The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.
Michel de Montaigne, Essais (via philosophybits)
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The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.
Michel de Montaigne, Essais (via philosophybits)
Cinderella and the Stepsisters continue to tour Scotland this month!
Catch it in Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen, details at www.scottishballet.co.uk/cinderella
I'm going to be out for a while
tips for writing essays in college
i feel like spongebob for making this list about writing essays to avoid writing an essay but Life Imitates Art and all that so anyway
dont u dare spend 20 minutes of Premium Focus Time thinking of the perfect title save that nonsense for last bc most professors just want a title they dont really care how good it is
put the date that the assignment is due in the header (no one has to know when you wrote it so just put the due date)
figure out how to use the blackboard dropbox before 11:58pm the night something is due bc every second counts
most dropboxes let you name the file when you submit it but save your paper as something Appropriate just in case please my children im begging u
be realistic about how long you can sit there writing an essay (ie dont block out 5 hours to write a paper when you know youll get bored 10 minutes in and sit on tumblr for 4 hours)
dont write an essay while lying down u Fool
if you have a paper due at 9 am and it’s 1am and you feel like death: sleep for 1 ½ hours (1 REM cycle) - 3 hours (2 REM cycles) and then wake up to finish the essay - sleeping 1 - 2 REM sleep cycles should be enough to leave you feeling refreshed and relaxed so take that long nap and then get back to work
be conscientious of your word choice - if you used ‘magnificent’ in the previous sentence then pick a different adjective (but make sure it fits and isnt just a synonym you found on thesaurus.com - people can tell when a word is clearly beyond the vocabulary of a paper)
you dont have to start an essay as soon as it’s assigned but at least look at what the assignment entails so ur not emailing your professor at 11pm the night its due bc you dont know how many in-text citations are needed they might be up at that hour but that doesnt mean they want to answer your question
the 5 Paragraph format is crap and i have yet to take a class where the professor wanted me to use it - they care more about pages and word count than paragraphs so write however many paragraphs it takes you to fill x number of pages/words (could be 4 pages could be 6 could be 15 idk bud it’s up to you so get going)
The reason I hate the “Shakespeare didn’t actually write Shakespeare” theories so much is they seem to be inherently rooted in taking his works away from ordinary people. “The son of a glovemaker could never have written these plays! Surely only an Aristocratic Intellectual, like the Earl of Oxford, could be responsible!“
Honestly fuck off. Shakespeare was one of us. His plays were written for the masses. He was an ordinary man who captured the voice of the people and the depths of their emotions. We credit Shakespeare with making up words and phrases, but who’s to say he wasn’t writing down what he heard on the streets? "But something as complex as Hamlet could never have been written by Shakespeare! It must have been the work of a nobleman!” Well guess what, not only did he write it, but he wrote it because that’s what his audience liked. The hordes of ordinary people consumed his deeply philosophical play about a young man musing over life and death and sin and they LOVED it.
Shakespeare was a crowd-pleaser and an entertainer, and reason his work is so beautiful and poetic and philosophical (as well as bloody and sexual!) is because he was responding to popular demand. Most people attending the theatre were illiterate; they consumed literature by listening, and this is one of the reasons why playwrights utilised iambic pentameter and rhyming schemes. Their dialogue is poetry, and it’s beautiful to listen to. The first time Romeo and Juliet meet, their shared dialogue creates a sonnet. Imagine a commoner sitting in the crowd listening to that, and it hits him like an arrow, wow, listen to the way these characters speak, this is love at first sight.
Shakespeare was an ordinary man, and the beauty and complexity of his works were fuelled largely by the appetite of ordinary people. Although plays could be written and performed for the aristocracy, it was the hordes at the theatres that one had to keep happy. This modern obsession with putting him on a pedestal and trying to make him high culture or inaccessible to ordinary people is just gross. This upstart crow will always be one of us, and his work will always be for us.
Just to add on a bit, I was an English major, and I remember once in college, my linguist professor was discussing Shakespeare, and how he created new words. She said that linguists have studied the languages of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, and they’ve basically come to the conclusion that Shakespeare didn’t invent these new words, at all. They theorize that he actually picked up these words from young women who would use them, as slang speech. Slang speech in these centuries can be found in letters young women wrote to each other, with the slang coming from them shortening words, in order to write faster. Of course, women’s ways of talking have constantly been looked down upon throughout society, but here’s an article from Smithsonian, discussing the fact that young women throughout history have shaped language, and continue to do so. They say that what holds men back (men trail by about a generation) is the fact that they make fun of the way in which women talk.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/teenage-girls-have-been-revolutionizing-language-16th-century-180956216/
“Lie close,” Laura said, Pricking up her golden head: “We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed Their hungry thirsty roots?”
A wolf goes for a walk in the woods and meets a dog for the first time
I remember when people first realized how much funnier these comics were just without Garfield’s dialog, which Jon was never able to hear anyway. Garfield only ever communicated to us readers in thought balloons, after all. What we’re seeing here is Jon’s canonical reality.
I’m torn between laughing at these and being deeply worried for Jon lol
this is me anytime i interact with a cat
woman is not a feeling. you cannot feel like a woman. you can conform to the stereotype of the opposite sex but that doesnt make you that sex. woman is not a feeling. woman is not a feeling.
The Spartacus thread is mostly full of people with XX chromosomes, ovaries, uteri, vaginas, brilliant ungendered brains and a lifetime of being treated as second class citizens. Women. We - those women - are telling you that being a woman is about having those chromosomes, that menstruating body, those brilliant brains and enduring a lifetime being treated as less than men. Women don’t share a ‘gender’ Women don’t have the same personality Women don’t WEAR a certain type of clothing, or makeup Women don’t FEEL the same Women don’t THINK the same Women don’t BEHAVE the same Women don’t EXPRESS the same Women don’t SPEAK the same There is literally no way of FEELING, THINKING, BEHAVING, EXPRESSING, SPEAKING or WEARING anything that makes anyone LIKE A WOMAN. Women are not those things. We are human beings and we are all different. Except for this, this one thing that puts us all in the same boat, whether we like or hate one another, whether we disagree on politics or religion, whether we live now or lived thousands of years ago, whether we are mothers or childless, whether we are kind or hateful, peaceful or violent, black or white, rich or poor, this thing which exists whether we are alive or dead, this thing which is common to all women, and distinct from ALL MEN? Chromosomes, ovaries, uteri, vaginas, ungendered brains, and, almost without exception, a lifetime of being treated as less than men. That’s what women have in common.
(via liesofthepatriarchy)
a shitposter’s guide to political bias in major news outlets
as in, stop quoting the fucking daily caller, for the love of god. we are all gross liberals/progressives/socialists here, so if you see any political post on your dash that uses any news outlet in the first list as its source, then there is like an 80% chance you’re about to reblog hyperbolic conservative propaganda with very little basis in reality. don’t do it, guys. don’t do it. check sources. save a life.
WARNING: GONNA HAVE SOME CONSERVATIVE OPINIONS:
Fox News: should be obvious. don’t do it.
The Blaze: Glenn Beck’s personal news network. don’t do it.
The Drudge Report: mostly link aggregation, opinions section is some bad shit. don’t do it.
The Daily Caller: Tucker Carlson’s baby. you may remember Carlson as the human mouthfart that used to run Crossfire before Jon Stewart fucking eviscerated him ten years ago. don’t do it.
Hot Air: doesn’t vote the straight conservative opinion ticket, some columnists have more liberal social views, but still. on the top 10 list of popular conservative blogs. don’t do it.
Breitbart: conservative, neoreactionary, published an opinion this month calling for a limit to the number of women allowed into STEM fields. don’t do it.
National Review: tbh if you gotta cite a conservative news source, go with TNR. the print magazine and policy institute especially do some high quality pieces, but like as a rule, you’re probably not gonna like the conclusions they come up with. online-only content can be a bit more opinionated. maybe do it.
Wall Street Journal: so center-right the right has actually started to disown it. you’re not gonna like their economics, but they’re not scandal-mongering drivel like some of the blogs on this list. maybe do it.
The Washington Examiner: very good local D.C. reporting, actually, but like, the opinions section is still not gonna be anything you wanna read. maybe do it.
The New York Post: conservative AND a tabloid, do not look to for unbiased reporting or anything except like vile exploitation of tragedy. don’t do it.
Any British Paper That Isn’t The Guardian or The Independent: american newspapers tend towards center-left, british papers tend towards center-right. my sympathies to our cousins across the atlantic.
Special Mention: The Daily Mail: do not cite the Daily Mail for any goddamn reason, i will come to your house and rub your nose into your keyboard like an untrained dog.
GOOD HEARTY LIBERAL STOCK:
The New York Times (plus Magazine): american paper of record and probably deserves it. will surely be too white elite new york liberal center-left for most of your commie asses, but still excellent.
New Yorker: i mean it’s not breaking news and it’s frequently so pretentious you get sucked up your own ass turning the page, but they do know their investigative journalism.
The Washington Post: on average, best political/policy reporting of any paper in the country. their wonkblog, even after Ezra Klien &co’s mass exodus, does excellent daily roundups of domestic political news.
The LA Times (and most other city papers): LA’s great, p much everything is center-left, some of them are gonna be better at covering national issues than others (looks pointedly at SF Gate). good for local, double-check for national.
Huffington Post: PROCEED W/ CAUTION, their news reporting is fine enough but the sheer number of bloggers attached to the site means there’s not always so much quality control. double-check that shit.
BuzzFeed: PROCEED W/ SLIGHTLY LESS CAUTION: be on the watch for bloggers here too, but tbh their staff reporting is some real good shit. they have a white house correspondent now and everything.
Slate: some good liberal shit.
The Atlantic: some good liberal shit. older than you. follow ta-nehisi coates on twitter.
NPR: some generally decent liberal shit. please donate to them.
Politico: some good liberal shit.
Mother Jones: some good liberal shit. older than you.
The Guardian: actually does some great US reporting, had reporters in Ferguson last summer.
Al Jazeera: also has an american bureau, good stuff, and, of course, international coverage unlike almost anything in the US.
BBC: doesn’t care as much about the US, but more foreign policy coverage worth reading.
Vox: where Ezra Klien and his crew all ran off to. unfortunate tendency for clickbait headlines, but their explainer cards do an excellent job of breaking complex news stories into easily digestible parts. i’m biased, but i love them.
SORTA INBETWEEN, THIS IS A SLIDING SCALE AFTER ALL (look, a graph):
The Economist: technically has a majority center-left readership, but you’re not gonna like their economics. they love themselves some free markets.
AP/Reuters: about as neutral as it possibly gets. all facts, no opinion. (pronounced roi-terz btw, impress your friends)
USA Today: well i guess making every hotel guest in the country step over it on their way to breakfast qualifies it as the most popular print paper in the country.
CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.: all technically left of center (by maybe a milimeter), but watch out for sensationalism. they are 24-hour networks after all.
The Daily News: i have no opinion on the daily news and i doubt any of you do either.
TIME magazine: i mean like, not objectively unreliable, but you could be making better choices.
LITERALLY SATIRE, THESE ARE LITERALLY SATIRE:
The National Report: it’s satire.
The Onion: it’s satire.
Empire News: it’s satire.
I’m so glad there’s a link to that Jon Stewart tears into Crossfire video my soul needed that
A note on the BBC: they bust their asses trying to be neutral. If you need a source with little bias, the BBC is usually a good place to go, especially if you’re a UK person. I usually use it as a barometer of ‘this is story actually a thing’.
Reblogging mostly for the comment on the Daily Mail, but also to suggest ProPublica as another good liberal source, primarily for long form reporting.
NPR relies on public funding, and will sometimes be so aggressively neutral to protect it that they wind up on the wrong side in weird little ways that add up (see: refusal to refer to Barak Obama as President Obama, refusal to call the bloviating yam a liar). Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t listen to them, as they can do excellent work, but be aware of the weakness in the system.
ProPublica does do excellent long-form investigative journalism! They don’t cover as much, but what they do cover, they drill down to the core.
Extra warning about Breitbart: pretty much all Trump’s WH stable of Nazis are Breitbart veterans. Do not read any of their articles, and if one of their contributors is standing near you and spontaneously combusts, don’t put them out. New York Post is so aggressively pro-Trump that he probably masturbates to it late at night- DON’T mix them up with the NYT!
Also not to mix up: do NOT mistake the Washington Times for the Washington Post! WaPo is a paper of record with excellent reporting. Washington Times is the paper owned by the Moonies (google it) and is aggressively far-right. Verrrrrry different things.
That little roundup at the end is very weird to me! AP and Reuters are very neutral sources. AP is bigger in the US (it’s us-based) and Reuters in Europe, but they both get contributions from reporters around the world and most newspapers will run at least some content licensed from them- particularly if the paper isn’t big enough to have reporters stationed around the world. The Economist is okay, if annoyingly capitalist, but it’s reasonably respectable. USA Today isn’t really partial, just bland. It is the shredded wheat of newspapers. (Also, they don’t publish on weekends and they LOVE infographics.)
Time magazine is what I call “brain candy.” It has shiny pages, color pictures, and seems to only cover anything of importance when they think it will scare people into buying it. They run a lot of “trend” articles, shit like “Why Millenials Aren’t Buying Houses.”
If you are getting your news from network tv, stop. Just…stop. It is all sensationalist, rarely complete or correct, and will usually make you less informed and possibly strip some iq points. CNN is still regarded as a more neutral/reliable network, in some circles, but I gave up on them in disgust after their 2000 election night coverage, and have never been given a reason to change my mind. They have SEVERE problems with sensationalism because they are a 24-hour network, and they are one of the biggest offenders when it comes to legitimizing dumb bullshit by giving it equal time with facts (they like to kill time by bringing on talking heads to argue about things like vaccines and global warming as if these are legitimate discussions we should be having). They also have a history of employing far-right douchebags like Glenn Beck and human dumpster fire Don Lemon in the interest of “objectivity” (notably, CNN was the broadcaster of the execrable Crossfire with Tucker “Jizzrag” Carlson).
How Often To Clean Your House (aka Being An Adult)
Sprinkles And Crafts: A Food, DIY And Lifestyle Blog.
I uh, might print these out and make em into dry erase board check lists
is this some kind of funny man practical joke time sketch what the fuck who does NINE THINGS A DAY. who’s cleaning their microwave every week WHO DO YOU THINK I AM push 90% of these things into the “Every year” bracket lmao
Me, reading these lists and lying on my bed covered in five different layers of clothes: unfortunate
Punctuation Matters by The Visual Communication Guy
I’ll never understand writers who don’t care about punctuation. It adds control, clarity, meaning, and variety.
My English major ass appreciates this so hard 👌🏻🙌🏻
And they may have my oxford comma when they pry it from my stiff, cold, and dead hands.
Accessories - including the Whale Bag, Shark Backpack and Turtle Purse - by Don Fisher Shop on Etsy
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Many black muslims believe slavery isnt apart of islam, which is so fucking sad…..
I confronted a black muslim on here because he said that in islam everyone is equal. I talked to him through private messenger, everything went smoothly until the convo just got really deep and he eventually out of nowhere deleted his account and his account was freaking huge, luckily he lives in sweden. But, im just hoping hes just rethinking this all through and will lead to more questions to the point of where he leaves.
Islam is arab imperialism.
…wow. My dash definitely tried to illustrate the quote in the most fitting way.
Misogynistic verses in islam
RACISTS AND WHITE SUPREMACISTS WILL BE BLOCKED
Everything is official material with interpretations from islamic sources. Enjoy and feel free to add/refer to this if needed. I have only included things I can source. Might add more in the future.
QURAN VERSES
4:11: Equal inheritence: “Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, what is equal to the share of two females.” 1 2 3
4:34: Men are in charge of women and women should be obedient and if they are not, strike them: “Men are in charge of women…righteous women are devoutly obedient…from whom you fear arrogance…strike them” 1 2 3 4
5:5 & 2:221: Men can marry a Christian or Jewish woman but a woman cannot marry a Christian or Jewish man because men are the authority: 1 2 3 4 5
66:5: If muhammed’s wives are not good and obedient enough, allah will replace them: “…If he divorced you[wives], [Allah] would substitute for him wives better than you…”
33:59: Women should cover themselves(their awrah) to avoid male gaze: Awrah includes a women’s entire body(except hands and eyes) and women should cover it. 1 2 3 4 5 [Refer to my explanation of why these reasons are misogynistic]
24:31: Veil again
24:60: More modesty and covering
2:223: Women are men’s fields: “Your wives are a place of sowing of seed for you.”
4:3: Multiple wives: “…marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four.” 1 2 3 4
33:37: allah specifically states it is okay to marry your adopted son’s ex-wife when muhammed goes for that: “So when Zayd had no longer any need for her, We married her to you in order that there not be upon believers any discomfort concerning the wives of their adopted sons when they no longer have need of them”
2:282: Two women witnesses equal one man witness because women make errors: “…And bring to witness two witnesses from among your men. And if there are not two men [avaible], then a man and two women from those whom you accept as witnesses- so that if one of the women errs, then the other can remind her.” 1 2 3
33:28-38: Extra punishment for muhammed’s wives for disobeying him and his insecurities of his wives
15:75: Lot(the one who killed gay men) offering his daughters to be raped if those men stopped being gay: “[Lot] said, “These are my daughters - if you would be doers” 1
5:6: Contact with women makes you unclean: “…[if] you have contacted women and do not find water, then seek clean earth and wipe over your faces and hands with it” 1 2
65: Divorce is for men: Men can divorce for whatever reason but women need valid reasons and should be approoved by the court of men 1 2 3
4:15: If a woman is guilty of lewdness/adultery, punish her with a life-long sentence: 1 2
2:228: Men status being above women statuswise: “…men have a degree(authority) over them(women).” 1
4:24: Having sex with female slaves is okay: Context: “…[They] were reluctant to have relations with the female captives because of their pagan husbands. So, Allaah the exalted sent down the Qur’anic verse “And all married women (are forbidden) unto you save those (captives) whom your right hand posses.” This is to say that they are lawful for them when they complete their waiting period.” 1 2
2:222: Mensturating women are seen as impure and cannot touch quran: Meaning is debated and it is said that it means “ritually impure”. “Semen” is the primary impurity islam refers to, so periods have the same value of impurity as semen. 1
[Multiple verses]: Men will be rewarded with beautiful virgins in paradise while women will be given to men: Verses are in links 1 2 3 4 5
HADITHS
Excluded hadiths for being “unreliable” or no acces to online sources: Ibn Ishaq, Kanz al’Ummal, Al-Thirmidi, Tabari
muhammed hitting Aisha’s(his 9 year old wife) chest
Women have intelligence deficiency
Best woman is the one who pleases her husband and is obedient
Woman wants to marry muhammed, he doesn’t like her so he marries her to someone else
Majority of hell is made up of women
Aisha says “women are created equal to donkeys and dogs”
Silence is consent
Sex is the best part of women
Women cannot be rulers
Pedophilia
Men can beat their wives without reason
Women are items to trade
Women cannot marry if a male guardian of hers is not approoving
^Again
^Again
People cannot prostrate(kneel) before any other human but if they could women would do it for their husbands
Raping female captives is okay (also context for 4:24)
Conquered Jewish village and took a man’s wife as a prize after killing him
Another slave of muhammed
muhammed taking another woman
Young women should cover
Women should cover again
Prayers won’t be accepted if you won’t wear a veil
Women cannot travel without a guardian
muhammed had special rules for more wives(9 or 11, debated)
9 wives again
Woman seeks help for abusive husband, muhammed does nothing
More woman beating
Here’s a list of Bible quotes which are misogynistic. I would like to make it clear that Muslims expecting their religion to be absolved of criticism due to the misogyny of Christianity is invalid. Christians, Muslims, and Jews all worship the god of Abraham and their hypothetical deity is a violent woman-hater.
Source: https://www.nobeliefs.com/DarkBible/darkbible7.htm
Burn The Daughter!
“And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.” (Leviticus 21:9)
Comment
A priest’s daughter, if found to have lost her virginity without marriage, can receive the death penalty, but in the form of incineration.
How many fundamentalist priests who so easily condemn others would carry out the burning of their daughters if they found them “whoring”?
(See also Genesis 38:24)
Cut Off Her Hand!
“When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: then thou shalt cut off her hand, thine eye shall not pity her.” (Deuteronomy 25:11-12)
Comment
A wife would naturally wish to come to the aid of her husband in any way she could if he desperately struggled with an opponent, but the Hebrew law specifically forbade a wife to help her husband in distress if that support consisted of her grabbing the enemy’s genitals in an effort to stifle his onslaught. The penalty? Amputation of the hand that fondled the genitals!
Only in an overly obsessive male dominated culture could men create such atrocious laws. As such, the penis ranked sacrosanct in the minds of men (as it still stands today). If a male lost his penis for any reason, he would lose the right to enter a congregation of God. (See Deuteronomy 23:1)
Female Births Get Penalty
“Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.” (Leviticus 12:2)
“But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.” (Leviticus 12:5)
Comment
A woman who gives birth to a child must undergo a purification ritual lest her “uncleanness” contaminate others. This not only entails her isolation, but also payments to priests for the ritual acts. Thus the male dominators had even made birth dirty.
Notice here that if a woman bears a female child, her isolation must last twice as long as that if she gives birth to a male child!
(See also Psalms 51:3-5)
“The Bible and the church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of woman’s emancipation.”
–Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Female Inferiority
“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.” (I Corinthians 11:3)
“For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.” (I Corinthians 11:8-9)
Comment
The Bible’s decree of male supremacy has kept woman inferior to men for centuries. For the religious, it comes as a sad fact that a human must have a penis to receive any respect or power within the Church.
All woman should realize that such phrases in the Bible has justified for many Christian men, not only their supremacy but a reason to sexually abuse women.
(See also I Cor. 14:34-36, I Timothy 2:8-15, I Peter 3:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-24, Col. 3:18-19)
Jesus Will Kill Children
“Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” (Revelation 2:22-23)
Comment
If anyone thinks Jesus represents only a peaceful loving soul, then think again. For an act of adultery, Jesus would kill innocent children for the adultery of others; hardly fair justice, love, or the concern for human beings.
Some apologists claim that “children” refers to the followers of a cult of Jezebel and not to children birthed from Jezebel. However, if this proved the case, the situation would appear even more horrific, for a cult of believers could number in the dozens, hundreds, thousands, or more. The deaths of these multitude of cult believers (which would include children within its membership) would only make the moralistic problem far more atrocious.
“It’s interesting to speculate how it developed that in two of the most anti-feminist institutions, the church and the law court, the men are wearing the dresses.”
–Flo Kennedy
Kill The Witches!
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Whoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death. He that sacrificeth unto any god, save to the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.” (Exodus 22:18-20)
Comment
These verses attest to the power of belief as they led to the slaughter of thousands of defenseless people throughout Europe and the rest of the world.
Understand that these verses not only authorize the executions but they explicitly command them.
Verse 18 justified the burning of women in Europe judged as witches. In early America, the Salem witch trials resulted in the deaths of women and men.
Verse 19 refers to bestiality, a sin considered worthy of death. Christians used verse 20 to justify religious wars, Crusades and the slaughter of unbelievers throughout Europe. And the condemnation of heretics still goes on.
Rape My Daughter
“Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.” (Judges 19:24-25)
Comment
Judges 19 describe a father who offers his virgin daughter to a drunken mob. When the father says “unto this man do not so vile a thing,” he makes clear that sexual abuse should never befall a man (meaning him), yet a woman, even his own flesh and blood, or a concubine belonging to a perfect stranger, can receive punishment from men to do what they wish. This attitude against women still persists to this day and we have the Bible, in large part, to thank for this attitude against women.
Verse 25 describes the hours long gang rape of the poor concubine. The Bible gives not one hint of compassion or concern for the raped girl. Considering that many people believe that every word in the Bible comes from God, it should not surprise anyone why people still use these verses to justify such atrocities.
Silence The Woman!
“Let the women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (I Timothy 2:11-14)
Comment
Another case where the Bible makes it quite clear that women live for man and must submit to them.
“Man enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he writes; and since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially fortunate that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Being. For the Jews, Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by divine right; the fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt in the downtrodden female.”
–Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex 1949
(See also I Cor. 11:3-12, I Cor. 14:34-36, I Peter 3:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-24, Col. 3:18-19.)
Stone The Woman!
“If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;” (Deuteronomy 22:22)
“Then ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour’s wife: so thou shalt put away evil from among you.” (Deuteronomy 22:24)
Comment
(Read also Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
The discovery of a bride lying with another man can yield disastrous results.
If the wife’s parents can produce tokens of the damsel’s virginity and spread the cloth before the elders of the city, the husband has to pay the bride’s father one hundred silver shekels and he may not send his wife back to her parents as long as she lives. But if the bride’s virginity does not satisfy the requirements, the husband can get rid of her by letting the men of the city stone her to death.
From a practical level, these designed laws regulating women’s virginity protected economic transactions between men rather than for the sake of morality. (See Virgin’s Worth below)
“Virgin” Mistranslation
“Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)
Comment
Perhaps the most famous mistranslation of the Bible, the word virgin here comes from a mistranslated Greek word for virgin.
The original Hebrew version uses the word “almah” which means “young woman” which may or may not refer to a virgin. Of course the context of the original Hebrew Isaiah does not refer to a virgin at all, as scholars the world over agree, but only refers to a young woman.
Later, the author of Matthew 1:22-23, quoted from the mistranslated Isaiah version, and thus the error turned into a world-wide belief.
Today a few of the modern bibles such as the Revised Standard Version, have corrected this mistranslation and have replaced the word virgin with “young woman.” (Isaiah 7:14, RSV)
Apparently either God makes errors or the Bible does not come from god, but rather from fallible men.
Virgin’s Worth
“If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold on her, and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her shall give unto the damsel’s father fifty shekels of silvers, and she shall be his wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days.” (Deuteronomy 22:28-29)
Comment
The belief some get about the Biblical law leads them to think that it represented a great advancement in morality. However, if we look at this law in the social and economic context, it becomes evident that it did not come from any moral ground, but rather to protect men’s property rights of their wives and daughters.
This law says that since an unmarried girl, a non-virgin, no longer serves as an economically valuable asset, her father must receive compensation. As for the legal requirement of the man that caused the economic problem, his marriage in that society gave him practically unlimited power over their wives. Such forced marriage can hardly serve as a concern for the poor girl’s welfare.
Wives, Submit Yourselves!
“Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22-24)
Comment
These words of Paul describe another instance for the calling of the submission of women to their husbands. Note that the all inclusive “everything” could allow husbands to submit their wives to anything, including rape, beatings, slavery, etc.
(See also I Cor. 11:3-12, I Cor. 14:34-36, I Timothy 2:8-15, I Peter 3:1-7, Col. 3:18-19.)
Women Shall Not Speak
“Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.” (I Corinthians 14:34-35)
Comment
If one ever wishes to find an explanation of woman’s inferiority to men, one only has to look in the Bible. Paul makes clear and delineates the importance of woman recognizing her place, “ad nauseam.”
(See also I Cor. 11:3-12, I Timothy 2:8-15, I Peter 3:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-24, Col. 3:18-19.)
“The bible teaches that women brought sin and death into the world, that she precipitated the fall of the race, that she was arraigned before the judgment seat of Heaven, tried, condemned and sentenced. Marriage for her was to be a condition of bondage, maternity a period suffering and anguish, and in silence and subjection, she was to play the role of a dependent on man’s bounty for all her material wants, and for all the information she might desire… Here is the Bible position of woman briefly summed up.”
–Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Women’s Sorrow
“Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.” (Genesis 3:16)
Comment
Not only does the Woman get blamed for the Fall, but God decides to multiply her sorrow, plus, she must submit to her husband like a slave.
Religionists have used this verse as justification and “reason” for the pain and punishment (sin) of childbirth and the sin of mankind. And to this day many Christians, Jews and Islamics place women lower then men in the ranking of Godly order. If ever there existed a more cruel justification against women, it could not have done as much damage as from belief in Genesis 3:16. Because of the belief in the Fall, countless Christians have branded the entire human race as depraved.
Before the advent of male dominated religions, cultures around the world respected women and worshipped goddesses. The Old Testament records the brutal slaughter of surrounding cultures and slowly throughout the centuries, the goddess religions faded away in place of the belief-system of a jealous, scatological, male war god.
“Christianity teaches that the human race is depraved, fallen, and sinful.” –D. James Kennedy (Why I Believe, World Publishing, 1980)
Rip Up Pregnant Women
“Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.” (Hosea 13:16)
Comment
Throughout the Bible, God smites those who do not believe in him or those who do not follow his commands. Here we have the grotesque description of infants dashed to pieces and pregnant women ripped up. Whatever rebellious nature an infant’s father or mother may have had, it bears no justice to an innocent child or to an unborn fetus who could not possibly have rebelled against God, much less understood him.
Anyone who claims to love such a God, must accept infanticide as one of God’s ugly revenges.
(See also Psalms 137:9)
The Wicked Woman
“Give me any plague, but the plague of the heart: and any wickedness, but the wickedness of a woman.” (Eccles. 25:13)
“Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die.” (Eccles. 25:22)
“If she go not as thou wouldest have her, cut her off from thy flesh, and give her a bill of divorce, and let her go.” (Eccles. 25: 26)
“The whoredom of a woman may be known in her haughty looks and eyelids. If thy daughter be shameless, keep her in straitly, lest she abuse herself through overmuch liberty.” (Eccles. 26:9-10)
“A silent and loving woman is a gift of the Lord: and there is nothing so much worth as a mind well instructed. A shamefaced and faithful woman is a double grace, and her continent mind cannot be valued.” (Eccles. 26:14-15)
“A shameless woman shall be counted as a dog; but she that is shamefaced will fear the Lord.” (Eccles.26:25)
“For from garments cometh a moth, and from women wickedness. Better is the churlishness of a man than a courteous woman, a woman, I say, which bringeth shame and reproach.” (Eccles. 42:13-14)
Comment
Ecclesiasticus of the Apocrypha does not appear in most Bibles. However, in Catholic Bibles, the inferiority of woman still appears in the verses of Ecclesiasticus. These verses give only a sampling from this book that lowers the status of women.
This is just the written word too. A religions history and tradition is also a part of it.
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