Winter's Bone
The Connected Self

The Sin of Hiding

One of the excerpts in Creating Women's Theology was from Susan Nelson on the sin of hiding, which she says is the primary sin of women historically, not pride.  

A woman knows guilt for most of her life.  She is guilty if she is too assertive; she is guilty if she is too feminine and therefore seductive.  She is guilty if she is too brilliant, too articulate, too successful.  If she becomes pregnant, she is at falut.  If she chooses not to have children, she is guilty at best of denying her true femininity; at worst, of murder.  If her children are maladjusted, if they fail at school, get involved with drugs, or exhibit inappropriate behavior, it is her fault.  And, if her marriage fails, if her husband loses interest and chooses the attentions of another, it is because she has fallen short.

She continues:

Guilt, then, is directly related to the way in which a religion focuses on the nature of sin and to the way it then names and proclaims the forms of sin.

Reading this essay on Sunday, after having watched Winter's Bone, the two resonated together.  Rhee's offense of the cultural mores is that she will not remain silent.  She keeps asking questions.  She keeps invading spaces that she is not supposed to go.  One time another woman even asks, "Don't you have any men who can do this?"  

Rhee refuses to hide.  Rather, she actively works to create her self through decision and action.  She is an agent, a subject, and will not be made passive or an object.  

Comments

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freelance writer

why you need to hide it?

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