Complementarianism Is Inherently Sexist

I strongly suspect that if I were to endorse the fallacious and unbiblical "separate but equal" nonsense with regards to race, complementarians in my life would rightly recognize this as inescapably racist.  Calling whites or blacks (to name just two "races") "separate but equal" would be, in effect, to make a claim of cognitive dissonance, a claim where each aspect contradicts the other.  Segregating races is inherently racist no matter how firmly someone insists the groups are ultimately "equal".  It is discrimination according to skin color or ethnic background.  That it is racist is an immutable logical fact.  But if I were to say that men and women are "separate but equal" in abilities and roles, and that they should be kept "separate but equal" in some social functions or occupations, I doubt I'd get the same response.  Instead of correctly calling this sexist, they'd probably say that this is God's design.

"Separate but equal" is a horrendously unbiblical concept
whether applied to race or gender.

If "separate but equal" is racist, then it is also sexist.  And it is racist.  Thus it follows by logical necessity that it is sexist as well.  One of the two has largely fallen out of favor in evangelical American churches.  But depending on where you are, the other idea is still very much alive, kept popular by ignorance, fallacies, pseudoscience, and assumptions.  Truth remains true even when people don't accept or understand it.  It doesn't matter what people believe.  It doesn't matter what they've been taught or what they prefer.

Complementarianism is inherently sexist for the same reasons "separate but equal" is inherently racist.  Some manifestations of complementarianism are more sexist and irrational than others, make no mistake.  Light complementarianism dabbles in benevolent sexism [1], which is still illogical, contra-Biblical, sinful, and sexist, but heavier complementarianism holds women hostage to male ownership and the arbitrary whims of irrational men who are in power in a family or church.  But a woman is a full person, with her own autonomy, moral agency, and intellect, wholly apart from a father, brother, boyfriend, or husband.  She does not need male supervision or male validation.

No person, whether a man or woman or a member of any race, has
special value just because he or she was born with certain genitalia
or a certain skin color.

Staunch complementarians, hoping to characterize complementarianism as a benevolent power imbalance, may say that Ephesians 5, for instance, actually is not sexist because it commands husbands to love their wives.  First of all, Ephesians 5 does not establish that the Bible teaches complementarianism; this doesn't follow from the text and the chapter context actually affirms egalitarianism [2].  Second of all, a unilateral obligation to submit and a unilateral obligation to love are still sexist, even if only in the sense of "benevolent" sexism.  That complementarianism is sexist in one way or another is logically inescapable.

The creation narrative doesn't teach complementarianism [3].  The Bible constantly affirms the equality and freedom of both men and women in a wide variety of ways [4], starting with its declaration that all men and women alike are made in God's image and are to corule and costeward the planet together (Genesis 1:26-28) and then going onward to Mosaic Law [4] and beyond.  Complementarianism is sexist, and sexism is sinful, as it innately contradicts the metaphysical equality of men and women as God's image bearers and contradicts the actual moral teachings of the Bible.  This is a very crucial metaphysical and moral issue that demands the attention of all rationalists and Christians.


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/08/benevolent-sexism.html

[2].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/02/why-ephesians-5-does-not-teach-rigid.html

[3].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-error-of-complementarian-arguments.html

[4].  See here:
A.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/08/gender-equality-in-parental-authority.html
B.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2017/10/sexuality-in-marriage-part-1-mutuality.html

[4].  See here:
A.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/07/bible-on-gender-equality.html
B.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2016/12/the-bible-never.html