Recently a good christian was upset with us. It happens.
We warn people in advance that our game is not for everyone. If they talk to us directly we try to have a civil conversation, which sometimes goes well. On this occasion, the good christian posted his rage about us online which, surprisingly, does not happen often.
(Point of fact: we are constantly DUMBFOUNDED at the level of positive response—especially from clergy—and the lack of death threats from those who think we are going to Hell, and are eager to provide a handbag and a means to convey us to our apparent stygian underlord.)
In general when armchair shittalkers, twitter thugs, and message board trolls attack us, we ignore it. But this one was special. Sometime during May of 2016 "Mr E" said our game was filled with “excessive misogyny.”
This gave us pause.
Misogyny means to mistrust, have contempt for, dislike, and/or have prejudice against women: to seek to hold women down, back, or under men. We wondered, what was excessively misogynistic about our cards?
We found multiple things utterly fascinating about Mr E's comment.
First was the stunning lack of follow through. The writer provided no examples, no proof texting, no further explanation for how our game is anti-woman. Another interesting gem is the adjective used: “excessive.” As if in the writer’s mind a certain level of misogyny is acceptable, even expected, but our crime was going too far.
Further head-scratching and chuckles followed because this comment was read by us shortly after a female pastor wrote a Guest Card Talk for us about Paul’s conflicting view of, and instructions for women in the first century church, and we were in discussion with two other female clergy members, and one female blogger, to also write for us. Those conversations were directly related to how the game highlights the Bible's complex history with women. So we made a game that hates women, but partner with female leaders to write about the game? That makes sense. All of this brings us to the real reason we are writing this post:
On the issue of gender in the Bible, our game does the same thing it does with all topics: it tackles and wrestles with the uncomfortable.
All of our cards portray scenes from the biblical landscape. So we have to ask: are we against women (because that would be very surprising to the co-creator who is a very vocal, card carrying feminist), or is the Bible against women? We don’t think either is the case, but that is why the conversation should be -- has to be -- had.
We wondered what Mr E found so offensive in our cards that he doesn’t see in the Bible? Or is this another example of someone who doesn’t read their Bible all that closely being perplexed and apoplectic that his prosaic, peaceful, Protestant, apple-cart has been upset?
When asked for a fuller explanation, beyond barely literate invective, we received this:
“I don't need to go on the record for that comment. It seems accurate from what I remember. I'm certain my experience has something to do with the group I played it with, but there were far too many misogynistic cards being chosen. Yes, the Bible is misogynistic, but it also has a lot of other material that I didn't see represented in our particular game. Also, it led to a very annoying case of Bible one-upsmanship where people would humble-brag about knowing the verse being referenced. “
There were SOOOOOOO many things we could respond to in this (like the primary problem he seemed to face is having a bunch of shitty, twenty-something, male friends), but we'll stick with the topic at hand.
The number of biblically controversial topics our game covers is on the side of the box, and spoken of at length all over this website. When we run the numbers, the misogyny in the Bible does not crack the top 20% of card content in the game, which on further reflection, might be a shame because it is a conversation worth having.
We included the cards we did (and will make more) because we wonder, we worry, that people like "Mr E" have never really spent time looking at the events behind our cards (to say nothing of our Card Talks).
We question how much time he’s spent pondering why a concubine was cut into pieces (while still alive), and had her severed remains sent around the country, or why a woman was forced to throw her son’s foreskin at her husband’s penis in fear of God. We wonder if he has thought about the fear of a woman whose fidelity is being called into question, even though there are not two witnesses to condemn her, or the shame of a woman having to use sex to simply survive in a patriarchy. We wonder if he knows what it is like for generations of people to blame you for your husband’s infertility, or more simply, what it is like to be thought of as a potential sexual slave.
Probably not.
It’s more than a game for us. We present those ugly pictures. We ask those tough questions. They are all in the Bible and we talk about them. He's welcome to join the conversation.
So, if he (or anyone) really wants to take about our cards or the Bible being misogynistic, we recommend they begin by reading Benita Weems, Alicia Suskin Ostriker, Judy Klintsner, Phyllis Trible, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, and Sallie McFague like we have, and then we’ll talk.
Perhaps this is all just another example of misplaced good christian outrage.
Or perhaps this is another example of good christian hypocritical bullshit.
But what do we know: we made this game and. . . wait. No. We know exactly what we’re talking about on this one. He can go to Hell.
