re: #12 LudwigVanQuixote

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This psalm is almost 3,000 years old.

In an agrarian society, buying selling and managing fields well - was the equivalent of saying she kicks butt in the boardroom. And what exactly does the reference to her strong arms mean? I’ve quipped many times before that the actual Jewish description of a perfect woman is essentially, the modern feminist “woman who has it all” - amazing in the outside world, amazing as a mother, happily married, respected by all for her awesome work.

Yes, that psalm got quoted often in the 16th century in debates about women’s work as retailers. Of which they did quite a lot.

What this sect is looking at is a very specific timeframe for the “Christian” woman—say, the late 19th century. And a specific class, middle and upper middle. It’s lightyears away from anything most Christians (or as you point out Jews) would ever have recognized.

I just read a great novel about this very thing, passive Victorian womanhood: The Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair (1922). This short book should be required reading for anybody who wants to return women to a docile, self-sacrificing role.