Paper Title
The Body as a Site of Intersection: Religious, Political, and Oedipal Conflict
Location
Room 214, West Center
Keywords
gender and sexuality, religion, women's health, purity ball
Start Date
April 2016
End Date
April 2016
Abstract
In order to build a deeper appreciation of the mechanisms at play within the religious base that facilitates the political attacks on women, this paper analyzes the evangelical home and its family, particularly that of Randy Wilson and his ministry, The Generations of Light. Based in Colorado Springs, Wilson is credited with the founding of the purity ball, a father-daughter ceremony that is now held in over 40 states.
My argument unfolds through two theoretical approaches: First, the essay argues that Wilson's institutionalization of the Freudian Oedipal complex in its positive form structures human experience and concepts of selfhood for young girls into adulthood. Second, the revision of the Oedipal complex, as articulated by feminist object relational theorist Jessica Benjamin, deepens the case that women are systematically dispossessed of body and voice by patriarchal design. As a result, the reiteration of the positive form of the Oedipus complex, as it is incorporated by Wilson's ministry, creates a population with little personal agency and oriented toward heteronormativity.
Wilson is currently employed by the F.R.C. Through his example, this paper illuminates how capitalistic control of gender and female sexuality within the ministry informs the dismantling women's rights up to federal level.
The Body as a Site of Intersection: Religious, Political, and Oedipal Conflict
Room 214, West Center
In order to build a deeper appreciation of the mechanisms at play within the religious base that facilitates the political attacks on women, this paper analyzes the evangelical home and its family, particularly that of Randy Wilson and his ministry, The Generations of Light. Based in Colorado Springs, Wilson is credited with the founding of the purity ball, a father-daughter ceremony that is now held in over 40 states.
My argument unfolds through two theoretical approaches: First, the essay argues that Wilson's institutionalization of the Freudian Oedipal complex in its positive form structures human experience and concepts of selfhood for young girls into adulthood. Second, the revision of the Oedipal complex, as articulated by feminist object relational theorist Jessica Benjamin, deepens the case that women are systematically dispossessed of body and voice by patriarchal design. As a result, the reiteration of the positive form of the Oedipus complex, as it is incorporated by Wilson's ministry, creates a population with little personal agency and oriented toward heteronormativity.
Wilson is currently employed by the F.R.C. Through his example, this paper illuminates how capitalistic control of gender and female sexuality within the ministry informs the dismantling women's rights up to federal level.
