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Friday, October 21, 2011

Gender myths and NT Wright

I was reminded today of complementarianism, the idea that men and women are very different in complementary ways, found in the catechism, and in JP2's Mulieris Dignitatem.

I disagree with this view, as does Michael Kimmel, a professor of sociology at Stony Brook, who said in a lecture, that ... what we know in behavioral and social science is that on every available, every measurable trait, attitude, behavior, women and men are far more similar than they are different. Today I saw something that in some ways backs us up - Six Myths About Sex And Gender, Busted.

Complementarianism reminds me of a past paper by NT Wright in which he wrote this about equality and justice .... Justice never means “treating everybody the same way”, but “treating people appropriately”. Wright's view makes two questionable assumptions: that there are almost ontological differences between people, and also that someone has the ability and the right to draw conclusions about worth and entitlement from these differences. Maybe justice isn't about treating everybody "the same way", but I do think it's about being willing to see others as similar to ourselves and giving them equal opportunities.


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