Moses sets forth “statutes and decrees which,” if “observed,” will gain the dutiful a reward, ‘you may… take possession of the property which the LORD… is giving you.’ Jesus does not observe Moses patriarchal precepts, “You teach as doctrines mere human precepts.”
Patriarchal precepts control the behavior of men who also gain rewards from them. They also control the behavior of women who gain no rewards from them. So it is still today, that when men ‘take possession of the property which the LORD is giving you’ – it includes women. For example, legally, a woman ceases to exist as an individual upon marriage, “The very being and existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage.” Around the world women are denied the right to refuse marriage, to vote, own property, hold a job, receive equal pay for it, sit on a jury, divorce, have a bank account or a credit card, go to school, exercise the right to read, register a business, practice medicine or law, bring a lawsuit to court especially for harassment, abuse, or rape. Patriarchal laws on sexual violence are especially egregious. Some of the men who influence, codify, or judge laws on sexual violence are themselves practitioners of sexual violence. Recent proof in the U.S. is Anthony Weiner, Bill Clinton, Bill O’Reilly, Brett Kavanaugh, Charlie Rose, Donald Trump, Jim Jordan, John Conyers, Madison Cawthorn, Mark Halperin, Matt Gaetz, Matt Lauer, Roger Ailes, Roy Moore,…. Women are forced to observe male precepts that include allowing rapists to have parental and visitation rights. Some laws allow for rape based on age, marital status, or the consent of male family members. Patriarchal precepts condition us to grant men the right to rape women and to doubt women who say they didn’t want it. If she didn’t want it she would not have worn those suggestive clothes, been drinking, been out that late, … After thousands of years of men raping women, women are still blamed for men raping women. Women have projected onto them rape’s cause. But neither women’s clothing nor drinking nor late hours cause rape. Patriarchal precepts desperately attempt to make that false link. It camouflages the real link between invented male precepts and real male crimes – otherwise known as patriarchal precepts. These laws minimize the real trauma real women experience and live with. For example, the trauma done to Alexander Ocasio Cortez, Andrea Constand, Gabrielle Union, Simone Biles, and so many other women. Patriarchal precepts attempt to silence the voices and minimize the experience of these and other women. Patriarchal precepts enable male domination and violence and blame women’s poor decision making and deserved suffering.
“Painting is for pictures too hard to understand so let me paint you a picture of a girl who has a little too much to understand… her heart was a two ton brick in her fist that kept her pinned to the exact spot on the ground he wanted her to be in when she’s 12 and those 27 minutes felt like eternity, clinging to her sanity… “You’re so pretty…” you’re so pretty, seeds of fear planted… the limbs of her body bare branched creaking away from his whispered breaths… with the heat of guilt hidden in the smoke are her pleading eyes… her roots ripped up and flung away with the drop of his pants… and 6 years later her sheets are still soaked trembling with the sound of her own frozen voice cracking shattering melting into puddles she tried to pick up with dirty hands and a dirty heart dripping into the exact consistency of the mud he left her in… she can’t say that she carved herself up like an animal creating a scarred picture everyone’s seen before but few have known, can’t say that she breathes a storm then pounds her body until her tears turn red and everything goes numb again… and the fact that I can’t stay quiet anymore… he could have gone on to ruin another perfect thing a perfect thing whose picture looks a whole lot like mine.” (Black Bird – Laura C. Lords)
Prayer: Spirit, our hearts are open to those who experience trauma.
Question: How am I influenced to follow patriarchy?
August 29, 2021 Gospel Mark 7:1-23 Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time