*and i’m not talking about barack obama

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  In him was life, and that life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it….The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world…The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

–John 1:1-3, 9, 14

“Silent night, holy night
Son of God, love’s pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth “

–Silent Night, 3rd Verse

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger…So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

–Luke 2:8-12, 16-18

“Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris’n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
‘Glory to the newborn King’”

–Hark the Herald Angels Sing, 3rd Verse

“I will celebrate the day that you were born to die that I might one day pray for you to save my life.”

–I Will Celebrate the Day by Relient K

And to quote Santa Claus: “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!”

I was enjoying a rerun of “The Gilmore Girls” (an episode I hadn’t seen before), and the issue of Donna Reid and the housewife sparks a huge fight between Rory and Dean.  Rory of course is disgusted by the image represented by Donna Reid while Dean admits he thinks the idea of coming home to a wife cooking dinner sounds nice.  

Normally, I would totally side with Rory on this one.  Initially, the fact that any person’s complete purpose in life should center around serving another person sounds completely unacceptable.  In fact, I do agree that no one should be forced to serve another.  It is unacceptable for only a woman to be forced to or expected to give up her dreams in order to take care of the family.  

Where I think Rory went wrong was assuming that it was always a crime against human rights for a woman to be a housewife.  It never seems to cross Rory’s mind that a woman could actually want to be a housewife, that any woman would actually find joy and fulfillment in taking care of her family and home.  What gets me about feminist who share this view is that they are just as bad as the men who want to confine women to the kitchen.  The evil of women oppression isn’t that women were confined to the house, but that women didn’t have opportunities or choices outside of the home.  The liberation of women is all about giving women the opportunities and ability to be and do anything they set their mind to.  When any person puts a woman down for doing what she loves or says she shouldn’t do what she loves, we step backwards in the journey to gender equality.  

Just because housewife is an occupation that once represented oppressed women doesn’t mean it is a crime against gender equality.  The real crime is taking homemaker off the table of opportunities for women and therefore limiting ourselves.  If a woman loves taking care of her home and her family she shouldn’t be punished by women who don’t.  She should be celebrated for doing what she loves.

My husband asked me today if I think that men are more drawn to read books written by and about men and are women more drawn to reading books by women and about women.  If you were to stumble across my facebook page you would see that the majority of the books listed in my profile–books I’ve deemed worthy enough to call favorites–are written by men, men like J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Donald Miller, Lloyd C. Douglas.  Even the books that have topped my most recent favorites are written by men–Josh Grogan and Ian McEwan.  In fact, the most recent books I’ve read that are written by women are either really bad or good, but not something I’m probably going to read over and over again.  Does this mean I connect more with a masculine story-telling style?  Could be.  After all, the Western style of story-telling is linear, a style that is identified often as masculine, and I am definitely a Westerner.  Does this stem from the simple fact that our world and culture has only recently started to move away from the male-dominated culture its been steeped in for centuries?  J.K. Rowling, the author of probably the most popular book series of this century so far, is a woman, but she chose a gender neutral pen name so young boys would be more likely to read her books about  a young wizard in training.  

I think both are true.  Of course I am going to be drawn towards a Western/masculine plot structure, but I also love reading books that focus on strong women and that often explore the deep emotional side of a story (i.e. Jane Austen, Phillippa Gregory’s portrayal of Anne and Mary Boleyn).  

Despite the lack of women on my facebook profile book list, I do have several favorite women writers.  I haven’t read a Jane Austen novel yet that I haven’t liked although Pride and Prejudice is my favorite.  Emily Dickinson’s poetry is just way too cool.  Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper” is disturbing but really good.  Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s “Revolt of Mother” made me laugh so hard I wrote a paper on it.  Of course there is J.K. Rowling.  I read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird finally this summer, and I loved it!  

Hopefully, as the world continues to progress, there will be more and more women writers breaking into the published world, and my favorite books list won’t be so male-dominated.

P.S. Has anyone else noticed that most Christian living books written by women are all about being a good mom and wife or prepping yourself for those two roles????   I haven’t checked that section out in a long time so I might be wrong, but what’s up with that??????