Are You Brainwashed?

I’m just doing some light summer reading. You know, the usual beach books. Catching up on Plato’s Symposium, The Dead Sea Scrolls, and biblical theology. Cue record scratch. Huh? If you think sultry summer and this type of literature isn’t what you’d normally expect to find in a typical beach book, you are wrong. I’ve read more about sex and sexuality in a few weeks than what sits on beach towels down the entire eastern shoreline.

Some of you may be thinking, well of course, the Bible is full of sexual references. Right? Isn’t it? Well, I suppose that depends upon which version of the Bible you read. And, which of the “clobber passages” exist in your index referring to homosexuality. Historically the concepts of heterosexuality and homosexuality did not exist as we understand them today. Those labels and concepts were later added into certain translations of the Bible. Moreover, the word homosexual wasn’t constructed until 1869 when Karoly M. Benkert wrote about it in German. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word appeared for the first time in English in 1912. And not until 1946 was the earliest use of it in an English Bible, 1^st edition RSV.

The concept of what some people consider to be “traditional marriage” doesn’t at all include what you presume it means. Instead, according to ancient traditions the woman is considered to be property and is absent of all rights we know of today. Now I want to believe that women have achieved equality. I want to believe that we consider women to be complete people. I want to believe we value the multitude of gifts that women bring to our society. I want to believe that we don’t make judgments about women’s capabilities based upon their physical beauty. But, as one male honestly admits that isn’t always the case.

In this interview with AFI archives from late 2012, actor Dustin Hoffman remembers the initial planning for Tootsie, the film in which his character disguises himself as a woman for a job. It was the first makeup test which led Hoffman to break down in tears over a huge revelation about men and women in our society. Take a look.

http://www.themarysue.com/dustin-hoffman-tootsie/ 

Now that you’ve seen this video consider compliments you have given women or girls recently. Even think about those private thoughts you had when you noticed a female recently. Were you complimentary to her physical beauty or to her mental or physical ability? If not, think about what you could say. If your daughter does something well instead of saying “beautiful” why not say that was courageous, caring, or clever.  Focus on her physical ability not her appearance and encourage her mental ability as well.