How Gendered Religious Language Hurts Women
Religious music is becoming more aggressive and blurring the lines between sexual intimacy and consent.
For the estimated 25 percent of Americans who identify as evangelical Christians, song is an important way to get closer to God.
Contemporary Worship Music draws on intimate language to describe the relationship between humanity and the Divine. It’s popular among evangelicals.
But in recent years, the genre has seen words such as “reckless,” “jealous,” and “insatiable” appear in new lyrics that describe God’s love, according to an essay in the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion.
The author, Anneli Loepp, questions the impact of such aggressive language on human relationships and in particular congregants who have suffered sexual abuse.
“Recent studies indicate that one in three U.S. women have experienced severe physical violence from a partner during their lifetime,” writes Thiessen.
“It’s inevitable that some worshippers will have experienced violated boundaries in their personal lives, or even abuse by congregants or pastoral leaders.”
To support her thesis, Thiessen analyses Christian songs penned between 2005 and 2020 from a feminist liturgical perspective.
She argues that rather than helping worshippers grasp the depth and breadth of God’s love for them, the lyrics condone relationships of submission and domination between men and women.
For example, in the song Insatiable (2020), the portrayal of male pursuit and domination can be interpreted as spiritually fulfilling for the female-coded worshipper who submits to male authority.
“This muddies consent,” writes Thiessen, “and though not explicit, it can be argued that there is an element of coercion at play in this spiritual relationship.”
In concluding, Thiessen calls on readers to remember the countless women who attend weekly worship services carrying past experiences of abuse.
“Our worship will be stronger if it cares for a breadth of human experiences in communion with a God who sees and understands pain,” she writes.
The essay can be found at: Thiessen, A.L. (2024). “Reckless love”: Sexual Violence, Gendered Interpretations, and Intimate and Aggressive Language in Contemporary Worship Music. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 40(2), 5-22. https://dx.doi.org/10.2979/jfs.00018.
D.L. Lee is the author of SISTERLY LOVE, a novel about two sisters who grow apart.
Who needs the example of love more?
A man.
🤔