CARICATURES

There are many reasons why we use caricatures to describe people, whether or not we like them. Caricatures enable us to feel secure, to elevate ourselves above the person, to delve into their personal affairs without seeming crass, or to paint them into a corner so as to prevent them from rising above where we believe they should be.

Women are often caricatured as petty, while men with the same qualities are deemed to be detail oriented. They are caricatured as aggressive or worse, while men with the same qualities are elevated to leadership positions. They often are caricatured as fanciful dreamers, while men with the same qualities are deemed to be forward thinkers.

The most pervasive caricature of women is that they should be at home, taking care of their children, or nursing the ill back to health in a hospital setting, because they are natural nurturers. When God takes advantage of this "natural" quality and appoints a woman to nurture churches back to health, suddenly, the tables turn, and everyone insists that nurturing is a man's job.

You cannot have it both ways. If you wish to caricature women, you have to do so consistently, and not exclusively when it best aligns with your way of thinking.

The Lord God Almighty El Shaddai