We Still Need Sinai: An interview with Carmen Joy Imes

Carmen Joy Imes (PhD, Wheaton) is associate professor of Old Testament and program coordinator for Bible and Theology at Prairie College in Alberta, Canada. Today her book Bearing God's Name: Why Sinai Still Matters releases from IVP. Here we talk about her work.

Welcome! So let's dive right in. Why did you write this book?

The church today desperately needs to understand what to do with the Old Testament (OT). We vacillate between two extremes—either neglecting the OT entirely or fixating on it in unhelpful ways. With my book I'm trying to address the need for Christians to recover the OT and read it well.

What's the big idea you want to get across?

We cannot fully understand our vocation as Christians without understanding what happened at Sinai. We tend to think of the OT law as a negative thing that didn't work, but if we read it in context, we discover what a gift it was for the Israelites. The law was not their means of salvation, but rather defined the parameters of a life of freedom meant to demonstrate God's character to a watching world. At Sinai, Israel learned what it looked like to bear God's name among the nations. By placing our faith in Jesus, we become part of the people who bear God's name. Sinai tutors us in what matters to God and prompts us to consider how we can bring him honor in our cultural context.

Who is this book for?

Bearing God's Name is for everyone. For individual readers as well as small church groups. It's also suitable as supplementary reading for undergraduates or seminary students. Each chapter includes discussion questions, suggested Bible passages to read, and QR codes that link to videos from The Bible Project. I've already heard from a wide range of readers—from teenagers to seminary professors—who say that they thoroughly enjoyed reading it and found it helpful.

Have you had any surprises in the process of producing this book?

Yes! So many. First, it was the easiest writing project I have ever attempted. I wrote it in one summer, and the words just flowed out of me. It was an absolute joy to write. Second, I expected that non-scholars would appreciate it, but I didn't anticipate the glowing reception from academics. Watching the sales stats on my Amazon author page is my new hobby. Third, so many doors are opening to talk about these concepts with audiences around North America. I'm thrilled to have a small part in reigniting people's passion for the Scriptures.

Where can people buy your book, and in what formats?

It's available directly from InterVarsity Press (ivpress.com) or on Amazon in Kindle and paperback. Christian Audio is also producing an audiobook.

Steps to a Calmer, More Christ-focused Advent

The word 'advent' comes from 'ad' meaning 'to' and from 'vent,' a form of a Latin word meaning 'coming.' Advent is the season when Christians look back on the first advent, or coming, of Messiah, and we look forward to the second advent-his return. New Year's Day in the church year, which follows the life and ministry of our Lord, begins this year on December 1-the day many Christians count as the first day of Advent. During the four weeks leading up to Christmas, a lot of churches observe Advent as a season of expectant waiting and the preparation of our hearts.

Two millennia ago as Israel awaited the Messiah, Herod—the kind of guy who ordered the killing of his own son— sat on the throne in Judea. Roman soldiers occupied Palestine and squished the slightest hint of uprising with violence. In that world scores of people who committed crimes like shoplifting hung nailed to crosses at eye level, lining roads as warnings. So much oppression; harsh punishment; corruption; power abused. Four hundred years had passed since Malachi promised the Sun of Righteousness would rise with healing in its wings. Four. Hundred. Years. Was Messiah really going to show up? Ever? All creation groaned.

Advent, in a sense, re-enacts that mood of longing and waiting. Consider the lyrics to the Advent hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” sung in a minor key:

O come, O come, Emmanuel

And ransom captive Israel

 That mourns in lonely exile here

 Until the Son of God appear....

 Rejoice, rejoice, Emmanuel

 Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Another Advent hymn is “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus.” Even in the title we see the longing.  

In some traditions, congregants hold off singing words like “Joy to the world, the Lord is come!” till Christmas Day. In both the Anglican and Lutheran Churches, Christmastide, commonly called the Twelve Days of Christmas, lasts twelve days, from 25 December to 5 January, the latter date being named as Twelfth Night (hence the title of the Shakespeare play of the same name). That’s the time to really focus on Christmas. So while many of us are busy putting away our ornaments, wreaths, and trees, other Christians are just getting started. When I visited England during the first week of January a few years ago, I found cathedrals during those dark winter days aglow with candles and the fragrance of pine.

Whatever our traditions, most of us can do better in “preparing Him room.” We too easily get sucked into the vortex of shopping and parties, spending and reciprocation. So, how can we make the season more focused on Christ? Doing so begins with being intentional. So set aside 30 minutes today and consider these nine ways to make Advent more Christ-focused:

Choose a reading plan. The YouVersion Bible app has a number of Advent options you can follow. Read through Malachi or Matthew. Or study the women in Jesus’s genealogy. A dear friend gifted me with a copy of Fleming Rutledge’s Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ. Rutledge is one of my favorite author-theologians, and her book is full of Advent sermons and reflections. Also, Dallas Theological Seminary, where I teach, publishes a Christmas devotional every year. Order any resources now so you’ll be ready on December 1.

Mark the days with a little ceremony. Advent wreaths and calendars help us focus on the weekly and daily countdowns to the day of celebration. I bought a lovely Advent calendar one year at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Note to self: Because I store it with the Christmas decorations, using it means I need to get decorations down before December 15. Same with the candleholder for the Advent wreath.

Give intentionally. Pray about how the Lord would have you give. Then collect coins and keep them handy, ready for the Salvation Army bell ringers. As for the bigger amounts, decide soon (with your spouse/kids, if you have them) what charitable organizations will receive your giving dollars. You will get bombarded by requests. Determine now to rejoice that so many organizations are doing good in the world. You don’t have to feel guilty for giving only to a select few. Make a plan and enjoy giving. Also, list the people to whom you’ll give gifts, and collect their wish lists. If your family exchanges gifts, ask your spouse and/or kids to tell you what they want. And carry their lists with you as you’re out and about. Making homemade gifts? Get started. And think about ways to give meaningfully. A family member might appreciate receiving Grandma's holiday recipe in a basket full of all the ingredients or a book of Grandpa’s old photos. Also, give to benefit others. Purchase fair-trade jewelry. Or donate a goat to an impoverished family in honor of someone who doesn’t need another dozen pair of socks. Give books that inspire, music that lifts the heart, and even cooking, knitting, or art classes instead of expensive junk. Experiences make the best gifts, so give experiences when you can. If you have no money, consider offering the gift of your time—redeemable in January. Or perhaps you can sell some used books, an old couch, or some of that junk in the garage? Take ten minutes now to plan ahead. Remember the teachers and neighbors, delivery people, and salon servers in your life. And start ordering. Buy gift cards. Obtain crisp bills. Select food trays. Get done early what you can do now.

Write to encourage. If you sponsor a child, write him or her a letter soon (it may take a while to arrive) and tuck inside the envelope a bookmark or Christmas stickers—something that mails easily. As for cards or letters to your own friends, do you want to send those this year? If so, set aside a calendar date for getting them designed and ordered. If you write an annual letter, plan a time to do it; and keep it simple, warm, and humble. When you send that family photo, remember the reason for the season, and include it in your design. Order Christmas stamps from the post office web site. And while you’re working on cards and gifts, print out mailing labels.

Fill your car with cheer. Carry some Granola bars and bottles of water for the homeless. And make an Advent playlist, including the “waiting” songs from Handel’s Messiah, so you can hum along during drive time.    

Be intentional about scheduling choices. List activities you want to do, and get them on the calendar before the rest of your life crowds out the important stuff. Church attendance. The kids’ musicals. Christmas caroling. Or the holiday show you want to see. Schedule that tour of Christmas lights or the arboretum Christmas event. Need a day off work for Christmas shopping, baking, and a bubble bath? Ask for it now. If your health insurance has a December 31 cutoff, schedule any doctor visits before everyone else remembers they also need an end-of-year appointment. Also, look at what events you can cut temporarily to make room for what can happen only at Christmas.

Invite. In the craziness of the season, some deeply hurting people get overlooked. Consider who would appreciate one phone call or an invitation to an event you’re already attending, like your church’s musical. Some students far from home would love to fill a spot at your holiday table. And that refugee family needing friends: invite them to an informal New Year’s Eve gathering (after Christmas is behind you) and plan to share your traditions with them.

Cook ahead. Start freezing dough so you can throw a batch of cookies in the oven on a moment’s notice. Get the big mess out of the way so you can enjoy great sweets and smells later—and share with neighbors—without the time drain and sloppy kitchen. Double up freezing some healthful appetizers and meals while you’re at it. Making chili? Create a double batch and freeze half so you can thaw it in the crockpot on one of those crazy days when you have a rehearsal, a party, and a pageant to attend.

Schedule quiet time. In the same way you might schedule cooking and football time, mark off some days. (Maybe this would be a good time to find out when the church parties, office parties, kids’ concerts, and musicals will take place, so that I-need-a-costume-tomorrow demand doesn’t catch you by surprise.) Include time to reset your focus with regular prayer, instrumental music, stretching exercises, hot peppermint tea, and time to savor the tree with lights twinkling.

To think further (more than the 30 minutes I promised) about this important topic, you can find lots of great ideas at adventconspiracy.org. 

As we wait in anticipation for the day when the government rests visibly on King Immanuel’s shoulders, let us keep him on the throne of our hearts. Jesus promised, “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning. Then you will be like servants waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them. Even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night and finds them alert, those servants will be blessed!” (Luke 12:35–38). 

Art by John August Swanson; permission granted with art CD purchase. 

Gender and the Bible

Recently, I taped a podcast with Watermark Church on Gender and the Bible.

Women and Theological Education:

Capitulating to Culture or Historically Rooted?

Not long ago, I overhead a female ministry leader noting with some enthusiasm that we are seeing the first generation in Christendom in which women have received theological higher education. But her statement, while well intentioned, was completely untrue.

Some of our lack of knowledge about women’s history, particularly in the Protestant tradition, stems from post-Reformation amnesia about women in monastic spaces. About all we know—maybe—is that about 500 years ago a German nun, Katerina, married a former monk, Martin Luther, and religious living spaces were emptied of their occupants, partly in response to the Protestant Reformation.

Here’s what we need to know, though: A similar phenomenon happened about that same time in Switzerland. And then in the 1530’s, the emptying-monasteries phenomenon hit England. In his article for History on “The Dissolution of the Monasteries,” G. W. Bernard reminds readers that in the late 1530s, England alone had about 900 religious houses—of which more than 140 were occupied by two thousand nuns. And one of the functions served by these communities was scholarship and education—in addition to hospitality, medical care, the arts, and music (390). But then, in addition to the reformers, along came King Henry VIII, who, with the help of Thomas Cromwell, consolidated and then dissolved England’s monasteries, sold the real estate, and soon had an uprising on his hands.

But the conflict is not my point. And Europe was not the only continent to have Christian nuns… But don’t miss the detail here about women. Many were in full-time vocational ministry. And they were educated and educating. Where do you think we got that stereotype of nuns rapping on the knuckles of schoolchildren? Nuns have a long history of teaching.

In his presidential address to the Evangelical Theological Society in November of 2016, Dr. Daniel B. Wallace talked about “Medieval Manuscripts and Modern Evangelicals: Lessons from the Past, Guidance for the Future.” And he argued, among other things, that we can learn much from medieval manuscripts—including a reminder that the church owes women a huge debt for work done on textual preservation.  

Consider Hilda of Whitby (AD 614–680). In their book Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church  Maas and O’Donnell write, “Along with the copying of manuscripts and teaching, women became scholars of theology and learned their Latin, sometimes to a high degree of erudition. Hilda…is a case in point; a nun from the age of thirty-three, she became abbess of Whitby at forty-three and educated future monks and clerics of the English Church. [Women helping to train men for vocational ministry is nothing new.] She was also, according to Bede, a counselor to the royalty and nobility of England” (401). Additionally, Bede in his AD 731 work titled Ecclesiastical History of the English People noted that Hilda was actually the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby—a double monastery—which was the venue for the Synod of Whitby. Indeed, she was abbess of several monasteries.

Before her, there were women like Marcella (325–410). She corresponded with Jerome, who wrote this about her at her death: “As in those days my name was held in some renown as that of a student of the Scriptures, she never came to see me without asking me some questions about them, nor would she rest content at once, but on the contrary would dispute them; this, however, was not for the sake of argument, but to learn by questioning the answers to such objections might, as she saw, be raised. How much virtue and intellect, how much holiness and purity I found in her I am afraid to say, both lest I may exceed the bounds of men’s belief …. This only will I say, that whatever I had gathered together by long study, and by constant meditation made part of my nature, she tasted, she learned and made her own.”

Marcella mentored Paula, who, while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, settled in Bethlehem and established a monastery for men and a convent for women.

There are thousands of women's stories like these. Thousands. Descriptions filled with words like study. Education. Learning. Transmission. Manuscripts. Questions and answers. Intellect.

For hundreds and hundreds of years, a woman wishing to follow Jesus had two options (sometimes decided for her, depending on the money for a dowry or her family’s need—or greed): the monastic life, which involved education; or married life, which involved no education. Both were considered holy callings, though the former was often elevated as more spiritual (until we flipped that script and elevated family life. Eventually, we will hopefully see them both as equally holy callings).  

When the Protestant Reformers read their Koine Greek New Testaments, they noted that the human biblical authors referred to all believers as “saints.” So they nixed the whole saints-as-elevated-Christians thing, including the feast days that went with remembering the biographies of the male and female cloud of witnesses. We don’t acknowledge these saints or saints’ days (though we do eat chocolate on St. Valentine’s Day, try to avoid being pinched on St. Patrick’s Day, and sing with jollity about the Feast of Stephen). Consequently, we lost the daily biographies. But in the past, people learned the stories of men and women of faith every day.  

All this does not even include more recent theological education. Many Black colleges and seminaries had male and female professors and students from their beginnings. Moody Bible Institute at one time proudly trained women for pastoral ministry and featured them as such in their alumni publication (see Janette Hassey, No Time for Silence, Appendix 12). Christabel Pankhurst shared the stage with D. L. Moody at Bible Conferences. Henrietta Mears mentored Bill Bright (Cru founder) and Jim Rayburn (Young Life founder) and a relatively unknown guy named Billy Graham via a Bible class she taught in California. And John Walvoord (second president of Dallas Theological Seminary) had a Bible teacher at Wheaton named Edith Torrey, whom the school hired in 1917. 

Ours is not the first generation of theologically educated women. So while some may suggest that women learning and teaching theology is evidence that radical feminism has infiltrated the church, women's presence in learning and teaching spaces actually has a long, long history—a celebrated one!—starting with a woman in an ancient Near Eastern town called Bethany sitting at the feet of the first rabbi ever to formally teach a woman…and that awesome rabbi's name was Jesus.  

Are the “Widows” in 1 Timothy 5 Leaders, Needers, or Both?

One of my students, Corinne Samuelson, has spent the summer investigating what’s happening with “widows” in 1 Timothy 5. At first glance, one might think Paul was simply instructing Timothy about how to handle the many hungry older women in the Ephesian church (1:3). But on closer exploration we see a description of what might look like an office. That's a challenging question. As Corinne notes, “While Timothy would have surely understood Paul’s instructions about widows in the Ephesian Church, 1 Timothy 5:3–16 leaves today’s readers with many questions.” Each of the questions below (most of which she crafted) are worth considering when making interpretive decisions about this passage:

• Meaning of “to honor” (τίμα, v. 3) – (“Give proper honor to those widows who are really in need.”) Does “to honor” imply interpersonal respect, financial support, or both? Is this a parallel to granting “double honor” to elders who teach (v. 17)? 
• Placement of need/pleasure contrast (v. 5–6) – (“The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.”) Is the reference to need/praying a Pauline tangent, further description of the “real” widow, or a prerequisite for enrollment? 
• Meaning of “to enroll” (καταλεγέσθω, v. 9) – (“No widow may be enrolled unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the Lord’s people, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.”) What are the implications of “to enroll”? Did Paul simply describe a name being added to a charity list or is he implying accompanying duties for the person placed on a list? If the former, do we refuse food to hungry older women who have not done these things? The description parallels in many ways the description of an elder in 3:2–7 (faithful to his wife/faithful to her husband). Speaking of which…
•  Meaning of “faithful to her husband” (ἑνός ἀνδρὸς γυνή , v. 9) – Was Paul referring to a woman who was married once only or is the emphasis on being a one-man kind of woman?
• List of qualifications/duties (v. 10) – “Raised children, practiced hospitality, washed the feet of the saints, helped those in distress”: does this list describe the past character of the widow in view, or was Paul outlining ongoing responsibilities of an enrolled widow?
• Meaning of “a widow who is really a widow” (τάς ὄντως χήρας; vv. 3, 5, 16) – What’s the difference between a “widow” and an “actual” or “real” widow? Her lack of family members, her devotion to God, the characteristics listed in vv. 3–10? All of the above? A few people roughly contemporary with Paul (e.g.,  Philo  QE 2.3,  Ignatius13.1) speak of “widows who are virgins”—suggesting the word was used to mean a “without-a-man woman.” So are there “widows” and then “actual widows”? And if so, did one include older single woman never married vs. those bereft of husbands?
• Different kinds of widows? – Are the widows in verse 9 and verses 3, 5, 16 one and the same, or was Paul referring to two types of widows (a “real widow” and “an enrolled widow”)? 
• Meaning of “their first pledge” (τήν πρώτην πίστιν, v. 12) – What is the meaning of “pledge” (πίστιν)? The first wedding vow? Or a vow of office? Perhaps a vow of commitment to celibacy? 
• Harsh language –(“being led away from Christ,” v. 11; “wandering after Satan,” v. 15) What actions did Paul have in mind here?
• Bad behavior – (“idlers, going house to house, talking nonsense,” v. 13) Was Paul insinuating young widows were spreading heresy, participating in witchcraft, or committing social faux pas? Can we gather from “going around from house to house” that these women were conducting bad house visits which were a part of their duties as enrolled widows? Does “house to house” refer to going from house church to house church?  
• Overall purpose – Why did Paul give this instruction about enrolling widows and the qualifications? Did he provide here some requirements for selective charity, or was he talking about widows being enrolled into an order/office? Is there an overlap between the two? He wrote quite a bit about church organization in this letter to Timothy. Is it possible he had more in mind here than food distribution? 
• Contradictory advice? – Is it problematic that Paul lists qualifications for widow enrollment for those who married once (v. 9), but instructs younger widows to remarry (v. 14)? Why would he give different advice to women in differing age groups? Is he taking into account Roman civil marriage laws that apply to younger but not older women?  
• Background information – What pertinent background information about women and widows is helpful in understanding Paul’s instructions?

The options for translating and interpreting this passage are numerous. Considering that compared to fifty years ago we have a lot more social-background information (e.g., Roman civil laws) available to us, this passage is certainly due a closer look. 

Pietà

Ippolito Scalza’s Pietà, Orvieto cathedral, 1579. All but ladder made from one block of marble.

They say men lack some innate quality that renders them loners—that women excel at friendship, while men eschew community.

Yet Nicodemus comes by day equipped with tools. He steels himself to pry loose nails from palms and feet.

The Arimathean accompanies him. The new tomb consigned for his own he offers to the family of his friend.

They stand with the Marys, unashamed of tears. Real men who cry. Not even from among the Twelve.

Blood spurts onto their hands, and it stains swaddling cloth. Strips of flesh on his back make them grimace.

They still reel from the acts of the treasurer—the betrayer. The ransom for this king, a little silver.

The Twelve have run. But these on the periphery for three years remain. Nicodemus tastes salt; Joseph wipes his eyes. They pry the Magdalene away so they can wrap the arch she cradles. Now they must pull away the one they love from the arms of his mother so they can lay him in the grave. It is, they believe, their final act of friendship.

Care for the Earth

The first Earth Day was observed on March 21, 1970. John McConnell, the son of a Christian evangelist, proposed a day to honor Earth and peace. He chose the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere for the first observance. Earth Day has only broadened in scope since then. A glance back at Genesis helps believers consider ways to live out God's vision for human dominion:

*

Swimming creatures.

How well are we caring for the waters in which sea creatures swim? Are our fish-harvesting practices just?

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Flying creatures.

How do we conserve the skies in which birds fly? Do we consider the fuels we use and toxins they emit? Are our poultry practices humane?

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Four-legged creatures.

How well are we caring for fields, lakes, and marshes in which creatures find sustenance? Are our practices with animals humane?

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Seed-bearing plants and trees.

How well do we manage our forests, farms, and crops? What are the ethics of genetic modification?

Caring for the earth starts at home-conserving water, paying attention to our food and fuel consumption, and showing concern for animals in our neighborhoods. One day God will renew and unite heaven and Earth. Until that time, we must work wisely to steward that with which He has entrusted us.

This article first appeared in More to Life Magazine, 2018. 

Rape Culture #19: Resources for Sexual Assault Victims

A list of resources compiled by Joy Pedrow Skarka

Awareness & Organizations

The Rape Foundation

Ministry Safe

RAINN

Restored: Ending Violence Against Women

The Rave Project

G.R.A.C.E. 

Helping Survivors

Sexual Assault and Abuse

Rid of My Disgrace, by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb

Healing the Wounded Heart: The Heartache of Sexual Abuse and the Hope of Transformation by Dan B. Allender

The Wounded Heart: Hope for Adult Victims of Child Sexual Abuse, by Dan B. Allender

Abuse/Dating Violence Statistics 

Sexual Sanity for Women: Healing from Sexual and Relational Brokenness, by Ellen Dykas

Sexual Assault on College Campuses

End Rape on Campus

Rape Culture

Scars Across Humanity: Understanding and Overcoming Violence Against Women, by Elaine Storkey

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture, by Roxane Gay

Tainted Witness: Why We Doubt What Women Say About Their Lives, by Leigh Gilmore 

Domestic Violence

National Domestic Violence Hotline 

National Network to End Domestic Violence

Why Does He Do That? by Lundy Bancroft

The Verbally Abusive Relationship, by Patricia Evans

Is It My Fault?: Hope and Healing for Those Suffering Domestic Violence, by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb

Abuse Counseling & Treatment

Leslie Vernick 

Additional Resources/ Counseling & Therapy

Global Trauma Recovery Institute

The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology

Dan Allender

Boundaries: When to Say YES, When to Say NO, To Take Control of Your Life by Cloud and Townsend

Resources

"2017 Year in Review," Pornhub, January 9, 2018.

Aalai, Azadeh. "When Politics and Rape Culture Collide." Psychology Today.

Abbey, Antonia. "Alcohol-related Sexual Assault: A Common Problem among College Students." Journal of Studies on Alcohol, Supplement, no. S14 (2002): 118-28. doi:10.15288/jsas.2002.s14.118.

Moore, Beth. "A Letter to My Brothers." Living Proof Ministries Blog.

Armstrong, Kat. "Complementarians, Show Us Your Truth."Fathom Mag. February 12, 2018.     

Bailey, Sarah Pulliam. "New Tribes Mission Confronts '80s Sex-abuse Allegations." Christian History | May 31, 2017.  

Barnett, Michael D., Taylor M. Hale, and Kylie B. Sligar. "Masculinity, Femininity, Sexual Dysfunctional Beliefs, and Rape Myth Acceptance Among Heterosexual College Men and Women." Sexuality & Culture 21, no. 3 (2017): 741–53.  doi:10.1007/s12119-017-9420-3.

Baum, Matthew A., Dara Kay Cohen, Susanne Schwarz, and Yuri M. Zhukov. "The Way Kavanaugh's Supporters Are Talking about Sexual Assault Allegations Can Be Dangerous, Our New Study Finds." The Washington Post. September 27, 2018.

Black, M.C., Basile, K.C., Breiding, M.J., Smith, S.G., Walters, M.L., Merrick, M.T., Chen, J., & Stevens, M.R. (2011). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 Summary Report. Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Bohner, G., Siebler, F., & Schmelcher, J. (2006). Social norms and the likelihood of raping: Perceived rape myth acceptance of others affects men’s rape proclivity. Personality and  Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 286 – 297. 

Burke, Tarana. "#MeToo Was Started for Black and Brown Women and Girls. They're Still Being Ignored." The Washington Post. November 09, 2017.                     

Caine, Christine. UNASHAMED: Drop the Baggage, Pick up Your Freedom, Fulfill Your Destiny. Zondervan, 2018.

Chumley, Cheryl K. "Kavanaugh's Lying Accusers Should Be Thrown in Jail." The Washington Times. November 05, 2018. Accessed December 08, 2018. . 

Cook, Sarah L., Lilia M. Cortina, and Mary P. Koss. "What's the Difference between Sexual Abuse, Sexual Assault, Sexual Harassment and Rape?" The Conversation. February 07, 2018.

Correa, Carla, and Meghan Louttit. "More than 160 Women Say Larry Nassar Sexually Abused Them. Here Are His Accusers in Their Own Words." The New York Times. January 24, 2018.

Dart, Tom. "Baylor Football Players Raped Women as 'bonding Experience', Lawsuit Alleges." The Guardian. May 17, 2017.

Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Crime Victimization Survey, 2012–2016 (2017).

Dick, Kirby, et al. The Hunting Ground. 2015.

Doshi, Vidhi. "One Community's Battle over Virginity Tests in Western India." The Washington Post. April 08, 2018.

Ericksen, Phillip. "Baylor Hit with 7th Title IX Lawsuit, Plaintiff Alleges Gang Rape by Football Players."Waco Tribune-Herald, May 17, 2017.

"Facts About Sexual Harassment." U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Fahrenthold, David A. "Trump Recorded Having Extremely Lewd Conversation about Women in 2005." The Washington Post. October 08, 2016.

Foubert John D., and Bridges Ana J. 2017. “What Is the Attraction? Pornography Use Motives in Relation to Bystander Intervention.” Journal of Interpersonal Violence32 (20): 3071–89. doi:10.1177/0886260515596538.

Foubert, John D. (2017) " e Public Health Harms of Pornography: e Brain, Erectile Dysfunction, and Sexual Violence," Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence: Vol. 2: Iss. 3, Article 6.DOI: 10.23860/dignity.2017.02.03.06.

Giscombe, Katherine. "Sexual Harassment and Women of Color." Catalyst. February 13, 2018.   

Glahn, Sandra. "#METOO: Dr. Sandra Glahn." Kat Armstrong. October 19, 2017.            

Gowen, Annie. "An 8-year-old Girl's Gang Rape and Murder Trigger New Outrage over India's Rape Culture." The Washington Post. April 19, 2018.                

Gowen, Annie. "In India, It's Not Easy to Report on Rape." The Washington Post. December 21,   2016.

Grady, Constance, and Anna North. "Kavanaugh's Hearing Is a Test of How Much We Care about Sexual Assault." Vox.com. September 27, 2018.  

Hauser, Christine. "Larry Nassar Is Sentenced to Another 40 to 125 Years in Prison." The New York Times. February 05, 2018.

"How #MeToo Calls Everyone to Fight Sexual Harassment and Assault." The Christian Century.   November 3, 2017.

"How Porn Changes the Brain," Fight the New Drug, June 26, 2018.

Humbert, Cynthia. Deceived by Shame, Desired by God. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2001.

Itzkoff, Dave. "George R.R. Martin on 'Game of Thrones' and Sexual Violence." The New York Times. May 02, 2014.

Kantor, Jodi, and Megan Twohey. "Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades." The New York Times. October 05, 2017.

Kingkade, Tyler. "Student: Police Said I Wasn't Raped Because He Didn't Orgasm." The Huffington Post. January 23, 2014. Accessed December 08, 2018.

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Rape Culture #18: What Can I Do?

Part eighteen of a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka

Rape culture is so pervasive it can feel unconquerable. Most women have a story in which she or a friend have experienced some form of sexual assault, abuse, or harassment. There are, however, lots of steps we can take to create a more just world.

What can we do?

Educate yourself and others. As part of “doing justice” (Micah 6:8), we must seek to advocate for victims. Our world will continue to perpetuate rape culture unless we challenge its precepts and help people understand what causes it and how to prevent it. Rape culture needs to be confronted at the dinner table, from the pulpit, in youth group curricula, in school curricula, as part of police training programs, in public awareness literature, in legislation, in art, in counseling, during sentencing…. Elaine Skorkey in Scars across Humanity asserts that all of these can contribute to changing rape culture.

Speak up. Address sexual violence. If you see rape culture in action, speak out against it. Talk about race, privilege, and power in your social interactions and from the pulpit. God calls us to defend, protect and rescue the weak and powerless. If you see someone being harassed or attacked, step in and ask how you can help without putting your safety in jeopardy. If you need to intervene but cannot safely do so, call the police.

Assume a posture of believing the victim. Research consistently shows that 92–98 percent of sexual assault accusers tell the truth, yet we fail to believe victims because we have a misplaced trust in powerful men and institutions. Statistics tell us that we worry more about someone enduring false accusations than we do about victims being disbelieved, despite the evidence. We more often believe the high-profile person over the less powerful person. Women fear coming forward because, historically, their stories have been discounted. If they finally do come forward, they are not believed. And such a reaction causes other victims to stay quiet; thus, the cycle continues, silencing women. Research has shown that one of the greatest ways to help a victim recover from rape is to have the pain and experience validated. Have a posture of believing the victim, affirming that the experience was a crime, and that coming forward and sharing their story matters.

Don’t victim-blame. When a victim tells of abuse or assault, don’t ask questions such as “What were you wearing?” “Were you drinking?” “Did you lead him on?” If you must ask anything, ask, “Are you okay?” “How can I serve you?”

Report it. In certain situations, such as in a context of foster parenting or if a minor is involved, if someone does something illegal (e.g., rape, child porn), you have an obligation to report it to the police. To report it, we must understand what constitutes abuse and harassment.

Learn the laws and know when you are required to report. Reporting abuse will not harm the name of Jesus nor the gospel more than covering up will. In reality, excusing rapists and silencing victims actually shame the gospel. Jesus never would have silenced or shamed anyone, especially when he often called out the religious Pharisees and lifted up the marginalized, abused, and hurting. The apostle Paul exhorted the Ephesians to do the opposite of covering sin: “Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them” (Eph. 5:11).

            Churches should be safe environments where men and women can come for hope, help, and healing. The body of Christ should be where healthy brother/sister relationships are modeled. Creating safety and opportunity for victims is an integral part of ministry, a form of standing with the powerless. Yet for many the church does not feel like a safe place. So believers must affirm models of men and women in friendship, community, and collaboration. Leaders need to look for ways to create opportunities for women to have a voice. Men in power need to ask: Where in the church are women’s voices lacking? Where can men better partner with women? Where can we better model mutual respect rather than unnecessary segregation and fear? And how can we create systems of accountability where the powerful cannot prey on those with less power?

Christian brothers, step up.Rape culture is not a woman problem. It’s a human problem.  It’s a justice issue. Refuse to retreat behind the #BillyGraham rule for “safety.” Instead, learn how to have healthy friendships with women and take responsibility. 

Educate young people. Rather than promoting a “boys will be boys” mentality, train young men to respect women. Show neighborhood guys, youth group guys, and your own sons, nephews and godsons how to respect women and girls and teach them about healthy boundaries. Explain to your daughters that everyone should respect their bodies. When they go to school, educate them about rape. If you are a husband, love your wife sacrificially (see Eph. 5:25) and grant her honor (1 Pet. 3:7) as an example to your children of how to treat another or be treated. 

Delay giving children cell phones, and encourage others to do the same. Once a child has a phone, he or she has immediate access to pornography, which can lead to trauma, addiction, and perpetuating rape culture. A child who has been watching porn since he or she was four years old has been training the brain and body for sexual perversion and learning to take pleasure in it. Once kids have phones, keep up to date on all the options for controlling use, including internet filters and blockers.

Develop and teach a theology of women. What messages do we preach on women in the Bible? Does our theology and teaching victim-blame and wrongly sexualize women? While many women in the Bible have historically been treated as vixens (e.g., Bathsheba, Tamar, the woman of Samaria), Jesus elevated and dignified women. We must look to Jesus as our example of how to treat women. Paul, also, praised women as ministry partners (see Rom. 16). Like him, we must model healthy male/female relationships, changing the way society—including the church—views gender and sexuality. We must teach a biblical view of sexuality for single and married people. Jesus refused to treat women as inferior to men or objectify them. His followers must do likewise.

Raise up women leaders. According to Robert Saucy and Judith TenElshof, authors of Women and Men in Ministry: A Complementary Perspective, women were historically involved in early-church leadership. Yet, especially since the third century, females have often been left out of spaces where they are needed. In many churches, women lack opportunities to use their voices. Yet God designed male and female for partnership (Gen. 1:29). So, a healthy church will invite women into the upper levels of leadership. Encourage women to sit in on meetings and to share opinions and insights. Challenge women to serve on committees and teams. Incorporate them into counseling teams. Invest in and train up young women with leadership potential. Model how men, instead of avoiding women, can act like the brothers and sisters they are.

Create a game plan and tell the church. Every church needs a plan for when a victim comes forward and shares an abuse story. What are the first steps to help the victim? With whom will the victim share his or her story? When do you involve authorities, investigations, and elders? If the victim is a woman, should she have to face an all-male elder board? And if so, who will advocate for her? To whom will you report the crime? Share your arrangements publicly with the church leadership and members.

Respond to victims in love. When someone shares an abuse story with you, respond with love, empathy, and concern. As mentioned, assume a posture of belief. Empathize with the victims and say, “I’m so sorry that happened to you. How are you feeling? What can I do to help you begin healing?” Know of the best resources in your area to help victims find healing. For example, have a list of recommended counselors, support groups, and doctors available.

Seek justice. In many sexual assault situations, we tend to emphasize forgiving the perpetrator over seeking help for the victim; churches tend to protect priests and pastors instead of advocate for victims. Often justice is completely missing from the equation. As mentioned, both forgiveness and justice are biblical concepts that need addressing in abusive situations. Jacob and Rachael Denhollander, wrote, “When forgiveness is seen as the opposite of justice, despair ensues. In this way, forgiveness becomes another means of abuse—shutting the victim out, denying the rightness of their cry for justice, and heaping further shame.”[1]We cannot simply focus on forgiveness. God is both a forgiving God and a just God. When survivors of abuse doubt whether God cares about the evil that was done to them, the Denhollanders say to point to the Cross. Encourage victims to see where God incarnate suffered, and say, “This is how much it matters.”[2] Help victims look to the cross to see how much God cares about seeking justice.

            If you have read this series because you've experienced rape, my heart breaks for our shared experience. I would love to pray with you or offer support in any way that I can. Please send me an e-mail at info at joypedrow.com. Also, please check out the final post in this series. Part 20 is a list of compiled resources. If you read this series to learn about rape culture, may God use you to help end such violence and free women from shame. I also encourage you to check out the final post and browse the resources listed. Join me in putting an end to rape culture. 

            [1]Denhollander, “Justice: The Foundation of a Christian Approach to Abuse,” presented at the annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, November 13, 2018, Denver, Colorado.

            [2]Ibid.

Rape Culture #17: A Sense of Entitlement

Part seventeen of a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka

In rape culture, the more power a man has, the more sexual assault he can get away with. Powerful men live in a cloud of entitlement. Rich men, such as Harvey Weinstein, can sexually assault numerous woman for years, get a slap on the wrist and a fine, and walk away. But losing loose change is nothing compared to the pain suffered by the victims. 

Hollywood often weds power to a sense of entitlement. Gatekeepers are given, “Get Out of Jail Free Cards.” For example, Harvey Weinstein has reached at least eight settlements with different women. One person he abused said, “I am a 28-year-old woman trying to make a living and a career. Harvey Weinstein is a 64-year-old, world-famous man, and this is his company. The balance of power is me: 0, Harvey Weinstein: 10.” Vulnerable women have hoped to make it big in Hollywood. And Weinstein has used his power to get them in bed. This is rape culture.

Over the course of Weinstein’s career, dozens of his former and current employees knew about his inappropriate behaviors, yet only a few ever confronted him. They probably feared losing their jobs.

For years, Weinstein and many other men have used their power and wealth to bully women into silence. In another situation, Fox News broadcaster Bill O’Reilly paid $32 million to settle a harassment case; he was then rehired by Fox with an increased salary. The only way to see a change in rape culture is to bring consequences for the powerful, entitled men. Sheryl Sandberg, CEO of Facebook said, “If you know something is happening and fail to take action—especially if you are in power—you are responsible, too.” Only when people in power use their power to speak out will change happen.

Entitlement takes place in churches, too. Paige Patterson, the former President of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was called out for sexist comments in sermons and for his assertions that women should stay in abusive situations. Patterson counseled one woman who had been abused by her husband to pray for him at night; he told the wife to “get ready” because her husband “may get a little more violent.” Patterson also joked about women, saying, “I think everybody should own at least one.” After many days of his claiming he had done nothing wrong while some fought for him to be removed from his position, he apologized and was removed.                   

Another big name in the evangelical subculture is Bill Hybels. He had to resign after being charged with multiple counts of improper conduct and abuse of power that he still denies. 

 There is even entitlement in the type of person who can speak out and report assault. What about the women who are barely making their bills, living paycheck to paycheck—how can we create a world in which they can speak out without the risk of losing their jobs? 

Rape Culture #16: The Problem Is Bigger Than We Think

Part sixteen in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka 

Rape culture is not happening only in America; it is happening around the globe—and has been since the beginning of humanity. Rape is a weapon that affects victims, their families, and their communities. Here are a few examples:

• Rape is common in patriarchal societies. Japan is a very male-dominated society, making it difficult for victims of rape to come forward. Because of this, research shows that fewer than 5 percent of women raped in Japan report it. Why not? Social pressures, cultural taboos, women not being believed, and rape not being talked about—all respects of rape culture. For more information on rape culture in Japan, watch the documentary, Japan’s Secret Shame, featuring one woman’s struggle against the hostile environment for women reporting assault in Japan.

• In India rape culture deeply affects girls and women, and it can even lead to death. An eight-year-old girl had been raped for days, strangled with her own scarf, and murdered. Such is common, and often police are involved in committing the crimes. In this case, one juvenile and seven men, including four police officers, were charged in the girl’s death. In small pockets of rural India, young girls are married off at twelve years old and forced to perform virginity tests to make sure they are pure. When the child and the man consummate their marriage, they lie on a white cloth, and to prove her virginity, the girl must stain the cloth with blood from her broken hymen. The next day, a council of elders publicly ask the man, “Were the goods pure?” In villages, it is even more difficult to report rape. A woman was raped at her job and went to the police, but they did not believe her. In fact they ended up turning the entire village against her. A reporter who went to India and interviewed people in this village said, “The stigma of sexual assault is so pervasive that the first response to a rape is often silence or victim shaming. Ancient caste and family alliances prevail, deals are struck, money changes hands.”

• In Indonesia, a judge said this in response to a question about whether the death penalty should be applied in rape cases: “Consideration needs to be taken thoroughly for the imposition of death penalty for a rapist, because in a rape case both the rapist and the victim enjoy it.”

• Rape is used in wars. Women in war-zones are easy targets for sexual violence. Sometimes rape is committed as a form of entertainment or as a way to control women. Sadly, in rural villages and patriarchal societies, the people consider the women “ruined” after they are violated. Some women are sent away from their homes, and others are killed to redeem the family name—known as honor killing. 

• The book Half the Sky (Zondervan) by Carolyn Custis James provides countless examples of gender-based violence happening around the world. The author tells gruesome stories of girls experiencing gang rape, forced prostitution, and sex trafficking. Rape culture is happening around the world, and part of the reason for it is gender inequality. The only way to change rape culture is “turning women from beasts of burden and sexual playthings into full-fledged human beings.” The author states in an article, “The global statistics on the abuse of girls are numbing. It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of routine 'gendercide' far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.”

• Rape certainly happened in the ancient Near East. We read several stories in the Bible about it. Dinah was taken and raped (Gen. 34). Later, wicked men gang-raped a woman outside all night and left her dead on a doorstep (Judg. 19:22–26). King David sent men (note plural) for Bathsheba, wife of his mighty soldier, Uriah, and abused his power over her (2 Sam. 11). People often blame Bathsheba for bathing naked on her roof—saying she was asking for it. (The text merely says she was washing; but even if she was bathing. . . . ) Amnon, son of David, raped his half-sister Tamar: “But when she took [food] to him to eat, he grabbed her and said, ‘Come to bed with me, my sister.’ ‘No, my brother!’ she said to him. ‘Don’t force me! Such a thing should not be done in Israel! Don’t do this wicked thing. What about me? Where could I get rid of my disgrace? And what about you? You would be like one of the wicked fools in Israel. Please speak to the king; he will not keep me from being married to you.’ But he refused to listen to her, and since he was stronger than she, he raped her,” (2 Sam. 13:12–14, NIV). Esther was taken from her home and was one of many virgins whom a lecherous king required to have sex with him before deciding which one to marry. 

Yet, in all of this sadness, there is good news—there are advocates helping rape victims over the world. In 2018, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to two activists: Denis Mukwege, a Christian doctor who focuses on healing rape victims, and Nadia Murad, an activist who survived rape and kidnapping by ISIS in Iraq. Both winners modeled efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Rape Culture #15: Rape Culture and #ChurchToo

Part fifteen in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka 

In January 2018, Andy Savage received applause from his church after confessing and apologizing to his church for sexually assaulting a teen twenty years earlier while serving as a youth pastor. At the time, Savage had asked his victim, Jules Woodson, who publicly told her story, to perform oral sex, and she had complied. In an interview that followed, Woodson said, “Compliance is not consent.” (Check out Part 4: Rape Culture and Consent.) As a young girl, Woodson had trusted her youth pastor, and he used his position and power to take advantage of her. After much controversy, Savage stepped down from his position, having realized that he needed to make things right with his victim herself. And that, indeed, compliance (especially when there is such a power differential) is not consent.

The month after the #MeToo hashtag went viral, the #ChurchToo hashtag went viral, highlighting sexual abuse that happens in the church. Incidents of powerful men abusing that power (whether by abusing or helping to cover it) were exposed, such as that of  Bill Gothard, Bill Hybels, Paige Patterson, the leaders of Sovereign Grace Ministries, and pastor Andy Savage. If these examples are indicative of Christian subculture, and we have every reason to believe they are, the church—instead of comforting the victims—is often found applauding the abusers.                                  

In Savage’s example and many others, we’re siding with the powerful instead of healing victims. Justice is completely missing from the equation. Often churches fail to report crimes because leaders worry that public knowledge will harm the reputation of Jesus and hinder the gospel. I would argue that the actions of excusing rapists and silencing victims actually shame the gospel. Jesus never would have done so, especially when he often called out the Pharisees and lifted up the marginalized, abused, and hurting. 

When victims share their stories, many churches to refrain from going to the police and report crimes, keeping the issues in-house. With one journalist, more than 200 people from Fundamental Baptist Churches, whether current or former church members, shared their stories of rape, assault, humiliation, and fear. In the churches in which they were either former or current members, members of male leadership could not be questioned. Whenever stories of abuse did surface, ministers were either protected or sent away to work at other churches. One former member of the denomination explained what would happen when an abuse situation was brought to light: “Any issues, even legal issues, go to the pastor first, not the police. Especially about another member of the church. The person should go to the pastor, and the pastor will talk to the offender. You don’t report to police, because the pastor is the ultimate authority, not the government.” Churches have historically failed in their response to abuse—protecting the pastors and ignoring the victims. 

Sometimes the church even isolates the victims. Rachael Denhollander, the first victim to come forward about Larry Nassar—the Olympic team physician found guilty of abusing more than 150 girls— stated that her church isolated her. In an interview, Denhollander stated that speaking out for herself and other sexual assault victims “cost me my church and our closest friends. Three weeks before my police report, I was left alone and isolated.” Denhollander lost her church not simply because she spoke up about her own story. She was advocating for other victims of sexual assault within the evangelical church relating to crimes that had been enabled by prominent leaders in that community. Leaders claimed that because she was also an abuse victim, her perspective was clouded and biased. 

Usually, the church focuses on forgiveness more than justice. Denhollander mentioned that “every single Christian publication or speaker that has mentioned my statement has only ever focused on the aspect of forgiveness.” Not only does Denhollander discuss forgiveness, but she also talks about an intentional pursuit of God’s justice. Both forgiveness and justice are biblical concepts that need to be sought in abuse situations. God is both a forgiving God and a just God. 

 Yet, when men in power sin through sexual abuse, one of the questions asked to victims is, “Since he is a sinner, just like you and me, shouldn’t you forgive him?” Such an emphasis on the victim's need to forgive rather than the need for human justice perpetuates rape culture and excuses abuse. The church silences and hides violence, letting the perpetrators off the hook and blaming the woman, and even hiring their abusers to work at other churches. Beth Moore has publicly spoken out on this issue. She wrote a blog post titled, “A Letter to My Brothers,” in which she accused misogynistic male leaders of being driven by sin and ungodliness. Moore later claimed that women have been experiencing abuse because of manipulation of "biblical submission."

Perhaps such a blame-the-woman mentality comes in part from false portrayals of women in the Bible as sexual vixens. At a recent Bible study, my teacher said, “Esther lacked faith because she failed to say no to sleeping with the king before marriage.” I’m sitting there, jaw dropped, holding back the urge to literally stand up for Esther. She was taken. She was a young girl, an orphan, doing what her uncle said to do. She had no option to say no. She was taken and raped (see Esther 2). This criticism-of-Esther interchange happened in a room filled with young women, most of them single. I wanted to not only stand up for Esther, but to protect the others from hearing this from sexual- shame narrative.

Statistically, it could be estimated that 20 percent of the women present that day had been raped, and the teaching they heard would not have freed them from shame. It could have left them thinking they lacked faith in God. If I had heard such a message years earlier, I would have believed every word. I would have thought I lacked faith. And if I lacked faith, I might as well leave church.

Such teaching perpetuates rape culture. We must not tell our congregants that it’s "good to be a Daniel, not an Esther" (something I have heard from the pulpit). Such an attitude toward women has encouraged rape culture and prevented victims from coming forward and reporting abuse. 

An an author of an article in FATHOM Magazine explained that one of the largest complementarian megachurches in Dallas (where there are many megachurches) has the highest number of women coming to a local domestic violence center because of their view on protecting the institution of marriage. Often, women have been encouraged to endure for a time and submit to their husbands. Why is it that conservative, patriarchal churches are affected by #ChurchToo? Why are the men in leadership desiring more to protect the reputation of the church than to care for the people in it? 

Every church needs a plan for when a person comes forward and shares an abuse story. Who does the person talk to? What are the first steps to help the victim? If it is a woman and she has to talk to an all-male elder board, who will be her advocate? To whom will this crime be reported? All of this plan/information needs to be available to the church members.

Here are some practices that have made the church vulnerable to supporting rape culture:

1. Silencing women. Women in many church contexts have been silenced, not allowed to exert influence or make many decisions. In such churches, women are powerless and have no ways to use their voice.

2.  Minimizing women's role models in the Bible. Many good women in the Bible have at times been treated as vixens. (Read books such as Vindicating the Vixens: Revisiting Sexualized, Vilified, and Marginalized Women of the Bible).

3. Having wrong priorities about marital status. The church has had a tendency, especially since the Reformation, to prioritize the institution of marriage over the individuals in the marriage.

4. Poor teaching about gender roles. Gender stereotypes are taught as biblical ideals.

5. Poor teaching of biblical sexuality. 

6. Unnecessary segregation. Men and woman have not been allowed to partner together in ministry.

7. Lack of planning. Churches fail to have a plan in place when abuse surfaces.

Churches are supposed to be safe places where men and women can come for hope, help, and healing. But for most victims, the church does not feel like such a safe place. Creating safety and opportunity for women is as essential to Christian ethics as standing with the powerless and feeding the pour. Churches need to create cultures of men and women in friendship, community, and collaboration.

Women held prominent positions in the early church including serving as prophets, deacons, teachers, and disciplers. Church leaders need to look for ways to create opportunities for women to lead in partnership with men. Men in power need to ask, Where in the church are women’s voices lacking? Where can men better partner with women? In what ways can we better model healthy familial relationships?

Rape Culture #14: Rape Culture and Race

Part fourteen in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka 

Faces of black men. Those are often who we see portrayed as rapists on TV. And when people see a black man walking toward them on their side of the street, often they cross to the other side. Yet the stereotype of Black-as-rapist is statistically inaccurate. The Department of Justice says that perpetrators of rape are 57 percent white and 27 percent black.

            And when Black men are arrested for sexual assault, they are not treated like white men. A former Stanford student was arrested for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster and sentenced to six months of jail time. After three months in jail, he was released. Why was he released early? “Automatically applied credits” for good behavior prior to sentencing. The system patted him on the back, so to speak, for good behavior, even though his victim was raped when unconscious and left alone behind a dumpster. Why such an easy punishment? The man was a young, “promising,” “a successful athlete.” And white.

Often prosecutors give leniency to first-time offenders to keep from "hurting their future." In the case of this young man, his father's character-witness letter described his son’s sexual assault as “20 minutes of action.” Would a Black man have the same experience when accused of the same crime?

            Black men and women are often left out of the conversation surrounding the #MeToo movement and rape culture. Tarana Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement, stated in an article about being ignored, “What history has shown us time and again is that if marginalized voices—those of people of color, queer people, disabled people, poor people—aren’t centered in our movements, then they tend to become no more than a footnote. I often say that sexual violence knows no race, class or gender, but the response to it does… Ending sexual violence will require every voice from every corner of the world, and it will require those whose voices are most often heard to find ways to amplify those voices that often go unheard.

When we discuss rape culture, we cannot forget to discuss the marginalized voices. In fact, studies show that women of color are more vulnerable to sexual harassment than white women, yet they are less likely to be believed if they report harassment, assault, or rape.

Where is the justice in that?

Rape Culture #13: Rape Culture and Pornography

Part thirteen in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka 

In 2017, the world’s largest porn website reached 28.5 billion visitors, an average of 81 million people per day. The country with the most web traffic? The United States. Why is this important? Research shows that porn is linked to acceptance of rape culture. People who blame rape victims are more likely to use pornography. They watch hours and hours of porn that shows rape as normal and exciting. Porn users are more likely to think negatively about women, become desensitized to sexual images and messages in the media, and endorse rape myths. In porn, sexualized women are less human—they are objects.

            Violent porn: Those who consume violent pornography or media behave in the ways portrayed. Pornography consumption is linked with sexual aggression. One study resulted in the support of the associations between frequent pornography use and sexually aggressive behaviors, particularly for violent pornography and/or for men at high risk for sexual aggression. Violent sexual crimes existed before pornography; thus pornography is not the main problem, but it does perpetuate the crimes and rape culture.

            Soft porn: It’s not just hardcore porn that is causing damage. One study found that even soft porn negatively affects people. Soft porn includes movies, television shows, advertisements, magazines, or erotica that show or describe sex, but not in a violent or detailed way. Today’s softcore porn is what was hardcore fifty years ago. The study examined the relationship between frequency of exposure to softcore pornographic images of women to attitudes towards women and rape myths. The results indicate that people who were desensitized to these images were more likely than others to endorse rape myths. Women are large contributors of soft porn, especially erotica. Women perpetuate rape culture too. 

            Some people argue that porn prevents abuse by allowing for a “safer” option for people in which to let out aggressive sexual energy. Instead of raping someone, it is reasoned, a person can just watch porn. This might sounds logical, but the brain is wired to repeat what it sees and hears. The more a person watches porn—the more likely he or she will desire it in real life. Porn changes the brain, causing it literally to rewire itself and create new neurological pathways, even to the point of changing reality. Such watching and rewiring is how people get addicted.

            Leading experts studying sexual violence are arriving at these same conclusions. Dr. John D. Foubert, a professor in an endowed position at Oklahoma State University and a leading expert on sexual violence, stated, “The secret ingredient in the recipe for rape was not secret at all . . . That ingredient, responsible for giving young men the permission-giving beliefs that make rape so much more likely and telling young women they should like it, is today’s high-speed internet pornography. Pornography itself is a recipe for rape that has rewritten the sexual script for the sexual behavior of the millennial generation and is currently rewiring the brains of the generation to follow.”

In this report, Dr. Foubert went on to argue that porn today is nothing like it was historically. He points out that in porn today, 88 percent of the scenes include verbal or physical aggression, usually against a woman; and the woman is shown either liking it or having no objection to it. For example, one common porn scene includes multiple men ejaculating on a woman’s face and she “likes” it. Pornography is perpetuating rape culture by teaching boys and girls false messages. Boys are encouraged to hit girls and use them for their own selfish sexual desires. Girls are encouraged to enjoy the abuse and not fight back.

            Another problem is that children are starting to see pornography at younger and younger ages each year—some argue they are doing so around four or five years old. So porn becomes a child’s sex education—they think what they see is real sex. A sexual-assault nurse examiner at a children’s hospital said, “To sexually assault someone else, that's a learned behavior.”

Our children are being trained at the age of four or five to be rapists. The same children’s hospital at which this nurse works is finding cases on boys ages eleven to fourteen years committing sexual crimes. The nurses said that they had young perpetrators tell them they've watched pornography and acted it out on someone else. When a child has been watching porn since he or she is four years old, that child has been training the brain and body for sexual perversion and learning to take pleasure in it. Porn is affordable, available, anonymous, and aggressive—the four A’s of disaster that we must stop.

To learn more about the dangers of porn, check out Fight the New Drug.

Rape Culture #12: Rape Culture and Gender Stereotypes

Part twelve in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarkah 

Early on children pick up on gender stereotypes. For example, a school might bring football players into the classroom to give motivational talks, and students will hear the players make statements such as, “All my boys, stand up. We strong, right? We strong… boys aren’t supposed to be soft-spoken. One day, you’ll have a very, very deep voice… But the ladies―they’re supposed to be silent, polite, gentle. My men, my men supposed to be strong.” Kids hear this narrative: Girls are weak. Boys are strong.

“Modesty talks” can reinforce gender stereotypes with teens if such talks characterize women as sexual tempters and men as sexual animals who cannot be tamed. In such talks, often given in church youth groups, females become defined by their bodies, and males become defined only by what happens in their brains. From a young age we give modesty talks to girls, but what do we tell boys? Girls are told they need to cover up to keep boys from having uncontrollable thoughts. So the girl’s body is presented as the problem.

Such a mentality can leave females thinking, “What is wrong with me? Why did God give me this curvy figure?” The responsibility falls on the girls to protect themselves against wild sexual men and to avoid rape. Even comments such as, “Just cover up, wear a t-shirt over your bathing suit,” can communicate blame.

Meanwhile, boys are taught that women have overwhelming sexual power. What about teaching self-control as a sign of maturity? Teaching girls that they overwhelm guys and teaching guys they can't possibly control themselves is teaching falsehood. If the only message is "Boys must look away, while girls must cover up," we are doing our youth a disservice. And we're reinforcing rape culture. 

Strict female dress codes also reinforce rape culture. Young women’s bodies are sexualized, so females get the idea that what men think is women's responsibility; and such rules teach men that they have no control. Thus young women become objects.

These are rape myths. And the sexier the woman, including the more skin she shows, the more likely, it is said, that she’s "asking for" rape.

What is the point of uniforms? To protect girls? To protect boys? To keep people from obsessing over outward appearance? To limit distractions? It's important to discern. Because even with uniforms, a girl can worry how many inches above the knee her skirt falls or whether her shirt exposes her collarbone. 

The media also reinforces gender stereotypes. As people watch TV, listen to the radio, or drive down the highway and see billboards, we encounter messages. Women’s bodies sell products. Women are sexualized and photoshopped to unrealistic extremes—perpetuating rape culture by defining women by their sexy bodies. 

What we say about masculinity and femininity affects rape culture and can reinforce sexual aggression. When masculinity is defined as power, authority, assertiveness, or lack of emotion and femininity is defined as submission, passivity, delicacy, or weakness, we have the perfect scenario for rape culture. Such messages excuse male rapists, because men are “just being men.”

In a marriage, when the husband and wife see themselves in these gender binaries, their perception often leads to the men being dominant and controlling in their sex lives. In fact, one survey shows that 25 percent of marriages are considered abusive. These gender stereotypes also lead to sexually dysfunctional beliefs. For example, male sexual dysfunctional beliefs could focus on sex as a performance and the issues of dominance and control, whereas female sexual dysfunctional beliefs focus on issues such as pleasing only their partner and experiencing their own pleasure.

Research has proven that when men or women have sexually dysfunctional beliefs, they are more likely to believe rape myths. Rape myths are beliefs such as “If a woman is raped when she is drunk, she is somewhat responsible,” or “a woman who goes to the home of a man on the first date is implying that she wants to have sex,” or “she asked for it,” or “if the rapist doesn’t have a weapon, you really can’t call it rape,” or “many women secretly desire to be raped,” or “a lot of women lead a man on and then cry rape,” and “rape is unlikely to happen in a woman’s own neighborhood.” Other myths are implied by questions such as, “Why didn’t you fight him?” or “Why didn’t you scream for help?” and “What were you wearing?” One policeman describing a woman who had endured non-consensual sex stated that she was not raped because her ex had not had an orgasm before he stopped. Such rape myths must be removed from our culture. 

How do we change rape culture? We remove traditional gender stereotypes. It is important to note that historically the early Christian church, especially Jesus, elevated and dignified woman when the surrounding culture failed to do so (e.g, Matt. 5:29). Yet often today Christians assume the gender stereotypes of popular culture. We should look to Jesus as our example of how to treat women and how we help men take responsibility for their own actions. In doing so, we can change the way society, including the church, views gender and sexuality. We must teach a biblical view of sexuality for single and married people. If we continue to teach classes on “biblical” manhood and womanhood in our church that perpetuate gender stereotypes, we are part of creating and sustaining rape culture.

Rape Culture #11: Rape Culture and Colleges

Part eleven in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka

My mom dropped me off at college, waving goodbye as she drove away in her minivan. Tears in her eyes, she was sad to lose her baby girl. Only three days later, I would sit in my dorm room crying alone after I was raped.

 Rape culture has infiltrated college campuses. We send our daughters, who are barely legal adults, into colleges where we know they could get raped. The federally funded Campus Climate Survey revealed that 20 percent of college-aged women experienced sexual assault at some point during college. That means that 1 in 5 college students will experience sexual assault in college. In a friend group of ten girls, two will have been raped. In my college experience, this number was even higher. Why? Because 88 percent of women sexually assaulted on campus do not report it. Those who do report on campus rarely see their abuser expelled. (Check out Part 5: Rape Culture and Why I Didn’t Report.) I reported my rape to my university, and my rapist was expelled from the college. But my story is an uncommon one.

When rapes are reported to campuses, many faculty and institutions try to cover them up, fail to report them to authorities, or ignore them completely. In 2017, news broke out that at Baylor University, the world’s largest Baptist university, football players gang-raped women as a “bonding experience” for new recruits. Baylor University was served with their seventh Title IX lawsuit, a federal civil rights law against sex-based discrimination, which alleged that as many as eight football players drugged a student and took turns raping her in 2012.

An investigation found that seventeen women reported sexual assault or domestic violence carried out by nineteen players, including at least four gang rapes. The lawsuit claimed that the team’s practices helped create a culture of sexual violence, citing a “hostess” program in which women showed potential football recruits around campus with an “implied promise of sex” that “often became the reality.”

When sexual assaults were brought to the attention of the football department, the staff used its own internal disciplinary system, which treated the players in a special way and kept all allegations in-house.

The language used around this (and other such situations) reveals an underlying support of rape culture. The media used words to describe the men as “young promising students and athletes,” saying their “one mistake” could affect their future “promising careers.” The men were portrayed as students with good grades who would sadly have to register as sex offenders, and that legal convictions will haunt them for the rest of their lives. But what about the victims? Their rape will haunt them for the rest of their lives. Such is the language of rape culture.

Why is sexual abuse rampant on college campuses? Some people argue it is partly because pornography is also rampant. Viewers between the ages of 18 and 24 made up 30 percent of the United States viewership in 2017 for the world’s largest porn website. (Check out Part 13: Rape Culture and Pornography.) Millions of porn videos involve drunk girls at college parties, gang rape, and sexual violence; and such videos help to form college students’ sex education. Pornography normalizes rape and violence, encouraging men to rape and women to “enjoy” it. 

One college campus made the news for a club promoting rape culture through an event. During this event, students (primarily males) would get points for doing sexual acts such as drinking a shot of alcohol from a girl’s cleavage and getting a girl to sign a guy’s butt. The activities were listed on “scorecards,” assigned points, and awarded. Such a game perpetuates a society in which women are used as objects to “win games.” Fortunately, the event was later stopped and called a “reprehensible” example of “rape culture” on campus.   

To learn more about rape culture on college campuses, watch the documentary The Hunting Ground.

Rape Culture #10: Rape Culture and Politics

Part ten in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka ]

There are many examples found in United States politics that perpetuate rape culture. Here are only a few:

• Many politicians have made negative comments about rape to support their stances against abortion: “If rape is inevitable, lie back and enjoy it!” said Clayton Williams of Texas in 1990, causing him to lose the election. Others have used phrases such as “legitimate rape,” “honest rape,” “emergency rape,” and “easy rape.” 

• Some people assume that women often use rape as an excuse for regret. In 2006, Ken Buck, a district-attorney-turned-politician, once said, “A jury could very well conclude that this is a case of buyer’s remorse… it appears to me that you invited him over to have sex with him,” even though the rapist admitted his crime.

• In 2012, Senator Todd Akin argued his stance on abortion by saying that “legitimate rapes” rarely result in pregnancy because women's bodies could “shut that whole thing down.”

• Michael Cohen, attorney for Donald Trump in 2015, said, “Understand that by the very definition, you can’t rape your spouse.” This is simply untrue. Rape can and does happen in marriages. 

• In 2016, 81 percent of white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump. Many of them excused sexual misdeeds rather than criticize a member of their own party. When the famous video leaked with his comments about women, some people described what he said about woman as "foreplay."

• Judge Roy Moore, a Republican Senatorial candidate, was accused of varying degrees of sexual misconduct by nine women, including one of whom was fourteen years old when the alleged assault occurred.

• Bill Clinton is most known for his sexual relationship with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Additionally, four women over the past few decades have publicly accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault or harassment. One woman accused Clinton of raping her. For more information, check out the series, The Clinton Affair.

• In 2018, Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault, and rape-culture myths were repeated. Of the three women accusing Kavanaugh, one woman recanted her story. We must admit that claiming rape when it actually didn't happen is a reality. Yet, only 2–8 percent of reported rapes are false in any given area. Nevertheless, many politicians focus more on the 2–8 percent than the 92–98 percent of victims who have not lied. Politicians' doing so perpetuates rape culture and rape myths. Here are a few rape culture myths perpetuated through the Kavanaugh case: (1) sexual violence is normal male behavior; (2) real victims come forward right away; (3) women’s voices count less than men’s; (4) the country owes accused men a path to redemption.

• A similar story happened nearly thirty years before the Kavanaugh accusations. Anita Hill testified that Clarence Thomas, then a Supreme Court nominee, sexually assaulted her. Thomas, as did Kavanaugh after him, joined the Supreme Court.

Rape Culture #9: Rape Culture and Literature

Part nine in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka 

In addition to the list from the previous rape-culture series featured on this blog, more recent books have been written about rape culture:

• In 2018, the Governor General's fiction award went to Sarah Henstra for The Red Word. Henstra wrote a story that looks at rape culture and the extremes to which the beliefs can go. The story is set on a college campus, when sophomore Karen learns about feminism and rape culture. One frat house in the story is nicknamed, “Gang Bang Central.” Karen is torn between the Greek culture she loves (because of a cute boy), and a feminist group. She is caught between polarized camps. Little does she know that feminist ringleader Dyann plans to use her to bring down the fraternity as a symbol of rape culture. One reviewer of The Red Word said the novel is “full of clichés of sexual politics as they exist not only on our college campuses, but also within broader present-day society. Alternately heartbreaking, funny, and critical, no one gets off easily. The Red Word plumbs the depths of literature, mythology, history, philosophy, and a host of contemporary issues—an utterly effing good read.”

• Girl Made of Stars, a young adult fiction novel by Ashley Herring Blake, involves stories of love, rape, and family drama. This timely novel confronts the difficult questions surrounding consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault.

• Vox, a dystopian novel by Christina Dalcher, is set in the United States, where half of the population are silenced. The government declares that women are allowed to speak only one hundred words per day. As the novel progresses, women are not allowed to work or learn to read or write. The novel focuses on one woman who will do anything to protect herself and her daughter. 

• Before She Sleeps, a dystopian novel by Bina Shah, is about women’s lives in repressive Muslim countries everywhere. The story takes place in South West Asia, where gender selection has resulted in many men and few women. Women are forced to have multiple husbands and produce children as quickly as possible to prepare for war. Some women resist and live in secrecy. The novel takes patriarchal practices to an extreme through examples of gender selection, controlling women’s bodies, and distorting sex. 

• An Excess Male, a science fiction and fantasy novel written by Maggie Shen King, is the chilling dystopian tale of politics, inequality, marriage, love, and rebellion, set in a near-future China. Years ago under the One Child Policy, everyone plotted to have a son, and now forty million of them can't find wives.

• The Nowhere Girls,a novel by Amy Reed, follows three girls who join together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate. Their courage ends up sparking a change in the misogynistic culture in their high school.

• The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, by Meg Elison, is a dystopian sci-fi novel in which women are sex and reproduction slaves. The men are portrayed as evil and controlling, while the women are portrayed as running for their lives out of fear.

• History of Violence, an international bestselling novel by Edouard Louis, is an autobiographical novel about surviving a sexual assault and coping with the post-traumatic stress disorder of its aftermath.

10: Rape Culture and Politics

Sanctity of Life Day is January 22

A friend who once ministered in a country with teeming populations and full orphanages saw scores of children die daily from hunger, neglect and abuse. In a setting in which life seemed cheap, he had a practice that would reinforce for himself the truth of humans’ infinite worth. He would stop at the bed of each infant he passed to look at his or her face, one by one, and whisper, “You are precious to God.”The truth that every human life is of inestimable worth is as old as the beginning of our race, grounded in Genesis 1. There we read that God said He would make humanity in His own image—male and female (Genesis 1:26). The death of Christ for the whole world (John 3:16) further demonstrates the heavenly Father’s view of mortals’ worth: humans are as valuable as the shed blood of His only Son.This truth about our worth has bearing on the entire lifespan:

• Beginning of life: The moment the DNA of sperm and egg align, a unique human is formed. This has ramifications for our ethics of contraception, embryonic stem cell research, abortion, prenatal testing, eugenics, selective reduction, multifetal pregnancy reduction and humans with genetic anomalies.
• Birth through adulthood: In some countries, girls are considered disposable. Such an idea is inconsistent with God’s view of humans. So is bullying. And murder. And cursing people made in God’s image. Our view of human dignity should affect how we treat those with disabilities. How people treat police officers. How police officers treat people. How we treat the homeless. The poor. The hungry. Immigrants. Those who differ from us racially. Trafficked humans and slaves of all kinds. And the list goes on.
• End of life: Humans’ inherent dignity has bearing on how we honor the elderly, how we approach passive vs. active euthanasia, and so much more.

Humans are not just blobs of genetic material; we are glorious creations of God. How we treat each other from beginning to end demonstrates how much we align with God’s view of His image-bearers—how much we love our neighbors as ourselves.

This article first appeared in MTL Magazine, January 2018. 

Rape Culture #8: Rape Culture and Television

Part eight in a series by Joy Pedrow Skarka 

In addition to the list from the previous series, other television shows and movies about or evidencing rape culture have debuted: 

• The Handmaid's Tale, a television series based on the best-selling novel by Margaret Atwood, takes place in a totalitarian society. The women are treated as property of the state and ruled by a fundamentalist regime. The society is faced with a low birth rate, and so the women are forced to become sex slaves. 

• Westworld, a television series, takes place in a futuristic amusement park for rich vacationers. Visitors are encouraged to live out their desires without any consequences, including raping and beating the women. The women are not real people, but rather robots built to gratify the desires of everyone who visits the theme park.

• EastEnders, a British soap opera, aired an episode that tackled sexual consent and rape culture. The episode’s goal was to educate and start a conversation with the viewers. The episode included key characters debating rape and consent in the local pub. Kush Kazemi said, “If you are going to get that drunk, sometimes there are consequences you have to take.” Ruby Allen said, “It’s not on me to stop them. It’s on them not to do it in the first place.”

• Game of Thrones, a television drama series based on George R.R. Martin's best-selling book series, is a medieval fantasy. The series plays a deadly game for control of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and a seat atop the Iron Throne. The series includes countless rape scenes, which were actually not written in the original stories. The writer, however, provides this justification for the use of rape scenes: “Rape and sexual violence have been a part of every war ever fought, from the ancient Sumerians to our present day. To omit them from a narrative centered on war and power would have been fundamentally false and dishonest, and would have undermined one of the themes of the books: that the true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves. We are the monsters.”

• 13 Reasons Why, a controversial series on Netflix that discusses thirteen reasons why a girl chose to commit suicide, discusses and shows scenes of rape. Hannah, the girl who later committed suicide, was violently raped in season one. The season finale of season two includes a rare scene of a man sexually assaulting another man.

• We cannot fail to mention Fifty Shades of Grey, the movie and book series. The series is advertised as a must-see erotic love affair, but it is really about sexual abuse and violence against women. The series takes the point of view that sexual violence is normal, acceptable, and enjoyable.

For examples of rape culture in movies, see Abduction as Romance.