The Baptist church that held the fishing raffle told Emily Smaniotto that she could not participate because they were "living in the days of sexual scandals and accusations."
Always the outdoor enthusiast, Emily Smaniotto was thrilled to enter a church raffle for a bow-fishing trip. But her excitement faded quickly when she was told that an insurmountable issue stood in the way of winning: her gender.
“I remember the word ‘Really?’ coming out of my mouth,” Smaniotto, 27, said. “And I heard another woman say, ‘Are you serious?’ ”
The issue, church leaders said, was that a woman’s presence on the trip could lead to a bogus accusation of sexual misconduct. The guest pastor who raffled off the opportunity was simply protecting himself, they said. ...
... The practice appears to be an extrapolation of the common evangelical Christian position that a man should avoid being alone with a woman to protect from suspicions of inappropriate behavior and to keep from cheating on his wife. Known as the “Billy Graham Rule,” the principle is named after the late evangelical pastor, who had a policy of not eating, traveling or meeting alone with a woman besides his spouse.
But in this case, Smaniotto said, four church members would have accompanied the guest pastor on the fishing trip — not just one person. The controversy was first reported by Pittsburgh television station WTAE. ...
... The church leaders added that they tried to contact Smaniotto’s father when they learned she was offended but that he did not respond. ...
... The idea that men need to simultaneously guard against sexual temptation and the possibility of false accusations stems from the controversial idea that men’s sexual urges are uncontrollable and women need to protect men’s reputations, said Beth Allison Barr, a history professor at Baylor University whose research focuses on women in Christianity. ...
...Bethel Baptist Church leaders said they offered Smaniotto the chance to go on a separate fishing expedition with her father, instead of the group fishing trip.
But Smaniotto isn’t interested. She said church leaders’ attitudes toward her during the raffle convinced her that they would not treat her fairly in the future.
Instead of her own fishing trip, Smaniotto said, she wants church leaders to treat women equally.
“At future events that that church holds,” she said, “hopefully, they realize that if you’re inviting a woman to an event, you need to be inclusive with anything you offer.”
This is wrong in so many ways. It's absurd that they wouldn't allow any women on the trip because of the lie that men can't control themselves. It was stupid of them to try contacting her father! Can men not be trusted to talk to women now, too, or do they "think" they can't have a reasonable conversation with a woman? Nowhere in the story does it say she is leaving this fuxed up church, despite all this nonsense. Why TF not?!
