Phoenix Affirmations

Study Guide for a
Reflective Conversation

Affirmation 5. Embracing diverse individuals and groups
with emphasis on Gender

Objective Questions

• What do you think are essential gender roles?
• Gender based customs and occupations have changed considerably in recent years. What changes have you noticed?
• What gender based customs do we still observe in our culture?
• What occupations still show a pronounced gender bias?

Reflective Questions

• Do our cultural gender roles ever cause you concern?
• Do you ever miss the old gender roles or wish the current gender roles would change even more?
• How does our use of language affect the way we view men and women in our culture or our faith group? What about our children?
• How do you feel about the use of inclusive language hymnals, lectionary, etc. (and the non-use of inclusive language in the popular press)?

Interpretive Questions

• Do you know of cultures/religions that use scripture as a basis for enforcing and perpetuating gender roles?
• Do such scriptural gender roles encourage domination/submission of the sexes?
• Do we practice scriptural based gender roles in this country?

Resource Moment

• Speaker or
• Video or
• Drama (Suggestion: A man and woman preparing for work where dress, makeup, hair style, job, etc. are gender reversed. This should be done with a great deal of good humor. It may even need its own spirit conversation.)
• Reading (Suggestion: "A Person Paper on Purity in Language", from Douglass Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas)
• Poem (Suggestion: "The Main Question", from Brian Wren's What Language Shall I Borrow?)

Decisional Questions

• How do you respond to explicit or implied scriptural gender roles?
• What is our role in perpetuating or reducing gender based roles in our society?
• How do we confront those who believe gender roles require domination by men and submission by women?

Sending Forth

• Next meeting will study PA 6, "being advocates for the oppressed".
• Go forth with new awareness of our gender roles and with determination that gender roles will not be used as excuses for domination or submission.