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Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and...
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Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and Religion

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 32103

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Kathleen McPhillips

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Humanities, Creative Industries and Social Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Interests: religion; gender; feminism; politics; institutional abuse

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

My name is Dr Kathleen McPhillips. I am a sociologist of religion and gender at the University of Newcastle, Australia. I conduct research in the areas of women, religion and politics and gender-based violence. I invite you to submit a proposal for this Special Issue.

The aim of the special issue is to explore a number of central problematics in the field of gender, sexuality and religion. The focus will be on the tensions between the rights of religions to freedom of speech and worship and the need for gender equality and safety and protection against family and gender based- violence. Currently this is an unsettled space, with religious traditions making claims for specific inclusions in human rights laws in many countries to protect religious values and independence. Problematically, these values are often based on patriarchal claims and discriminate against women and LGBTQI+ populations. This raises the issue of the relationship between religion and state and particularly the responsibilities of the modern liberal state in ensuring the equity and safety of all citizens and protecting the rights of minority groups.

The essays in this volume will focus on current accounts of laws covering religious freedom in relation to gender discrimination, as well as reporting on research into the specific conditions of discrimination against women and minority groups in religious traditions, including responses to gender-based violence. The conundrum of protecting rights and ensuring freedom, so central to democracies, while addressing the entrapment many women experience in patriarchal religious traditions will be the central focus of this issue.

This Special Issue aims to address these topics via a number of avenues, including:  legal reforms that claim to protect religious freedoms yet discriminate on the basis of gender; responses to these legal reforms by religious groups with particular reference to whose rights and claims are being addressed; the impacts of legal reforms on women and LGBTQI+ groups; research documenting gender-based violence in religious groups; the response by religious groups to accounts of gender-based violence; theologies that facilitate gender-based violence; state responses to institutional religion-based sexual abuse.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: gender and religion; feminist theory; feminist theology; religion and politics; religion and social theory.

I/We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Kathleen McPhillips
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • religious freedom
  • equality and gender justice
  • gender-based violence
  • marriage equality
  • religious traditions
  • patriarchy and religion

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 487 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Marriage Norms and Gender on Anglican Clergy Actions in Response to Domestic Violence
by Miriam Pepper, Ruth Powell and Tracy McEwan
Religions 2023, 14(6), 730; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14060730 - 31 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3637
Abstract
Domestic violence (DV) is a gendered issue, with women more likely to be victim/survivors and men more likely to perpetrate abuse. With a strong emphasis on protecting the safety of women and children, the ways in which faith-based communities and leaders engage DV [...] Read more.
Domestic violence (DV) is a gendered issue, with women more likely to be victim/survivors and men more likely to perpetrate abuse. With a strong emphasis on protecting the safety of women and children, the ways in which faith-based communities and leaders engage DV has come under scrutiny. Clergy are potential responders to DV and shape cultural contexts in which DV occurs. Yet, how religious norms relate to actions taken when clergy respond to DV remains under-researched. Using a survey of Australian Anglican clergy, this paper explores how views about “headship” and the sanctity of marriage relate to the uptake of actions by clergy and churches. Increased support for headship predicted a lower take-up of victim/survivor safety-focused actions by clergy and a lower frequency of actions by churches focused on DV organizations. Male clergy were more likely than their female counterparts to engage with perpetrators and to counsel couples. No independent associations were observed between actions and heightened support for the sanctity of marriage. While the strength of relationships between DV actions and both norms and gender was generally weak, these findings indicate that more work is needed to heighten awareness of the importance of actions focused on victim/survivor safety, connections with DV support services, the problematic practice of couples counselling, and challenges around directly pastoring perpetrators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and Religion)
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16 pages, 304 KiB  
Article
Three Discourses of Religious Freedom: How and Why Political Talk about Religious Freedom in Australia has Changed
by Elenie Poulos
Religions 2023, 14(5), 669; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050669 - 17 May 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4012
Abstract
Since 2015, religious freedom has become a heated and divisive political and public policy issue in Australia. While rarely defined or interrogated, ‘religious freedom’ does not exist as a value-neutral principle with a single meaning. Rather, its discursive constructions are varied and serve [...] Read more.
Since 2015, religious freedom has become a heated and divisive political and public policy issue in Australia. While rarely defined or interrogated, ‘religious freedom’ does not exist as a value-neutral principle with a single meaning. Rather, its discursive constructions are varied and serve to promote certain interests at the expense of others. Offering a new perspective on the politics of religious freedom, this paper draws together four separate studies of the public discourse of religious freedom in Australia (spanning 35 years from 1984 to 2019) to chart how its framing has changed over time and to explore the implications of these changes. This analysis reveals three major discourses of religious freedom emerging over three phases: ‘religious diversity’; ‘balancing rights’; and ‘freedom of belief’. This paper demonstrates how, once used to promote a progressive social agenda, religious freedom has become weaponised by the Christian Right and culture warriors in their battle to entrench in law the ongoing acceptability of discrimination against LGBTIQ+ people. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and Religion)
23 pages, 470 KiB  
Article
The Sexual Economies of Clericalism: Women Religious and Gendered Violence in the Catholic Church
by Kathleen McPhillips and Tracy McEwan
Religions 2022, 13(10), 916; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100916 - 30 Sep 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6694
Abstract
As the sexual abuse crisis continues to plague the Catholic Church across the world, the focus on men as both perpetrators of sexual violence, and victims of child sexual abuse has been at the forefront of media and academic analysis. However, evidence from [...] Read more.
As the sexual abuse crisis continues to plague the Catholic Church across the world, the focus on men as both perpetrators of sexual violence, and victims of child sexual abuse has been at the forefront of media and academic analysis. However, evidence from public inquiries, criminal investigations, academic research and survivor testaments identifies women religious as both perpetrators of sexual and physical violence against children and victims of clerical sexual violence. This indicates that women religious, colloquially known as nuns, belong to a very unsettled landscape in religious gender politics in that they have been both victims of male clerical abuse and perpetrators of child abuse. This article considers these two contested realities by examining and analysing the evidence from research studies and public inquiries. We found that nuns were not only perpetrators of physical and sexual violence against children, but they were also engaged in herding children into the pathways of organised clerical paedophiles, particularly in children’s homes and orphanages where children were considered sexual commodities. Simultaneously, the sexual abuse of nuns has recently become a major concern for religious communities and the wider Church. We argue that by bringing these two realities together through a new discourse—the sexual economies of clericalism—new understandings of the agency of nuns can be explored in a wider theoretical and methodological framework. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and Religion)
18 pages, 702 KiB  
Article
“Casting Our Sins Away”: A Comparative Analysis of Queer Jewish Communities in Israel and in the US
by Elazar Ben-Lulu
Religions 2022, 13(9), 845; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13090845 - 13 Sep 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2935
Abstract
Every year, diverse Jewish communities around the world observe Tashlich (casting off), a customary atonement ritual performed the day after Rosh Hashanah. This performative ritual is conducted next to a body of water to symbolize atonement and purification of one’s sins. Based on [...] Read more.
Every year, diverse Jewish communities around the world observe Tashlich (casting off), a customary atonement ritual performed the day after Rosh Hashanah. This performative ritual is conducted next to a body of water to symbolize atonement and purification of one’s sins. Based on multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork in two egalitarian Jewish congregations in Tel Aviv and in New York City, I show how Tashlich performance is constructed as a political act to empower gender and sexual identities and experiences, as well as the socio-political positionality of LGBTQ Jews in various sites. By including new blessings, the blowing of the shofar by gay female participants, and by conducting the ritual in historical and contemporary queer urban spaces, the rabbis and congregants created new interpretations of the traditional customs. They exposed their feelings toward themselves, their community, and its visibility and presence in the city. The fact that the ritual is conducted in an open urban public space creates not only differing meanings and perceptions than from the synagogue, but also exposes queer politics in the context of national and religious identities. Furthermore, this comparative analysis illuminates tensions and trajectories of Jewishness and queerness in Israel and in the US, and sheds light on postmodern tendencies in contemporary urban religious communities as a result of the inclusion of the LGBTQ community. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and Religion)
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13 pages, 267 KiB  
Article
‘The Whole Concept of Social Cohesion, I Thought, “This Is So Qur’anic”’: Why Australian Muslim Women Work to Counter Islamophobia
by Susan Carland
Religions 2022, 13(7), 670; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13070670 - 21 Jul 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2780
Abstract
Islamophobia is on the rise in many Western countries, and while previous research has considered the causes of Islamophobia and the impact it has on its victims, little research has investigated the attitudes and experiences of Muslims who are working to counter Islamophobia, [...] Read more.
Islamophobia is on the rise in many Western countries, and while previous research has considered the causes of Islamophobia and the impact it has on its victims, little research has investigated the attitudes and experiences of Muslims who are working to counter Islamophobia, and particularly those of Muslim women. This research investigates the motivations and intentions of Australian Muslim women who run public engagement events for non-Muslims to counter Islamophobia and build social cohesion. Data were obtained via in-depth interviews with 31 Sunni, Shia, Ahmadiyya Muslim women in four Australian capital cities. The three main themes that emerged were that the women wanted to connect with the non-Muslims who attended the events, create positive social change, and increase the knowledge that non-Muslims had about Islam and Muslims. Significantly, the women said that their most important motivator was their faith, and they rejected the idea that they were doing such work to appease non-Muslims. Instead, they saw work was an affirmation of their identity as Muslim women and their commitment to God. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and Religion)
20 pages, 326 KiB  
Article
Domestic and Family Violence: Responses and Approaches across the Australian Churches
by Miriam Pepper and Ruth Powell
Religions 2022, 13(3), 270; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13030270 - 21 Mar 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 6736
Abstract
Domestic and family violence (DFV) is a serious and widespread problem in Australia and across the world, including in faith communities. There are calls for research to assist churches to better recognize, respond to and prevent violence. This study draws on data from [...] Read more.
Domestic and family violence (DFV) is a serious and widespread problem in Australia and across the world, including in faith communities. There are calls for research to assist churches to better recognize, respond to and prevent violence. This study draws on data from the 2016 Australian National Church Life Survey (n = 883 senior local church leaders, n = 1270 churchgoers) to provide the first Australia-wide cross-denominational statistics on Christian clergy responses to DFV. Two-thirds of leaders had previously dealt with DFV situations in their ministry, primarily responding to victims of abuse by referring them to specialist support services and by counselling them. The findings suggest a particular depth of experience with DFV situations and strength of awareness of the needs of victims for safety and specialist support among Salvationist leaders. While, overall, a substantial majority of churchgoers felt that they could approach their church for help if they were experiencing DFV, just half of Catholics felt that they could do so. Future research should explore responses to DFV in specific denominations and culturally and linguistic diverse contexts in more detail and seek to understand the practices used by the large minority of clergy who are dealing with perpetrators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and Religion)

Other

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11 pages, 1192 KiB  
Brief Report
Attributions of LGBTQ+ Identity and Religious Views on Homosexuality to Disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism
by Gennady Vulakh, Rona Miles, Alla Chavarga, Estee Hirsch and Pesach Eisen
Religions 2023, 14(3), 381; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14030381 - 13 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3486
Abstract
Religious disaffiliation has been found to occur at higher rates in LGBTQ+ individuals than in heterosexual individuals and in the general population. In this brief report, we explore whether LGBTQ+ people who disaffiliated from Orthodox Judaism attributed sexual identity and/or Orthodox Judaism’s lack [...] Read more.
Religious disaffiliation has been found to occur at higher rates in LGBTQ+ individuals than in heterosexual individuals and in the general population. In this brief report, we explore whether LGBTQ+ people who disaffiliated from Orthodox Judaism attributed sexual identity and/or Orthodox Judaism’s lack of acceptance of homosexuality to their disaffiliation. This analysis focuses on 117 individuals who identified as LGBTQ+ who were drawn from a larger study that included 387 participants across all sexual orientations who disaffiliated from Orthodox Judaism. Unexpectedly, only 18 of the respondents reported that their sexual identity and/or religious views on homosexuality were causes for their disaffiliation. A lack of education and language around LGBTQ+ concepts in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities may have contributed to this finding. We suggest that additional research be conducted to explore the complex relationship between LGBTQ+ identity and disaffiliation from Orthodox Judaism. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Freedom and Entrapment: Intersections and Collisions in Gender, Sexuality and Religion)
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