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Complementarianism or Egalitarianism?

Complementarianism or Egalitarianism?

  • Male - Complementarianism

  • Female - Complementarianism

  • Male - Egalitarianism

  • Female - Egalitarianism

  • Male - Undecided

  • Female - Undecided


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RobertMerton

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Complementarianism or Egalitarianism?

Which do you prescribe to more?

In this sense I am not talking about female leadership in the church, but rather the nature of the relationship between a Man and a Woman in a family.

This is not a discussion or a debate on the issue, I am just curious as to the approximate makeup of each 'camp, and the proportions of gender.

If you're unfamiliar with the concepts, then feel free to research to come up with your own conclusions.

Poll coming.
 

Niels

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Complimegalinatarianism?

If we're on a similar enough wavelength to sustain a healthy relationship, then it shouldn't matter. This isn't to say that we'll never disagree, but strict adherence to either option, especially when taken to such an extreme that one excludes the other, strikes me as problematic.
 
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Owlette

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I think I'd lean a little towards the Complementarianism side of the spectrum, but it's not likely that the husband would be the sole provider of the family, we live in a two income society. I would want to stay home and raise my kids, but how many families can afford to do that on one income? I'm not sure I'd be quick to give up my job either, I worked hard to get where I'm at. But this is something I'd talk over with my husband/boyfriend.

I do feel like the husband should be the leader in the family. It's kind of how I was raised. It's not to say that husbands and wives aren't "equal" though. I agree with Miles, I wouldn't choose either extreme, there should be a balance between the two.
 
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Rhamiel

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I lean towards complementarianism
but I also believe that MUCH of what we think of as "traditional gender roles" were made up between the Victorian era and the 1950's
I think human sexuality and gender is a lot more fluid then what most people believe, but I do not think it is totally fluid
 
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Cearbhall

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I lean towards complementarianism
but I also believe that MUCH of what we think of as "traditional gender roles" were made up between the Victorian era and the 1950's
Same. I would say complementarianism, but in an individualistic sense, not a traditional or Christian sense where this means certain things for males and females. I don't view complementarianism and egalitarianism as being mutually exclusive. People should play to their strengths in a relationship rather than commit to playing to the strengths that society tells them they have.
 
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Rhamiel

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Same. I would say complementarianism, but in an individualistic sense, not a traditional or Christian sense where this means certain things for males and females. I don't view complementarianism and egalitarianism as being mutually exclusive. People should play to their strengths in a relationship rather than commit to playing to the strengths that society tells them they have.

:)
 
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Hidden101

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Compliment. Society today is a two income society, thanks to feminism. Why thanks to feminism? Feminism did bring education to more females and allowed females to pursue the vast majority of careers, that is good. However, it chickened out in regards to maintaning the sole income family. Thus, we all have to work twice as hard to earn one "working man's wage".
 
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Zach91

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Compliment. Society today is a two income society, thanks to feminism. Why thanks to feminism? Feminism did bring education to more females and allowed females to pursue the vast majority of careers, that is good. However, it chickened out in regards to maintaning the sole income family. Thus, we all have to work twice as hard to earn one "working man's wage".

chivalry-sexism-comic.jpg
 
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Cearbhall

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I've seen that before. It's hilarious because the point is that the company thinks so little of men that they believe stroking their egos will make them want to support the company, even though the message has nothing to do with overpriced ties. ^_^

I guess their ties were so ugly that they got desperate.
 
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Zach91

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I've seen that before. It's hilarious because the point is that the company thinks so little of men that they believe stroking their egos will make them want to support the company, even though the message has nothing to do with overpriced ties. ^_^

I guess their ties were so ugly that they got desperate.

Wait, you're telling me that wearing tacky ties, won't make June Cleaver serve me breakfast in bed and tend to my every whim?!

My dreams have been shattered!

:nooo:
 
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KingCrimson250

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Same. I would say complementarianism, but in an individualistic sense, not a traditional or Christian sense where this means certain things for males and females. I don't view complementarianism and egalitarianism as being mutually exclusive. People should play to their strengths in a relationship rather than commit to playing to the strengths that society tells them they have.

It's worth noting that what you describe is egalitarianism, which suggests that while men and women can have complementary roles, these are not hard-wired by gender. Complementarianism suggests that these roles are a part of what God/nature intended the genders to be, and as a result are not individualistic but rather descriptive of the gender as a whole.

In my mind, I divide complementarianism into two categories: Soft complementarianism and hard complementarianism (privately I confess to thinking of them as Biblical complementarianism and unBiblical complementarianism, respectively).


I personally define soft comp as someone who believes that the man is the head of the household and that women cannot be pastors. While I disagree with this position, I understand it and I see where in the Scriptures they got the idea from. A hard comp, on the other hand, is someone who takes it a step further. These are people whose definitions of gender roles find only very tenuous support in Scripture - or, more likely, none at all. A hard comp might believe something like "Married women should not work" or at least "Married women should make less money than their husbands," "Men have to do the pursuing in a relationship," "Christians should not support female political leaders," "Men were created to provide and protect and women were created to care and nurture," "A stay-at-home dad is a violation of the God-given order of things," etc. Hard comps may believe in few, many or all of the above sentiments, and similar, but what makes them hard comps is that they hold to gender roles which are never directly stated within Scripture and which have very little (again, if any at all) indirect support. Instead, most of them are cultural views of gender roles which have been assimilated into the fundamentalist machine and maintained as though they were God-breathed.


It's worth noting that there's nothing wrong with believing in these things on an individual level. There is, however, a mountain of difference between the statement "As far as I'm concerned, the man should do the pursuing and wouldn't feel right if the woman took the lead" - which is fine - and the statement "It is universally wrong for the woman to take the lead. Any situation in which that happens is negative" - which is not. One states male initiative as a personal preference, the other states it (quite untenably, I might add) as a universal truth.


If you haven't guessed yet, I'm an egalitarian, and believe it or not, I arrived at that position through my reading of Scripture (there is a curious arrogance among some complementarians in which they assume that their interpretation is the only possible reading of the text, and that anyone who disagrees with them is just someone who has yet to submit to the truth of God's Word). I used to be a complementarian, actually, but study of Scripture combined with the inconsistent and arbitrary nature of complementarian theology led to me leaving that camp.
 
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Cearbhall

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It's worth noting that what you describe is egalitarianism, which suggests that while men and women can have complementary roles, these are not hard-wired by gender.
True. I definitely side with egalitarianism when it comes to the division of power. When speaking about the division of labor, however, I feel that egalitarianism indicates splitting the responsibility for each task, and I don't think this is necessary if the couple finds harmony in a different arrangement. That's why I feel the need to acknowledge complementarianism, even though it's not what people usually think of when they hear complementarianism.
 
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