Christianity’s Complicity in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: A look at a covert patriarchal system

Proceedings of The 3rd International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality

Year: 2023

DOI:

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Christianity’s Complicity in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: A look at a covert patriarchal system

Brittney Monique Walker

ABSTRACT: 

A stark contradiction exists in “Black Church” where sinners are saved from the filth of their evil doings, but the victims are silenced and encouraged to forgive. This mixed methodological research paper is a query into the ways in which patriarchy directly influences and supports sex-based violence in the Black American church. The colonial project and its institution of patriarchy is a violent movement determined to restrict and regulate the bodies of non-white, non-heteronormal people. Through Christianity and its perpetuation of gender roles and hierarchies, it is my hypothesis that the Christian church reinscribes and justifies sexual and gender-based violence. This paper is particularly interested in the ways this manifests within the Black American Christian community, as a large percentage of Black Americans identify as Christian. A Pew Research survey found that 74% of Black Americans believe in the God of the Bible and 80% of those surveyed said religion is important to them. However, Millennials and Gen Zers, among them, are less likely to believe in the God of the Bible (64% & 66% respectively) and less likely to be religious than previous generations (46% & 41% respectively).

keywords: Black Studies, Religion, Abuse, Patriarchy, Colonization