What a Christian author started on a whim rapidly turned into a whirlwind.
Sarah Bessey, author of Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Review the Bible’s View of Women, created a Twitter hashtag on April 18 called #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear. She kicked it off with a couple things that have been addressed to her.
"Ambition isn't godly." #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Sarah Bessey (@sarahbessey) April 19, 2017
"You are an amazing leader! You'd make an excellent pastor's wife someday!" #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Sarah Bessey (@sarahbessey) April 19, 2017
It released a flood of pent-up frustrations from women.
#ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear "I know the guy who you say assaulted you. He's a good Christian and wouldn't do that."
— April's Fool (@Nose_Boop1) April 19, 2017
It's not that we think women are inferior, it's just that women are called to be submissive to men. #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear
— Margaret (@SingleandSane1) April 19, 2017
Men shared things, too (when they weren’t trolling the hashtag).
The #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear discussion is a heartbreaking, eye-opening glimpse at how badly American Christians have bungled gender
— chrisicisms (@cdubbs727) April 19, 2017
Another had a message for his brothers in Christ:
It would be a good thing for fellow Christian men to read through this hashtag. #ThingsOnlyChristianWomenHear Be aware and be better, y'all.
— Barnabas Piper (@BarnabasPiper) April 19, 2017
By April 19, Bessey took to her Facebook page to reflect on the outpouring (she did not immediately respond to a reporter’s call).
“This hashtag is pulling back the curtain on the everyday lived experiences of women within the Church,” she wrote. She gave thanks that the men in her life encourage her, but then added, “we still need to speak about freedom, and expose the lies, and amplify the voices of women who have too often been silenced.”
Kimberly Winston is a freelance religion reporter whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, USA Today, and the Chicago Tribune. She is the 2005 recipient of the American Academy of Relgion's award for best religion reporting.
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