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I am so sick of church people being so sexist… I am sick of these youth leaders thinking it is okay to belittle women. Just to make it clear, I have not experienced any sexual harassment or abuse and have really enjoyed youth group and church over the last few years. I am a feminist and a christian and believe women should be able to be senior ministers and not be judged for working full time (even if they have kids) When I go to youth group/church camps they say stuff like “the girls like to braid and paint nails and the boys like to play soccer”. They read and explain bible verses in disturbing ways that are projecting a controlling and superior mindset on the boys in my youth group and a submissive and inferior mindset on the girls. It makes me feel sick when the girls talk about how they want to submit to their husbands and not have careers. I am not shaming anyone (particularly the other girls my age) but if church thinks it is okay to tell young women this they need to think again. Out of the approx. 20 girls that attend it is only me and one other girl (I will call her Emma) who had any issues with the sexist and appalling teachings of our most recent camp in particular. In an effort to communicate our feelings, we put in many questions about equality and submission into the “question box”. We were both upset and angry to see our questions constantly being dodged and disregarded. I could see that my friend Emma, who had spent years learning about the bibles view on gender equality and grappling with both her religious and personal beliefs was extremely upset with the responses to her constant questions… I am not claiming to know all about the bible- I just think it is disgusting to preach submission in such a disregarding, sexist manner to young, impressionable teen girls. Emma and I have since left this youth group due to more bullsh*t and the replacement of a cool, understandable main leader with an annoying, homophobic one 🙂 Also their inability to l i s t e n to us.