It's 5 pm on Monday, Jan 7, and I just realized that the name of our blog has the word MEN in it. That's right, scroll up to the top, and you'll see "The HerMENeutic of Suspicion."
Problem.
Granted, our title also has the word HER, which is most fortunate, and also, HER comes before MEN, as it should. But still the question remains: why is MEN there at all?
Feminique, Pat, we should really call a council between the three of us (we are pope, after all) and decide what to do about this. Readers: we owe you an explanation.
Contrary to popular belief, the phrase "herm*neutic of suspicion" was not coined by Feminique. People assume that because she's the intellectual and the educator here, that she has developed all of our sophisticated terminology. While that is true for the most part, the phrase "H.o.S." was actually made up long ago to apply to any number of movements. (Sometimes, even Traditionalist Catholics are said to adopt a hermeneutic of suspicion toward so-called "HERetical" developments by those more liberally-minded individuals!! Aack! Wish we'd known that before naming this blog too.) It has been especially adopted, however, by the feminist movement, thanks to the great Miriam Therese Winter, who writes:
Women are particularly encouraged to critique the [biblical] narratives in light of their own experience, applying ... a hermeneutics of suspicion, questioning the facts in light of feelings, filling in the missing pieces by imaginatively recreating herstory from a woman's point of view. (Preface from WomanWord: A Feminist Lectionary and Psalter, NY: Crossroad Publishing Co., 1990)
You said it, Miriam!! This, anyway, is the basis for our blog's title. Unfortunately we missed those three sexist letters weeks ago. Fear not, though -- it is only a mistake. We do not want any of you to think that this compromises our mission for equality, or worse yet, to think that we at H.o.S. are at all insincere about our real opinions.
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5 comments:
The word "herm*neutic," might I also point out, dear sisters, is a word quite clearly derived from Greek, a language almost as patriarchal and sexist as Latin.
Good points, both of you! Pat, Darlene - let's do lunch next week! (I have this vegan/fair-trade/organic WomanRestaurant I've been meaning to check out!)
Of course, you could see this as a blow for women's superiority over the male: "her men" implies ownership and subjugation... as opposed to "his women"...
...just a thought!
Mac McLernon: Wow, good work! We may not have to change names after all. That'd be nice, as we wouldn't have to confuse the (approximately) thousands of readers who frequent this blog each day.
Thanks for your inpu--whoa there, wait a minute, is that a man-tilla you're wearing in your profile photo? (*sigh*) Oh great, you're one of THEM.
Where is the equality in agreeing with ownership of men by women?
i've found that separating myself from age-old customs that subjugate me actually means proving myself as an independent capable woman. delving so maniacally over whether words contain the letter combination of 'm-e-n' or 'm-a-n' is useless, for women everwhere.
i hope that expressing yourself through this blog allows you take a step back and realize what you are writing about; a bitter and impractical lifestyle.
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