Men, Women, Sex, Religion
By Carl S. ~
As a follow-up to "Why Male?" of 2/21/15... From the "Anthology of American Humor," 1949, printed by the Magazine Digest Publishing Company, comes this gem:
Sixty-six years later, I am about to take that boy's observation much farther than he intended. The world is still suffering upheavals because the relationships between men and women still aren't "right" wherever religion dominates.
Send one donation to any of the world's charities to alleviate or end hunger and severe social inequality and you will receive requests from others. And they all tell the same stories: Mostly they are about women with four, six, or more children, without birth control, unable to feed their children. Then ask yourself: Where the hell are their husbands/lovers? Have they moved on, promiscuously spreading their seed, in imitation of the wild beasts about them? Have they, according to eyewitness reports, spent their earnings on drinking and gambling, instead of in supporting their families? Obviously their fundamentally religious cultures and traditions don't give a damn about making things right between men and women, for women. In fact, they don't see what's wrong about keeping the status quo going.
Predominantly, those countries in which things are mind-boggling not "right" are fundamentalist Christian and Islamic. Those cultures, impregnated by the spreading virus of religions, are infamous for denying women's human rights. At their heart are theologies and dogmas which regard women as inferior to men and under male control.
Perversely, while Christianity and Islam both condemn the spilling of sperm, the aborting of fetuses, contraception, and adultery, their scriptures praise the spilling of blood and stockpiling of corpses, and the rapes and enslavement of girls and women in" holy" wars.
But it is in the interpersonal relationships between men and women where the most damage is inflicted, in the lack of respect and support for women's needs, their feelings, their rights to opportunities men take for granted for themselves. And then there's this sick nonsense: How would men like it if they had to live their lives outdoors in the heat all day long looking through a slit, deprived of sunlight's vitamin D? Women are not only denied the liberty of displaying their beautiful hair (a pleasure for both sexes), they don't even have the aggravation of a "bad hair day." What about, "Do unto others?" Fascinating, isn't it that no one brings these things up for discussion in the Islamic world?
In every single country where women are truly respected and supported, men are better off, children are better off, and society prospers. As has been verified in third world societies, give a mother financial support and the family is sustained.( Too often, giving financial aid to the men doesn’t work.)
What the hell is wrong with Islam anyhow in keeping the sexes apart up until marriage takes place? What is virtuous about boys and girls being raised separately, not sharing their different viewpoints, feelings, experiences, learning to respect each other, and getting to know one another before they become intimate?
Also, it's really wrong that they don't teach each man how to please a woman. That knowledge is essential, for both their sakes. No wonder things aren't "right" in the Islamic world, or anywhere else where these religion-derived denials reign. (By comparison, Hindus see sexual relationships as participating in the divine. Hindus like their women.)
These cultural, religion-driven traditions need to be overthrown, considering the sexual misunderstandings alone that they cause. No wonder the sexually repressed and frustrated men and women are joining fundamentalist Islam militancy. They are willingly, physically, and psychologically, mutilating themselves. They are going so far as to kill themselves and others. Are these their only religiously-sanctioned options to repressed sexuality - the promised rewards of a world paradise, culminating in the orgiastic destruction known as the "End Times?"
Perversely, while Christianity and Islam both condemn the spilling of sperm, the aborting of fetuses, contraception, and adultery, their scriptures praise the spilling of blood and stockpiling of corpses, and the rapes and enslavement of girls and women in" holy" wars.Human beings need to have and give love, affection, and respect. Gods and holy words are no substitutes. They do not touch nor caress, nor offer comfort, do not even give looks of understanding and empathy. Gods are abstractions. The gods do not respect.
How can there be any lasting peace on Earth without mutual respect between men and women and teaching it to their children, while religions inhibit them? We, who are the non-religious, must speak out and act for women. No Christian openly denounces the rigid sexuality-ignorant and misogynist St. Paul or his exhortation to women: be subjugated to men. No cleric dares to denounce God/Allah for hating women in simply being women. (These dogmas are in the cellular structures of their religious genes.) No believers will openly reject all the hateful words spoken against the female sex in their "divinely inspired, eternally true, and unquestionable sacred" texts.
Religions, which dominate so much of the world at present, have gotten something "wrong" from their very beginnings: the emphasis they place on being "right with God/gods” makes faith thicker than blood. That's perverted. What's important is that things must be right between men and women, and that this is passed on to their children by word and example. Will this make the world right? Well...it works.
The world needs this child's observed "rightness" for men and women, if the world is ever to be right. It should defeat the religious fundamentalist future that's nothing more than a repetition of the fundamentalist past. Any success by fundamentalist religion will only bring more repression of women than ever.
Does reading this make you want to support women’s and girl’s rights, including their education and empowerment? If so, I'm happy that you understand. And maybe my wife wouldn’t need to be so long-suffering with my typing if she knew about this.
A father trying to read was constantly interrupted by his small son. Finally he tore out of the magazine he was reading a page on which was a map of the world. He then took a pair of scissors and cut the map up into a jigsaw puzzle. "Now," said he, "when you get this all put together, I will give you a dime." Presently, the son brought the map to the father. "It was easy" said the son. "On the other side of the page, there was a picture of a man and a woman, and when you get the men and women right, the world is right."
Sixty-six years later, I am about to take that boy's observation much farther than he intended. The world is still suffering upheavals because the relationships between men and women still aren't "right" wherever religion dominates.
Send one donation to any of the world's charities to alleviate or end hunger and severe social inequality and you will receive requests from others. And they all tell the same stories: Mostly they are about women with four, six, or more children, without birth control, unable to feed their children. Then ask yourself: Where the hell are their husbands/lovers? Have they moved on, promiscuously spreading their seed, in imitation of the wild beasts about them? Have they, according to eyewitness reports, spent their earnings on drinking and gambling, instead of in supporting their families? Obviously their fundamentally religious cultures and traditions don't give a damn about making things right between men and women, for women. In fact, they don't see what's wrong about keeping the status quo going.
Predominantly, those countries in which things are mind-boggling not "right" are fundamentalist Christian and Islamic. Those cultures, impregnated by the spreading virus of religions, are infamous for denying women's human rights. At their heart are theologies and dogmas which regard women as inferior to men and under male control.
Perversely, while Christianity and Islam both condemn the spilling of sperm, the aborting of fetuses, contraception, and adultery, their scriptures praise the spilling of blood and stockpiling of corpses, and the rapes and enslavement of girls and women in" holy" wars.
But it is in the interpersonal relationships between men and women where the most damage is inflicted, in the lack of respect and support for women's needs, their feelings, their rights to opportunities men take for granted for themselves. And then there's this sick nonsense: How would men like it if they had to live their lives outdoors in the heat all day long looking through a slit, deprived of sunlight's vitamin D? Women are not only denied the liberty of displaying their beautiful hair (a pleasure for both sexes), they don't even have the aggravation of a "bad hair day." What about, "Do unto others?" Fascinating, isn't it that no one brings these things up for discussion in the Islamic world?
In every single country where women are truly respected and supported, men are better off, children are better off, and society prospers. As has been verified in third world societies, give a mother financial support and the family is sustained.( Too often, giving financial aid to the men doesn’t work.)
What the hell is wrong with Islam anyhow in keeping the sexes apart up until marriage takes place? What is virtuous about boys and girls being raised separately, not sharing their different viewpoints, feelings, experiences, learning to respect each other, and getting to know one another before they become intimate?
Also, it's really wrong that they don't teach each man how to please a woman. That knowledge is essential, for both their sakes. No wonder things aren't "right" in the Islamic world, or anywhere else where these religion-derived denials reign. (By comparison, Hindus see sexual relationships as participating in the divine. Hindus like their women.)
These cultural, religion-driven traditions need to be overthrown, considering the sexual misunderstandings alone that they cause. No wonder the sexually repressed and frustrated men and women are joining fundamentalist Islam militancy. They are willingly, physically, and psychologically, mutilating themselves. They are going so far as to kill themselves and others. Are these their only religiously-sanctioned options to repressed sexuality - the promised rewards of a world paradise, culminating in the orgiastic destruction known as the "End Times?"
Perversely, while Christianity and Islam both condemn the spilling of sperm, the aborting of fetuses, contraception, and adultery, their scriptures praise the spilling of blood and stockpiling of corpses, and the rapes and enslavement of girls and women in" holy" wars.Human beings need to have and give love, affection, and respect. Gods and holy words are no substitutes. They do not touch nor caress, nor offer comfort, do not even give looks of understanding and empathy. Gods are abstractions. The gods do not respect.
How can there be any lasting peace on Earth without mutual respect between men and women and teaching it to their children, while religions inhibit them? We, who are the non-religious, must speak out and act for women. No Christian openly denounces the rigid sexuality-ignorant and misogynist St. Paul or his exhortation to women: be subjugated to men. No cleric dares to denounce God/Allah for hating women in simply being women. (These dogmas are in the cellular structures of their religious genes.) No believers will openly reject all the hateful words spoken against the female sex in their "divinely inspired, eternally true, and unquestionable sacred" texts.
Religions, which dominate so much of the world at present, have gotten something "wrong" from their very beginnings: the emphasis they place on being "right with God/gods” makes faith thicker than blood. That's perverted. What's important is that things must be right between men and women, and that this is passed on to their children by word and example. Will this make the world right? Well...it works.
The world needs this child's observed "rightness" for men and women, if the world is ever to be right. It should defeat the religious fundamentalist future that's nothing more than a repetition of the fundamentalist past. Any success by fundamentalist religion will only bring more repression of women than ever.
Does reading this make you want to support women’s and girl’s rights, including their education and empowerment? If so, I'm happy that you understand. And maybe my wife wouldn’t need to be so long-suffering with my typing if she knew about this.
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