Part 1 here. Part 3

I've always believed I am a competent female (not perfect by any means but competent). Also that I am not in second place compared to a man, nor should I be subservient or in submission. When I last worked, I was one of only two females that worked in a mostly male environment, and when I found that another guy who had the same qualifications as I did, but I had better stats, I spoke up and got a raise, too. It isn't that I think I am better or smarter than men, just different but should have the same opportunities to succeed or fail, be paid the same for the same job, and not be treated differently in a professional environment simply because I'm female. Oh, it's not that I don't think people aren't aware of sex in the marketplace, but a professional seeks to put business dealings on a different plane.

I'm married and I believe that marriage is an equal partnership, with agreed upon division of duties. I've heard the example about "You can't have two people steering the car" with which I agree but that doesn't preclude taking turns driving.

Does this make me a feminist? Yes, it does. And I'm quite proud to have that as a description. I don't think every feminist is the same, but what all who want to use that term have in common is that we believe women should have the same social, political and economic rights as men. If I have the same job and qualifications and stats as a man, I should be paid the same. And if there were not people in the past who fought for women's rights, including the right to own property or the right to vote, wouldn't there be feminists now who would do so? Of course.  If there are some that want to denigrate the idea of feminism with pejorative language, the question needs to be asked of them, especially in America, "why?".

I saw this video about a Wife Swap episode where the christian woman said that, due to Eve's actions in the Garden of Eden, women are *under the heel of men". What! First off, that is based on a fable. Second, belief in that fable reinforces for those who buy into it that they are second class underlings. Or worse.

No wickedness comes anywhere near the wickedness of a woman…..Sin began with a woman and thanks to her we all must die” (Ecclesiasticus 25:19,24).

Um. Thanks. :)

I also do not believe that being a woman physically is a curse, that being able to have children, or feel pain during childbearing, is a curse, or that women should be blamed, like Pandora opening the box, for all the world's evils.

I've read a number of stories where women have been in abusive relationships and have been told by religious *authorities* to basically put up with it, and wait on god. That's absurd. If a woman genuinely feels that she is being abused, she can make her own decision about whether to get out or not. Again, her OWN decision, because she is an adult, not a child that needs to be told what to do. And I don't want to hear "If people would actually follow the example of God's love...". Belief that one should treat each other kindly and with love is an ethical position that anyone can have; conversely there are plenty who profess to be moral that don't follow loving precepts.  From Alternet

There are more blatant examples of excusing abusive male authority among stricter proponents of complementarianism and submission theology. In June 2007, professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Bruce Ware told a Texas church that women often bring abuse on themselves by refusing to submit. And Debi Pearl, half of a husband-and-wife fundamentalist child-training ministry as well as author of the bestselling submission manual, Created to Be His Help Meet, writes that submission is so essential to God’s plan that it must be followed even to the point of allowing abuse. “When God puts you in subjection to a man whom he knows is going to cause you to suffer,” she writes, “it is with the understanding that you are obeying God by enduring the wrongful suffering.”

I've wondered before it was all simply a desire for power. That is, one who wants power must have others to be powerful over. If you can convince half the world that you have a right, simply because of your sex, to have the power and they cannot, because god says so, why wouldn't you do it? But why does any woman buy into this?

“They called out to Lot and said, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have sex with them! Lot went out to them at the entrance and shut the door behind him. He said, “Don’t do this evil, my brothers. Look, I’ve got two daughters who haven’t had sexual relations with a man. I’ll bring them out to you, and you can do whatever you want to them. However, don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the protection of my roof.” (Genesis 19:5-8)

When I started really considering whether a book had the right to dictate how I should be perceived, only because I happen to have been born female, I decided it could not. That goes for any so-called holy book or any religion or philosophy. To me, a book only has power over you to change how you perceive yourself if you allow it to.

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. --Susan B. Anthony

If there are women that want to be submissive to the men in their lives, they can be. But because America is a nation of laws, others that do not want to live this way do not have to and can, in good stead, reject that choice of life. I prefer relationships that are based on love, respect and equality.

That gets me to the heart of my philosophical argument I had with myself regarding a just god. I don't believe that if god exists, he or she would make a distinction based on a flawed book between male and female, that he would punish a woman just for eating an apple that represented knowledge, or create physical problems and pain. If that were 1, then god would be no better than an abusive husband. I do not see any evidence among religions that claim to speak for god that women are treated consistently better. Is there any reason to have male dominance over women aside from claims for it, or justification based on a book? No.

If god existed, and god were good, he or she or it would have made sure that everyone, male or female, was treated fairly and that if there were those that sought to lord it over others were stepping out of bounds, they would be snapped back. Instead there are a host of evils that are done to woman in the name of religion.

The birth of a daughter is a loss” (Ecclesiasticus 22:3).

Therefore, I reject religion as an artifice of humans designed for various earthly ends.