I find it curious and somewhat frightening that in our society, where we have worked so hard for so long to overcome the gender prejudice of the past, so many cults have arisen that promote objectification and oppression of women.
The cult that I became close to, if not actively involved with, seemed to hold adult women in very low regard indeed.
I recall hearing one high-ranking female member say that when she began her involvement with the cult-in-question, she had been a feminist, and was outraged by the lower status of the women in relationship to the men. But, she told me, after some time with the group she came to realise how irrelevent gender equality really was.(!)
In this particular religious group, children were held in high esteem, on the surface at any rate. Any talent or intelligence displayed by a child was encouraged and developed, so much so that I thought the children were rather spoiled.
After puberty, however, another dynamic came into play. I heard the mothers among the group say more than once that girls should be married off at a young age. This was, I presume, a preventive measure against possible promiscuity and unwed motherhood. Historically, however, arranged marraige, often to older men, was common among followers of this tradition, which derives from East Indian Hinduism.
The role of adult, married women within the group was primarily domestic, and possibly sexual, alhough marital sex was outwardly devalued and discouraged. I was not privy to details of what went on behind closed doors.
Any talents that adult women may have had were ignored or minimized by group members. When I mentioned the exceptional singing voice of one female member, I was told, in front of the woman, that her voice wasn't that great, and it was pointed out that several of the children actually had the more beautiful voices. At the time I thought that this was done to encourage humility, but I now believe that it was in reality a form of oppression.
I found some information on this process of devaluing the talents of the individual on this webpage:
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www.refocus.org]
Quote
Biderman's Chart of Coercion
Abusive leaders are frequently uncannily able to pick out traits church members are proud of and to use those very traits against the members. Those with natural gifts in the areas of music may be told they are proud or puffed up or "anxious to be up front" if they want to use their talents and denied that opportunity.
Warning Signs:
Unwillingness to allow members to use their gifts.
Cooking was encouraged for women; cleaning houses was the suggested profession for adult women.
Physical appearance of women seemed to be fairly important, and there was a definite emphasis placed on being slender. Those who were considered to be overweight were criticized for it.
Producing children was encouraged, although the consensus was that children should be sent away to "group" schools for their education.
Young women were permitted, and possibly encouraged, to be flirtatious. I witnessed this being used to draw new men into the group.
This secretive group did not to my knowledge encourage older adult women to become initiated. They did groom young girls, and perhaps boys as well, for initiation into the group. These prospects were praised and encouraged to use their talents within the group, and many were put to work producing promotional materials for the group agenda.
I don't really understand why any American woman would find this kind of situation desirable. Our American culture has been described by many as lacking in "soul", and we seem to have developed a romanticized view of other, more "spiritual" cultural traditions. East Indian culture, in particular, is frequently viewed as being more highly evolved in matters of the spirit, and the harmful results of class and gender stratification are often disregarded in our desire for a more "godly" social model.
I can understand how gender status might seem unimportant to a woman who has joined a religious group or married in order to gain US citizenship, or to escape from poverty. I can't understand why an otherwise intelligent American woman would buy into this type of thinking, however, and fail to see how the oppression of women can be viewed as spiritual.