Taking Back God: American Women Rising Up for Religious Equality

by Leora Tanenbaum

If you’ve witnessed the preferential treatment of men in America’s houses of worship, you will not be surprised to learn that there is a surge of women in this country rising up and demanding religious equality. More and more, religious women—Christian, Muslim, and Jewish—are declaring that they expect to be treated as equals in the religious sphere. They want the same meaningful spiritual connections enjoyed by their brothers, fathers, husbands, and sons. They embrace the word of God but are critical of their faith’s male-oriented theology and liturgy. They reject the conventional interpretations of religious traditions that give women a different—and, to their minds, lesser—status. Rather than abandoning their faith, these women are taking it back and making it stronger, transforming religion while maintaining tradition.

Leora Tanenbaum relates the experiences of Catholics, evangelical and mainline Protestants, Muslims, and observant Jews. The conflict these religious women face—honoring tradition while expanding it to synchronize with modern values—is ultimately one that all people of faith grapple with today.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, Feminism

368 pages, Paperback

First published December 23, 2008

About the author

Leora Tanenbaum, author of six books, began researching and writing about slut-shaming before the term even existed. Her first book, Slut! is regarded as a significant contribution to feminist thought and the foundational text on slut-shaming. Called one of the 20 “must-read” books of all time for women, upon publication it shot up to become an Amazon Editor’s Choice book and an Amazon Top 10 Women’s Studies book.

I Am Not a Slut: Slut-Shaming in the Age of the Internet was the first book to analyze the proliferation of slut-shaming in the age of social media and digital culture. It was named one of 11 "groundbreaking books about women making history."

Currently, Tanenbaum is a frequent commentator for USA Today, where she discusses the gendered double standards faced by celebrities and non-celebs alike. She has written for The New York Times, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, New York Daily News, The Nation, and U.S. News & World Report and has been a guest on Oprah, The Today Show, Nightline, Bill Maher, Fox News, MSNBC, and National Public Radio.

Reviews

[K Kriesel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating, exceptional account of prominent issues for American women in the Abrahamic religions. The ordination of Catholic women, the shaming of femininity and prioritizing of fragile machismo in Protestant denominations, the sometimes cruel division between men and women in mosques as well as the intricate issues surrounding the hijab for American Muslim women, and the exclusion of Orthodox Jewish women from authority. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about religion in America.

My only problems with this book are the utter exclusion of nonbinary genders, LGBTQ people (mentioned a few times in passing), and race issues outside of American Muslims. Sound familiar? While there are a few pages dedicated to the problems of homophobia in Abrahamic religions and I appreciate that, it clearly isn't Tanenbaum's expertise. Also, she seems only vaguely aware of Pagan religions that worship the/a Goddess but includes no details nor respect.
Fortunately, Tanenbaum includes an Afterward with her email address - she WANTS input and understands that this book is part of a vast, diverse, ongoing movement.

[T Davidovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a tendency for those of us on the left to cede ground on things like religion (as well as bunch of other things, but that's beyond the scope of this review). We say religion is for conservatives, not us, and if someone tells us they're religious, it's an automatic red flag. I don't totally disagree, especially when it comes to institutionalized religion, but I think this book proves that we don't have cede ground as quickly as we have been. The thing about organized religion is that it's organized. (Far more organized than we are here on the left.) And this book is attempting to offer a glimpse of what it can look like for people who are actually willing to negotiate the friction between religion, ritual, spirituality, faith, etc and ideologies like feminism that might seem fundamentally opposed to religion.

Does the book succeed? Yes and no. It is well written, and it documents a lot of important stories and issues. But because negotiating feminism and religion has been my entire life, I literally learned nothing. I think the author and I probably have identical backgrounds, so everything she articulates is something I've already articulating to myself. It felt lacking in insight. To me, at least. What I was hoping for was a book to articulate things I'd been *trying* to articulate, not stuff I'd already figured out.

However, I think it will be insightful for people who are just being introduced to these concepts. So I absolutely recommend it. As far as introductions go, this is a compelling one. It's nothing you can't learn by having one conversation with someone who knows what they're talking about, but some people probably don't have anyone to talk to candidly. Definitely a worthwhile read if you're interested in these topics.

[Barbara P · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book at the Pilgrim Place library, a book the Women's Initiative recommended. Women meet once a month (began in September) to discuss the book. The marvelous P P women's stories added much to the conversation of the first chapter. The author is Jewish and the book discusses experiences of women in the Christian, Jewish and Islam faith. There are many accounts of the authors conversations with women across the religious lines.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is refreshing to read a book about women who stay in their religions and try to improve the treatment of women there, rather than leave and complain from outside. Very well researched and clearly written.

[Alexys · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was incredibly well research, well written book that I found myself wanting to save quotes from every couple of pages. I will definitely be recommending this to all of my friends, whether religious or not, and use it as an impetus in my own life to pursue more women friendly, feminist action.

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting, but I put it down and never went back to it.