Oftentimes, individuals who experience oppression question the reality of their oppression. When that individual is denied an opportunity to confront the source of oppression, that individual directs anger inwardly, thus internalizing the external manifestations of oppression. Internalized sexism is a specific expression of internalized oppression. Steve Bearman and Marielle Amrhein note that sexism is built into every community’s cultural norms and practices, moral codes and it’s laws. Sexism is especially prominent in the social milieus of the biblical texts. From Genesis to Revelation, women are marginalized, oppressed and often killed on the basis of sexual difference. Sexism manifests in many biblical laws, by the ownership of girls and women by men, through limited reproduction rights (which are controlled by the deity in biblical narratives), and through legitimized sexual violence, especially by the patriarchs and the deity.
Bearman and Amrhein also emphasize that the things we experience on a daily basis come to influence what we believe, …show more content…
The narrator reveals, “Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.” Immediately, Sarai’s barrenness becomes central, as the lived reality of her barrenness is what grounds the intersectionalities of Sarai, Abram, and Hagar’s lives. When Hagar is introduced in Genesis 16, we learn that she too is without a child; however, Sarai commands Abram to “go into” Hagar, her slave girl so that she may have children through her. Important to note, Sarai reveals that the Lord is responsible for her barrenness as she states, “ You see the Lord has prevented me from bearing children…” 16:2a. A distinction should be made that Sarai is barren yet Hagar is childless. No outside “male” force such as the deity prevents Hagar from having children, whereas Sarai is childless and infertile at the hands of the deity, the first manifestation of Sarai’s sexist
Bearman and Amrhein also emphasize that the things we experience on a daily basis come to influence what we believe, …show more content…
The narrator reveals, “Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.” Immediately, Sarai’s barrenness becomes central, as the lived reality of her barrenness is what grounds the intersectionalities of Sarai, Abram, and Hagar’s lives. When Hagar is introduced in Genesis 16, we learn that she too is without a child; however, Sarai commands Abram to “go into” Hagar, her slave girl so that she may have children through her. Important to note, Sarai reveals that the Lord is responsible for her barrenness as she states, “ You see the Lord has prevented me from bearing children…” 16:2a. A distinction should be made that Sarai is barren yet Hagar is childless. No outside “male” force such as the deity prevents Hagar from having children, whereas Sarai is childless and infertile at the hands of the deity, the first manifestation of Sarai’s sexist