It’s decision time, pigeons, and this furious pussycat needs your input.
I have a pussy hat, courtesy of my Music Director who knitted it and gave it right to me as soon as she saw my eyes light up with glee at the sight of it. She said she made it with the intention of giving it away, so that was that. Yay!!
I will march on Saturday in Boston with other furious women and our allies — disgusted by Trump/Pence and their casual misogyny and vile, medieval obsession with controlling our bodies. May obstruction foil their every hateful effort. So may it be, God help us.
I will be wearing clericals because I want to identify as a religious leader.
I don’t think PeaceBang would approve at all of my wearing the pussy hat with the clericals, but I am undecided.
I understand that the hat lacks gravitas. It is not at all appropriate for a liturgical setting, obvs.
And yet, my experience as a woman is not separate from my experience as a minister. In fact, the most serious and enraging violation of my body (after a lifetime of manageable violations: having to fight horny guys off on dates, being catcalled on the street, having a breast grabbed in a crowd, being stalked while touring Amsterdam on my own, being expected to sleep with the hotel manager in Brussels who let himself into my room with his key and thought that was romantic or sexy rather than terrifying, being called a pig and worse by guys who just moments previously were trying to flirt with me, being referred to as a bitch more times than I would bother to try to count, being harassed by a deranged cyber stalker who can’t stop obsessing about my making a joke about sodomy on a blog over a decade ago [who also comments constantly on my body], being told that I’m too stridently feminist for requesting that the church furnish a FAX machine for my home office [there was no church office!], being asked at a candidating weekend if I’m pregnant because I declined a glass of wine, being messaged by a male youth in my denomination asking if I got laid that weekend…. SHALL I GO ON?) was committed by a wolf in sheep’s clothing who groomed me for assault precisely by manipulating my pastoral empathy.
I march as a woman and for women and as a woman in ministry. If women have decided to fly a middle finger to Trump and his congressional cronies by means of a cute pointy-eared pink hat, I want to be visually counted among them. You may grab us but you can’t touch us.
But do I wear the clericals AND the hat?
What do you think? What are you doing? And what signs are you carrying?
Under consideration:
For God’s sake, RESPECT WOMEN.
For Christ’s sake, TRY RESPECTING WOMEN.
YOU MAY GRAB US BUT YOU CAN’T TOUCH US.
LISTEN TO WOMEN
WEAR IT. And the clericals. Christian women NEED you to.
Both! I think you are right that Peacebang wouldn’t approve but this an exception that proves the rule sort of thing. Peacebang is wrong. I think not doing it is like saying I cant be a protesting woman and a woman in clericals. You can!
[PeaceBang is wrong AND right! LOL! – PB]
Why in heaven’s name not?
do it! for all the above reasons. I think, you may regret wearing but I suspect you are more likely to regret not wearing it when having been presented with the opportunity. I think of the whole scope of history… and what it will signify in future… have a great safe proud courageous march.
My opinion: wear the hat and clericals, and take the first sign.
To quote your post of 16 January 2017:
“I’ve been talking about this a lot but it’s urgent: we as clergy, especially those of us who preach and pray in public, need to find an appropriate tone for where we are right now.
Business as usual will not suffice.”
If ever there was a time to wear both, this is it.
[Oh, I love it when you quote me. 😉 – PB]
I’m sorry I didn’t read this earlier. I had this conversation with myself and decided to only wear my collar and not the hat. My thought was the collar would be enough of a shock to many people. I didn’t want to cute it up with the hat. This side of the Walk, I’m happy with my decision. You?
Very late to the conversation, but I also had a debate with myself and decided to go with the hat and leave the collar at home. I’ve been ordained for less than a year and relocated to a rural area where I’m the minister to 3 aging congregations. I decided not to wear my collar because I was going on a bus organized by the local women’s center, and I wanted to be part of the group and maybe even make some friends during our 4-hour drive. The collar is definitely a barrier to small-talk with people similar to my age.