poor”
men are lured to lust after these terrible women
who dress provocatively.
The preacher went further to portray men in the
churches as victims who get attracted to the “evil
women” who are oversexed; even in church.
Are men really that sexually controlled by women?
Are women’s clothing so potent that they render
the men helpless and begging for sexual mercy? Does
it really matter how men dress in church (in the
name of morality) or are the womenfolk so naturally
passive that they may not be affected by the way
men dress? These are just some of the questions
that come to my mind.
Dangerous
The relationship between religion, church and sexuality
is still colonized in many ways. Women are still
sexually colonized and portrayed as lethal and very
dangerous. Any recognition of their sexuality, even
with regard to the issue of dressing, is analyzed
in ways that portray the women as bad. Categories
such as age are sometimes brought in just to spice
the debates. In fact, the sermon on the day in question
began by drawing attention to a sexual and mature
woman as bad too. Interpretations such as these,
point only to one thing; in some religious spaces,
women and sex are not safe combinations and the
mix is a dangerous one. The truth however is that
biased interpretations of religious literature will
not facilitate healthy sexuality debates within
religious spaces.
* Karabo Mohlakoana is an educator, trainer,
counsellor and researcher who lives in Lesotho.
She is a senior lecturer and consultant in a management
institute working in the areas of education, HIV
& AIDS and gender.
Back
to main page |
