Analysis of Religious Patriarchal Value and Gender Issues

Question One

Adam, created first and Eve out of his rib, reinforces the patriarchal authority over
women. Because the story of Adam and Eve connotates the biblical perspective of creation, the
concepts of religion and spirituality discussed by Susan Maxine Shaw and Janet Lee encapsulate
the value balance between men and women (Shaw and Lee 47). In other words, beliefs and
practices of religion, such as submission among women and love, are tenets that modify the
dominance of males over females. When Eve was created from the body of Adam, the Bible
teaches that she was to be a helper of man. The construction of gender roles is a societal
paradigm that similarly bends towards the conceptualization of men and women in religious
teachings (Shaw and Lee 10). The concept of help autonomously puts the men in the forefront of
every aspect as leadership, identity, and spirituality. Therefore, aspects that determine what men
and women can do or be in society are borrowed from religious teaching that innately supports
patriarchal values.
Moreover, the construction of gender roles, among other aspects that divide men and
women, is based on societal interpretations of words and values. The phrase "God's image"
contextualizes men, as used in many religious interpretations, socially as masculine compared to
women (Shaw and Lee 22). However, the phrase does not mention making women in God’s
image as it refers to man. Therefore, the distinction is understood by many feminists and religion

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enthusiasts based on how religion, faith, and spirituality work for them (Shaw and Lee 46). The
contention that God's image upholds patriarchal values is a societal interpretation. As a result,
whether one aspires to argue that religion and spirituality uplift or depress, either gender is
subject to their experiences and understanding of gender manifestations. In summary, the
creation of Adam by God and Eve from the ribs of Adam ostensibly provides leeway to support
the heightened view of males over females.

Question Two

Mary Gaitskill portrays a father-daughter relationship typical to contemporary American
society. Kitty grew from a beautiful, happy, and playful child into a sour, skinny, short-tempered
teenager. Everybody picked on her at school, and her father saw her drift slowly into strangeness.
She retreated from everyone, and it was .difficult to interpret the problem. As a loving dad, the
idea that her daughter turned into a lesbian a few years after high school broke him. They grew
apart, and their relationship was not the typical girl-father relationship. they were distant. He
wondered what Kitty published with the magazine for which she worked. Whether she was
telling the world all the bad things about him annoyed and gave him impatience. The story
describes a love-anger and reconciliation story between the daughter and father that is only
revealed through the story published in the magazine. Naturally, the book finds conceptual
connotation with families with similar problems because of the relationship between Kitty and
her father.
Personal Reaction
The story correlates with the realities of families. As most parts of the story are told from
the third-person perspective, a reader can understand the themes the story exhibits. It uses an
omniscient narrator to relate events and descriptions of provided themes and contexts. For

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instance, the narrator says, "There were only two other cars in the parking lot, and a big, slow,
frowning woman with two grocery bags was getting ready to drive one away" (Gaitskill 8). The
excerpt has the reader drawing the image of the woman and the setting where the scene occurs.
The vividness enhances the memory of the readers of the themes of the text. Moreover, the story
depicts the issues of gender that come as a result of raising a daughter by male parents. The
difficulties that come from it necessitate behaviors Kitty exhibited when she ran away from
home and was taken to rehab (Gaitskill 5). Moreover, aspects of race and class also play out in
the story by describing the small town where the story is set. Because of its size, nothing
extraordinary about it, and neither are the characters in the story illustrative of racial biases.

Question from Chapter 6

If heterosexuality supports the strength of women as described in the chapter, what is the role of
religion and spirituality in the modern society that support different sexual orientations?