Beyond Disappointing: The Monstrous Regiment of Women

At first upon hearing the title, “The Monstrous Regiment of Women,” one would think this documentary seeks to finally do justice to the millions of women who are abused, discriminated against, harassed and in the words of Tuchman “annihilated” before our eyes or even on TV. However, this documentary was not only disappointing, but showed what happens when a lack of research, hasty opinions and misinterpretations of biblical text combine, thus conceiving what we have right here.

As I learned from Zoonens article on “Feminine perspectives,” there are different kinds of feminists. Radical, Liberal and Socialist feminists, all of whom have different agendas and rally for different kinds of things. Radical feminists being more opposed to things such as marriage, male/female relationships and against women choosing to stay in the home is what I thought the documentary seemed to focus more attention on. It failed to talk about liberal feminism and how it supports women being stay at home moms as well as working moms if they want to. I questioned if research was done at all?
I think more than anything, what offended me most was the way the bible was used as a pillar for their rash statements and conclusions. Does not the bible say that men and women are both given the privilege to fulfill Gods plan on earth? Galatians 3:28 says "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus". Are we not all called? I really do think that this documentary is a result of a misunderstanding about feminism. It reminds me of what happens when I write a paper and don’t research enough on it before making conclusions.

When you put so much emphasis on man being the one totally in charge, I feel as though it also opens up the doors for abuse. Not only does the woman then feel trapped because this is what she was “called to do,” but she feels that to leave the marriage, she would be disobeying God. What then happens in situations when the man, who is the sole breadwinner and provider of the family, dies? Is it then shameful to go out and try to find a job so you can provide for your children? Apart from the part about it not being right that women in the army are sexually abused, this documentary was a whole lot of nonsense.