Article June 18, 1984 Issue

Male and female, unembattled

THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

In combating the crime of rape, the way we see each other can be a major factor. Stereotyped views of womanhood and manhood contribute to incidents of rape and to the way a community deals with the crime.

In these stereotypes manhood is defined by aggressiveness and womanhood by vulnerability. And the two are seen to be mutual victimizers. Unchallenged, these stereotypes would form the scripts, not just for some television drama, but for the streets in our hometown. How do we challenge these destructive views and their effects? We allow God, Spirit, to define for us the true nature of manhood and womanhood.

This defining isn't something that occurred at some point in mortal prehistory, nor is it the result of some interminable social process continuing to set male against female. This defining is actually the appearing to human thought of God's own nature.

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