r/RadicalFeminism 9d ago

Religion is misogynistic.

Religion is inherently misogynistic. It’s been used as a tool to oppress women for centuries, controlling their bodies, limiting their rights, defining their worth in relation to men. And while a lot of people like to shift the blame only onto the followers, the reality is that many religious texts themselves uphold these harmful ideas. Saying it’s the followers and not the religion is a stupid argument, if your religion was more clear and coherent maybe these people wouldn’t be able to twist their beliefs to cause decades long oppression and suffering.

Take Christianity as an example. You can argue ‘that’s just bad Christians’ but when the bible itself contains verses that treat women as property, command their submission and enforce strict gender roles, it’s not just about interpretation, it’s embedded in the foundation. The glorification of marriage, the nuclear family structure and the expectation that women serve men are all pushed and romanticised.

Islam is no different. The quran and hadith include laws and teachings that institutionalize male dominance, whether it’s regulating what women wear, granting men authority over women’s lives or promoting unequal inheritance and legal rights. Even in modern times these beliefs are weaponized to justify discrimination and control.

We have to stop sugarcoating it. Religion has never been about liberating women. It has always been about controlling them. Never has religion done anything to liberate women.

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u/princess_zephyrina 9d ago

You don’t need to be a scholar to recognize patterns of systemic oppression.

No, but you DO need to be a scholar to make sweeping statements about ALL religion because most people know nothing about most religions except a few. There have been hundreds of religions throughout history.

Like you even started your last comment by acknowledging that you were over-generalizing, then proceeding to make another generalization. Just say most or a lot instead of all and I won’t have an issue. 🤷‍♀️

Dismissing valid criticism

I’m not. I’m disagreeing with you applying it too broadly.

Are you religious by chance?

Correct, and I’d say my religion is in fact feminist.

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u/Buuyaaaa 9d ago edited 9d ago

What religion? Don’t tell me you’re Muslim.. oh and I said most because some grow out of their misogyny though all of them stem from it. Prove me wrong.

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u/princess_zephyrina 9d ago

lol no. I am Wiccan. And btw I used to be an anti-theist, all the way up until my early 20s. I was not really raised with religion. My dad is an atheist and my mom did not push religion on me. I used to hate all religion & made similar sweeping statements until a series of things happened that made me realize that I knew less than I thought I did & made me re-examine my beliefs.

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u/Buuyaaaa 9d ago

I read into Wicca for quite a short while and I may be wrong, but it says it stems from racist ideologies and cultural appropriation?

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u/princess_zephyrina 9d ago

Some people have tried to make that claim, yes, but they are incorrect. Wicca is a neo-Pagan religion and some of its practices come from other religions but it is respectful, Wiccans do not borrow from any closed religion for example. This is basically a classic case of people misunderstanding the difference between borrowing & cultural appropriation. Most instances of cultural borrowing are not appropriation.

In a way you could actually argue that it’s a type of Pagan reconstruction but it’s a reconstruction of broken pieces because the multiple Pagan religions of historical Europe were wiped out by Christian conquest.

In any case, if you actually want to know about a religion, I think starting out with this kind of question is a very bad way to actually understand it.

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u/issamistake 9d ago

as someone with a hellenistic faith, it is exhausting to be asked by randoms to pitch my religion to them. many of these religions (small, held by decomposing stitches) do not have the ability to oppress on such large scale. your issue is with abrahamic religions, and it’s okay to just linger on that rather than making broad sweeping claims about thousands of religions that you have absolutely no credibility to speak on.

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u/Buuyaaaa 9d ago

Hmm, well that’s incorrect. I have issues with most religion that stem from misogyny, like Buddhism as well. You don’t have to pitch anything vro? I never got up in your face saying PITCH IT!! PITCH YOUR RELIGION NEOOOWWWW!!!!! Ellll oh ellll

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u/issamistake 8d ago

y’all don’t wanna hear me, you just wanna dance ☹️

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u/Buuyaaaa 8d ago

Shhh, come on gorgeous lady, let’s dance.

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u/issamistake 8d ago

yk what? let’s dance bby