Gendered Dynamics of Symbol & Ritual: Women’s Vulnerability to Abuse

• In Event: Addressing Women’s Mental Health Vulnerability in the Church, the Counseling Room and on the Battlefield

Abstract

This paper articulates gendered dynamics of symbol and ritual that can both increase women’s vulnerability to sexualized violence and re-traumatize those who have survived it. While the regular practices of congregations can put churchgoing women at risk, this paper suggests that the same dynamics of symbol and ritual that are regularly used to threaten women’s physical safety and mental health can be reclaimed and reshaped as tools for survival.

Presenter

• Hilary Jerome Scarsella, Vanderbilt University