I love to talk, I really do.  When I was about 8 I wanted to speak at the Christmas service at church.  I diligently wrote my talk.  I practiced it out-loud to myself underneath my covers before bed (I was a sad child!) ironing out mistakes, carving it with care.  I never did deliver that talk, and have never since.  I still have that burning desire to speak publicly, but I have very few places or contexts to practice.  I’m not sure a dozen drunk young people on a double-decker bus on a Saturday night would appreciate me pontificating on ‘empowerment’ or ‘activism’!  So instead I keep my talks to myself in the car as I drive to work, or in my head as a i drift off to sleep.  I wonder whether I am the only one doing this?  Maybe I am odd!  But i think the underlying principle is ‘I want to do this more but I’m not sure how’.  So why am I not sprinting off with opportunities to make my voice heard – well I don’t know how?  How do you go about doing that?  Where are the ‘routes in’ for women to be heard in different forums in life?  I know some must exist, they have to, but how can we ensure these routes are accessible? 

I find it hard to write this because it sounds like I am just shouting ‘I WANT TO SAY SOMETHING’ – which I do – but I also want to hear from others.  I want to enriched by a diversity of sounds, stories, thoughts, ideas – things I agree with, things I don’t.  I feel scared of writing this because it is exposing – I desperately want to play a part in what’s going on around me, and I do in so many ways, but I’m not content.  I want to be heard and I want to hear others.

I think one of the issues is that in the ‘Christian world’ at least, we have a set ‘formula’ for a ‘successful’ talk.  It should be smattered with jokes, funny on-liners, lots of little anecdotes which lead to a crescendo of heart-warming / heart-wrenching (depending on the topic and the event) climax.  I am being particularly facetious today (blame the strawberry laces I’m consuming!), but I wonder if you have some experience of Christian talks whether that description brought a knowing wry smile to your face?  I am not saying having a pattern is bad – heck we have a history of liturgy – but I wonder whether this is a hard formula to just pick-up as a woman.  Not because we are not capable but because we may not have had the contexts in which to practice and hone that formula.  I see some parallels with women comedians who, I think, are sometimes judged more harshly than their male counterparts.  Are women speakers critiqued more harshly than men?  It often seems to me that men are judged individually on merit, and how they sit with regards to this tried and tested pattern – “Oh such and such (insert male Christian speaker’s name) was great today” or “I didn’t enjoy him quite as a much”, where as with women I tend to hear “See women speakers are great just listen to (insert women Christian speaker’s name)” or “See that’s why women shouldn’t speak”.  I guess I am blabbing a bit now and falling very soundly into the anecdotal category – still I wonder if there is any truth to be had here?  How can we ensure there are places for women to practice speaking publicly?

I also wonder whether that formula way of speaking is great for some, in some places, but not for all.  Is there a chance that maybe having more women feeling free and confident to share their voice may bring a point of difference into the melting pot of ideas and theology?  There are so many brilliant women who are raising their voices – let’s have more!

Lastly, I think women stop themselves.  I know there are times when people are looking around saying ‘where can we find a women to talk about this?’ and there is no response.  Why is that?  I think that the image of confident woman is blighted by words like ‘bossy’, ‘up herself”, ‘arrogant’.  I am certainly aware that putting myself forward for anything is risky and again exposing.  It is so much a part of who I am, wrapped up in my own identity, the core of me, that to parade what I believe to be something I can do allows others to knock me down, and I won’t want to get back again.  I am frightened that if I say I want to speak people will say ‘what have you got to say?’, or ‘what could you actually bring?’, or ‘who are you anyway’ or worse, nothing at all.  I am my own worst enemy at times.  I want to stay just behind the starting blocks, watching others, visualising my own race – practicing my talk under the bedcovers at night.

Anecdotally it appears to me that a growing trend in Christian youth work is single-sex work.  Particularly I have noted the increase in woman who go into youthwork looking to work with young women.  The draw of days on end in Starbucks, solving issues to do with ‘self-esteem’ is massive it seems.  I am not averse to this particular way of working.  I love cafes as much as the next person and see the value in working one-to-one and in small groups looking at issues.  I am concerned however that this trend is indicative of a deficit in the training and development of those going into work with young people (especially women), rather than a deep-seated, planned, needs-led approach to informal education. 

Being involved in delivering youthwork training for a variety of people and groups I’ve noted that very often work with young people attracts those who a)are looking to work out an ongoing issue for themselves vicariously through their work with others b) are looking for a safe place to continue on being an adolescent themselves c) are looking for an excuse to delay meeting the real world.  There are obviously lots of others who are going into youth work to see young people supported to become more, and all that.  And it would be naive to think that nobody goes into working with people to fulfil something in themselves – in fact that can be appropriate if acknowledged and handled in a transparent way.  But my concern is that if those working with young women are looking to solve something in their own lives they could project their own issues onto unsuspecting others. 

It seems to be a thread in conversations I have that many Christian women feel they lack a wealth of female role-models.  Who are the apostolic leaders?  Who are the pioneers?  Who are the really good reflective practitioners?  My concern is that rather than seeing this as a provocation to be those people to succeeding generations, many women going into youth work are looking to fill the need for affirmation, security and worth through some pseudo-therapy in starbucks.  Their meetings with young women are more to do with themselves and their issues than the development of those they meet.  I guess I’m treading a thin line here!  I am not alleging this is what happens in all mentoring sessions.  I am not alleging this is what happens in any one-to-one work, but I guess it could be.  You see sometimes I think we are very quick to ‘buy into’ stuff in Christendom.  We want to be doing the ‘latest’ kind of thing.  We want that funky youth cafe, or that edgy worship event, without necessarily reflecting on the fundamental issue of ‘need’ and the appropriateness of each approach to help facilitate a meeting of that said need.  The ‘coffee shop’ thing is really valuable, but I worry that it may just become the ‘thing to do’ without a reflection on why and how?  Or worse it is something that those going into work with young people need and because they have not had that need met – the need for real relationship; the need for challenge; the need for reflective space – they are seeking to quench that with a saturation of lattes and ‘how do you feel?’ chats. 

I have to declare that all these thoughts are a challenge to me as much as a challenge to others.  I know that I am still a work-in-progress and my own motives and approach need to be reflected upon.  I guess I am just asking whether we need to be doing more as community to try to help people work through things in appropriate spaces, so as to avoid them seeking means that may be inappropriate and damaging.  A 15-year-old can not solve my deep-seated issues about my body -  only I can do that – with the support of God and others around me.  I worry that we are setting up those going into youthwork to fail.  We have been short-changed and now we are seeking to deal with that deficit through our work with vulnerable and impressionable others – treating them almost as vessels to be used to our own means.  I hope I am way off mark with this.  I hope I have just reached the sleep-deprived insanity thing.  I hope the short-changing of generations of women can begin to be addressed in our work with young women.  I hope….

It got me thinking ‘how many men have I heard referred to as ‘bossy”? Silence for a moment…..sigh….uh none!  The word ‘bossy’ is so ugly and speaks to me of ugly things.  It is also a label I only see attached to women.  A man is ‘assertive’ or ‘directive’ – positive attributes- a woman ‘bossy’.  To me the label speaks volumes of a societal idea of how women should behave.  Women should be demure, passive and unsure.  Women should be indecisive, a little ignorant and placid.  Men should be decisive and assertive.

It’s troubling when I work with young women who are practicing being grown-ups and role-playing what they think that means by doing that passive, ‘I couldn’t possibly make a decision’, ‘I just couldn’t say no to him’ thing.  Heaven forbid they make a choice, say what they think or say ‘no thanks’ to giving a boy a blow-job in the public toilets!  They don’t want to be weird – they want to fit in, and fitting in means aligning themselves to these stereotypes of what they think it means to be a woman.  Key attributes celebrated in women seem to increasingly be returning to passivity and naivety.

With Tinie Tempah spewing lyrics which include ‘I just want to have…I’m on a mission, I don’t even want to kiss her, I mean I won’t even miss ya, When I’m done with ya’ (Frisky) is it any wonder that young women are seen as objects to be used, abused and discarded.  And the voice of the woman? Silent.  And the role of the woman? Compliant.  It is so difficult to try to enable young women to make more informed life choices,to  flourish and reach potential, when the messages bombarding them are squeezing them into ill-fitting, abusive moulds.  Even the voices coming out of some of the church are, in my opinion, in this same vein of stifling stereotypes and inappropriate expectations.  Women are to fulfil some 50s housewife image in order to succeed in what it means to be a ‘biblical women’ and to honour God. 

With the seeming revival of all things princess, one who tends to be a damsel-in-distress wanting desperately to be liberated by an assertive, directive man, I hold my head in my hands (metaphorically you understand – I tried to type in this position but it proved clumsy!).  I know bossy is one word.  I know I probably think a little too hard.  I know a messy quickie in the toilets is a bit of a leap from someone being called bossy, but I can see the links – views of women, roles of women, expectations of women.  It is not until people become more at ease with women being able to be decisive, offer direction and be assertive, that we will be able to see young women practicing being grown-up in a healthy and free way.  So I’m advocating the expulsion of ‘Little Miss Bossy’  and she can take that placid pappy princess with her!.

Now I need to give some background before I launch the product which will bring about change.  When I was 18 I went to a church that was discussing these same kind of issues about gender and leadership (yes, 13 years ago – although the discussion I know is much older than this!).  I remember being in a ‘members’ meeting and voting on whether women could be ‘Deacons’.  Deacons!  Deacons!  A service role, as is all leadership of course, but one already being performed by countless women in the congregation.  The role already existed, it was just a title in my mind.  A title it seems with power – the members voted ‘No’.  It broke my heart.  I was furious – I get that a lot!  I decided that I should do something about it, so I came up with an ingenious plan – one I haven’t hatched until now.  I am preparing to market the ‘Detachable Deacon D*ck’.

Whether Egalitarian or Complementarian this is the solution for you!  Ergonomic, attractive and most of all practical – this device enables women to function in the roles perceived by some to be solely in the male domain.  Put it on, and now, fully endowed, you will be able to preach, teach and hold positions of authority.  This lightweight solution brings a potential end to that tricky dialogue around gender!  No need to engage our brains, read our bibles or even talk to anyone else.  The end of the oppression of women and at last a chance for women gifted by God to be able to step into what God has invested in them!  Perfect!

Versions in the pipe-line for other denominations include; the Papal Package, the Bashable Bishop, the Virile Vicar, the Pastor’s Piece, I am really open to further suggestions!

So there we are – resolution!  I have my order book at the ready and lots of other ideas in the pipe-line.  If dialogue is not a route to move things forward anymore we need to be a little more innovative ; )

The terms ‘working mum’, ‘stay-at-home mum’ and ’stay-at-home dad’ are commonplace, but I never hear of a ‘working dad’.  A dad, certainly, but the assumption is then that he works.  When I explain to people that I work there is often a look of pity that crosses their face; ‘Isn’t it a shame that you have to work?’  Why?  Why is it not a shame that my husband has to work?  The assumption that because I am a woman I must be hard-wired to be the ‘primary care-giver’ and because my husband is a man he is hard-wired to be the ‘breadwinner’, I believe can be crippling.  That is not who we are or who we wish to be.  Why am I made to feel that working is somehow abnormal?  Why is a working dad seen as a provider but a working mum as, at best, a focus for concern or pity, and at worst, a cold-hearted bitch who neglects her children?  Why is the sly judgemental remark aimed at me and not Nick?  Why are the children mine not ours?  Surprisingly enough we were both involved in the baby-making process!

 Nick is the most brilliant Dad.  He is much more ‘natural’ as a parent.  He is incredibly patient, tolerant and laid-back; attributes I have seen are absolutely vital in being a parent.  I would feel as if I am robbing him of the opportunity to be the best Dad he could be if he was not able to spend the time with our children as he does.  This ideal of mum at home would not only sacrifice my sanity, it would rob him of this time and deny him the chance to be that amazing Dad.  I hate that society seems to hold men in such low regard and limit them.  There is a bias towards women, it seems, when looking at childcare – maybe this is part of the reason fathers are much less likely to obtain custody of their children in divorce settlements (I know it is more complex than this, but there is perhaps a deep-seated mistrust of a man’s ability to bring up children that surrounds this issue).  As a feminist and a Christian I value equality and long to see this outworked in society to bring about justice in areas where currently there is injustice, oppression and discrimination.  I long to see men treated as capable human beings, able, gifted and suited to being parents as equally as women are.  I long to see men who choose careers related to children being treated with the respect they deserve instead of being eyed with suspicion, questioned over their sexuality (which is not relevant) , or sniggered at for not being a real man.  ‘Real men’ (a ludicrous term!) don’t feel the need to have to have to prove something to others. 

My husband and I are partners in parenting and are also people, who work- to support our family and to find the joy and challenge that work can bring.  We are collaborative and cooperative.  We are by no means perfect – we don’t always get things right – but we do both hope to support each other to bring up our children, but to also try and live out what it means to be us.  I want to celebrate working dads as well as working mums.  I want to see more fathers being able to spend time with their children rather than being tied to the cultural constraints that being a ‘real man’ can sometimes bring.  I want to see more mothers feeling able to explore their own aspirations and not feel the guilt or judgement that is sometimes associated with that.  So I am going to make a point of asking working dads how they are coping juggling being at work and looking after children, Nick is going to be the named ‘parent/teacher association’ contact person not me (not sure how the yummies will react!) and I am going to stop beating myself up because of other people’s expectations….at least I’ll try!

The playground scene made me think about an incident in the summer – the ‘yummy mummy picnic’.  I took my two children to a farm with a friend and her two children during the summer.  We both brought a picnic with us, complete with chocolate cakes (of which the girls merely ate the icing) and crisps.  We were joined on the picnic bench by two other mums each with a baby about weaning age.  Whilst our children devoured home-made sandwiches (which looked it) and smeared blackberries all over their faces, the other mums’ children sat pristinely in buggies savouring the taste of mum’s home-made salmon fishcakes (sculpted into perfect circles – restuarnt style).  The paradox was evident.  We, our children and ourselves, were met with raised eyebrows and looks of utter disbelief.  White bread!  Peanut Butter!  Crisps!  Chocolate cakes!  Dirty faces!  We were certainly not the strongest advocates for the perfect yummy mummies that day.  I felt rebellious in my normality - I hadn’t made enough effort with my farm picnic.   

The advent of ‘Yummy Mummy’ is to some, I am sure, a really liberating, endearing and complimentary way of life.  To me it is only oppressive and constrictive.  Not only am I expected to love all aspects of being a mum, I should be befixed with constant smile, done out in latest fashion, domestically capable, no –  domestically excellent, hands full of plates bulging with home-made cupcakes, serene, never flustered, intrinsically and instantly bonded with baby, home-maker, love-maker, never tired, never-failing, never begrudging.  Yummy Mummy is a label to be bashed with – as if I don’t already have enough guilt!  Yummy Mummy is a corset to keep me in – a new form of oppression.  ’Let’s get the women back to the children, back to the kitchen, back to the home by making these things appear devastatingly easy, gorgeously attractive, and instinctively natural’.  The trouble comes when this story, woven through the media and perpetuated through various avenues – mum’s groups, churches, school gates…….- does not ring true, when it fails to resonate with reality.  What happens then?  When I fail to bring a home-made cake to a child’s party?  When I put my daughter in front of the TV again because I can’t tidy the house and entertain two children?  When I am pretty much still in my pyjamas during the school run?  When I am angry that my life always takes second place to others?  I am more ‘scummy mummy’ than ‘yummy’.  And I don’t want to be shackled to that ideal.  I want to be able to enjoy family life in partnership with Nick.  I want to have time when I am not domestically tied.  I want to be able to pursue being me – trying to live in the fullness of that-as well enabling those around them to become fully them.

When someone becomes a mum for the first time I think the pressure is obscene.  There are so many messages about what you should do, how you should be and very little about just relaxing and trying to find glimmers of hope and enjoyment in those hectic, hormonal, sleep deprived, surreal first few months.  I am personally a bit past ‘post-baby celeb photos’ showing unrealistic ideals and congratulatory comments of tiny women who have ‘got their figure back straight away’.  That is great for them but signalling it as triumph is debilitating to so many others and could take their focus off trying to learn to be mum, to trying to be thin.  I am also pretty tired of this celeb ‘parent of the year’ deal.  Parenting is hard work and to start with quite scarce on reward.  Parading beautiful people, who are surely human too but we don’t get to see that bit of them, again seems crudely unhelpful.  Very cynically I am not that worried to hear about what kind of parent you can be when you have the resources to buy in a personal trainer, child-minder and dietitian! 

So what’s the harm of  the ‘yummy mummy’ message?  Isn’t it just another marketing ploy?  Isn’t it just helping people be better mum’s – more capable of feeding and looking after their family, and more dedicated to doing things well at home?  Possibly – but for many people it may be a stifling corset that hems them into a belief that unless they parent this way, unless they are perfect their children will suffer, their relationships will break down and they will be branded a failure.  For someone like me, prone to perfectionism to a potentially crippling extent, the label ‘yummy mummy’ is tantamount to the label ‘failure’.  I am choosing to ignore it lately and finding freedom in that – but my concern is that if it has effected me, it may well have had similar effects on others.  The shackles of being a women come in a variety of forms and guises, some dressed  in Zara, carrying cupcakes and accessorised with Kidston!

It seems ridiculously paradoxical that we do ‘self-esteem’ work whilst surrounded by beauty paraphernalia.  How can we spout a message of ‘self-esteem is not related to how you look’ whilst in the midst of yet another pamper session, manicure night or fashion show?  The words we speak are entirely overridden by the actions we display.  Adolescence is complex enough without introducing these paradoxes.  I know of some work with young women that even advocates and uses the teaching of ‘etiquette and deportment’ in an attempt to help young women feel better about themselves.  My blood is boiling as I type this – what century are we living in?  These techniques smack of one thing to me – ‘wifedom’ and wifedom in the spooky, scary Stepford Wives style.  Producing and reproducing young women who are rigidly robotic in their ability to sit nicely and use the correct knife and fork.  Young women who will make ‘good wives’ – as if this is the only aspiration they could possibly have.  As if, if you look right and act right you will find yourself a good man – or more likely you will be found by a good man, for you can surely only be a passive object, a damsel in distress waiting for a rescuer (who values someone who can walk with a pile of books on their head – rather than ideas in them).

The methodology we adopt in working with young people is, to me, as important as the substance.  I believe we should be fostering  environments where young women are encouraged to think for themselves, to be assertive, to make decisions and to be active rather than passive.  I believe we need to move away from strategies where we do things for and to young women – where we ‘do’ their hair, where we ‘do’ their make-up, where we ‘do’ their nails.  This type of work can only perpetuate this crippling cultural stereotype about female passivity and eventual objectification.  Women can be, and are, complicit in this passivity so much of the time in my experience.  Where are the girls who can stand up for themselves?  Where are the girls who can make a decision?  Work with young men tends to be much more active in its approach – football, outdoor sports, go-karting.  Young men are encouraged to take risks, to be assertive and decisive. 

I am conscious that I have a tendency to over-analyse things(!) but I can’t help but see a link here in the Church.  Woman as passive, as someone’s wife, as someone’s mother, as a someone to be rescued, as someone who looks right and plays her part.  Is work with young women in the Church a mechanism to shape them into the stereotypes we are most comfortable with?  Femininity in a way we feel safe with.  For if women are silent, demure, indecisive and passive, they won’t rock the boat.  They won’t ask questions about inequality, injustice and oppression.  If they’re busy doing their hair, make-up and nails they’ll have no time to lead and speak and step into the fullness of who they are.

I want to smash-up some pamper sessions.  I want to take girls tree-climbing, protest-marching, campaigning.  I want to ditch the ’nicey-nicey’ stuff and do things that make a difference to others – that for me is what really impacts self-esteem.  If you can help bring positive change for others, it is near impossible to not be changed positively yourself.  Here’s to messiness, hairs out-of-place and no more nails!

When people start advocating shooting, shipping off and the conscription of ALL young people I am afraid I kind of lose it.  Surely people are clever enough to see these things are so much more complex than that.  ALL young people?!  Young carers working tirelessly to look after family members? – send them to Afghanistan!  Employed young people, paying taxes and ‘contributing’ to the economy?  Shoot them at dawn!  Young people, unemployed but volunteering in their communities? – national service!

I have had the privilege, and I do count it as a privilege, of working with 100s of young people.  They all have one thing in common – they are all human.  A fact that many seem to have forgotten.  It seems very dangerous to start dehumanising people (I think that was one of the tactics adopted during the Nazi regime in Germany?!)  It seems strange that a few weeks ago after the horrific shootings in Norway, young people were seen as children – someone’s child, as human beings, as people.  Only a few weeks later a very small number of young people are involved in rioting and suddenly young people are evil, yobs, feral.  There’s something wrong when we can just switch this image of a whole group of people in society so quickly.

Is Britain broken?  Isn’t everyone?  But isn’t there still beauty, redemption, hope, faith?

Being on maternity leave has given me a lot of time to peruse things on the internet that make me mad!  Here’s one:

An article in the Daily Mail focuses on the outcry that has arisen from the launch of a new doll being marketed for children that allows them to mimic breast-feeding.  There is a certain irony to this online article.  As I scroll down to read it I glance at the side bar which contains picture after picture of women with very little on, or being portrayed in ways I would say play to objectification.  Why is it then, that the thought of a child role-playing and imitating a perfectly natural human function (breast-feeding) is so utterly offensive, but the portrayal of women as little more than walking talking dolls perfectly acceptable?  How did we get to a point where breast-feeding is something to be squeamish about but breasts as provocative sexual objects perfectly normal? 

Why are boobs so offensive when used for feeding a baby?  Heaven forbid I satisfy my baby’s hunger with a breast rather than a bottle.  In a world where the sight of women in very little bombards us, it seems paradoxical that so many people can’t stomach the thought of boobs being used for feeding.  Where music videos shown throughout the day perpetuate this objectification of women – women as sexual objects – boobs are commodities to flaunt and ultimately purchase, the thought of a breast not being used in this context is obviously horrifying. 

I find it galling that the claim against this doll on sale is that it is sexualising children!  How is this sexualising children anymore than giving a pre-pubescent child a doll to play with? – yes a child cannot breast-feed, but a child cannot have a baby!  If a breast-feeding doll is ‘sexualising’, surely any doll is and should therefore be branded ‘totally inappropriate’.  Let’s ban dolls and let’s ban role-playing.  When my four year old daughter pretends to breast feed her doll (complete with the click of re-attaching the nursing bra!) I shall now be forced to reprimand her and condemn myself as if I had purchased her a padded bikini and miniature high-heels.  I shall now be forced to feed Eden in a small dark corner, out -of-sight, in case someone, somewhere catches a glimpse of my powerful sexualising mammary glands.

There is now, it seems, a hysteria around the ‘sexualisation of children’.  With the recent publication of Reg Bailey’s report on just this, and the proposals for tighter legislation and regulation for retailers and advertisers, the issue has taken centre-stage.  Now I am all for seeing less posters of boobs (!), being able to watch music videos with my children in the day and no longer seeing hideous clothing pitched at my daughter.  The reasons though that I find these things offensive are in the words of Symon Hills’ very helpful article for Ekklesia, ”…not the sexualisation of childhood, but the commercialisation of sexuality,” (Symon Hill).  I object to women being portrayed as objects – to the dehumanisation of humans.  I object to the fact that my children grow up in a culture that sees sex as commodity and people as part of the package. ( I love Hannah Rudge’s critique for ‘Bitchbuzz’ on this stuff – much more articulate than mine!)

I worry that many Christians will jump on the band-wagon of some moral outrage to protect our children from the ‘big bad world out there’.  I worry that the highlighting of this issue of sexualisation will lead to more unhelpful sexual repression in churches, stifling healthy, whole, human development.  I long to see a world where people are respected as people and not objects, but also a world where sex and sexuality are not things to be sold, but to be celebrated as a part of what it is to be alive.

In Bournemouth it seems churches are OBSESSED with building projects – I guess this may reflect an ongoing trend elsewhere but I wouldn’t want to speculate!  One of the local congregations looking to expand their empire (I said I was going to rant!) has undertaken a massive development in the heart of the town.  This particular brand of christian denomination does not have an egalitarian theology and I think personally has a sappy complementarian approach that smacks of, at best, patriarchy in disguise and, at worst, blantant misogyny.  Masked behind the ‘we value women BUT’ argument I have struggled to balance their theology with the justice I see advocated by Jesus and his radical treatment of women.  All this aside I was shocked to see the hoardings of this congregations building works.  Granted the building is also going to be student accomodation, but clearly a development by the church (their own signage is on the hoardings), I was amazed to see a poster for a local lapdancing club!

As a signed up, happy-to-shout-it-out, feminist I am not a big fan of lapdancing clubs.  I think they perpetuate the objectification of women, an issue which has far-reaching consequences.  Sex as commodity and women as property to be brought and sold are not what I see as Kingdom values.  Why, oh why, then are this church seemingly, by default (or not,) advertising this kind of  ‘service’ on their development?  Does no-one else see this as an issue?

I have contacted the church to ask them why the advertising appears on their hoardings.  Their response was disappointing claiming the hoardings are owned by an outside company and so, as such, they have no control!  I don’t know that I believe this in all entirity so I am pursing an activist approach and looking to get my own advert on display.  I may go for a poster for Rob Bell’s new book, or maybe one for the local spiritualist church.  I wonder what would move them to action.

Because for me the issue is that they don’t seem to see the issue.  I can’t help but think there may be a bigger reaction to something that they can evidently contradicts their theology, but perhaps their own view of women (submissive / second-class?) is actually inherently linked to their passivity on this problem.  If you hold that a woman is not really a full person, but merely subject of her husband (heaven forbid she is single) then how women are treated is of little importance.  But it is important to me!  What does it say to those in my community?  That the objectification of women is fine by us as christians?  That lapdancing is another consumer product that we as Church will happily endorse? 

So I am really happy for people to join me on my mission to get the church to make the company remove the advert.  The company must have a price – how much will they pay to remove the poster?  How much is the rsepect and dignity of women worth?  How much do we care about modelling a radical, justice fuelled, non-compromising faith over empire building?  Who’s with me?!