Female Anatomy a Touchy Subject for Christian Bookstore, Claims Author
The disdain more commonly reserved by the religious Right for those who are perceived as moral deviants is seldom turned upon one of their own. Yet this is precisely what Rachel Held Evans, an evangelical Christian author, claims is happening to her. Why? Because her second book, A Year of Biblical Womanhood, contains the word “vagina.”
Evans’ latest book details her life as a Christian wife and her attempts to adhere to the teachings of the Bible in as literal a way as possible. In the book, Evans outlines the details of her experiment, from making her own clothes and abstaining from gossip to remaining silent during church services and even pitching and living in a tent in her yard during her menstrual period.
Despite the somewhat radical nature of Evans’ exercise in scriptural literalism, the author claims her book will not be stocked by LifeWay, a major Christian bookseller with 160 stores across the U.S., due to two uses of the word “vagina.” In the first, the term is used in in a description of the rape of a Congolese adolescent, and in the second, Evans recounts signing a pledge of sexual abstinence at age 15.
According to The Guardian Books, Evans was advised by her publisher, Thomas Nelson, against the inclusion of the second reference, because Christian bookstores “apparently have a thing against vaginas.”
A spokesperson for LifeWay told Slate that Evans’ first book, Evolving in Monkey Town, did not sell well enough to warrant carrying copies of her second title. The bookseller’s representative added that, according to Evans, “there are a lot of places to sell books, and LifeWay is not the only outlet.”
Issues of doctrine aside, is LifeWay’s apparent response to Evans’ use of anatomical language appropriate?
Image via rachelheldevans.com
![Image of A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master"](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/518aviGkWpL._SL160_.jpg "A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master"")
News by Dan Shewan
Originally from London, Dan Shewan currently resides in New England. His nonfiction has been published in Vol. 1 Brooklyn, and he is a contributor to the poetry section of The Rumpus. Although careful to avoid stereotypes, he enjoys single-malt Scotch whiskey and long, brooding walks. Having gathered an extensive collection of rejection notices from many major publications, he is currently working on his first novel.
To leave a comment
Our Upcoming Classes
Editor's Picks
We Think You'll Like This Class
Comments
Christian bookstores “apparently have a thing against vaginas.”
i'm shocked. (rolls eyes)
so stupid. seriously?
I never saw that coming...
...said the Christian male about the female anatomy...
Serious question: If it had been "penis" that appeared twice in the book, would it have gotten banned as well? I mean, is it really a sexually skiddish issue in general (uh, yeah), or is it strictly a feminine one? I'll leave it there lest I'm unable to quell my fury at this ignorance and end up smashing my computer against a brick wall, only to then bang my head to bonemeal on the same spot.
Although it was beyond the scope of this article, another thing I found interesting about this situation was the fact that LifeWay apparently has substantial influence within the Christian publishing industry.
According to the Slate article, LifeWay's standards for determining which books they will carry are considered among the most stringent in the market - which I find especially interesting, given the fact that it had no qualms about selling Mark Driscoll's sexual advice book, Real Marriage, which allegedly contains descriptions of anal sex, the use of sex toys within a Christian marriage, and details on roleplaying scenarios.
The fact that Evans supports gay marriage and served communion at an LGBT-friendly church in San Diego probably didn't sit well with the brass at LifeWay, either. It would seem that Evans' opinions on modern spirituality are also being criticized, even if LifeWay isn't openly taking part.
Hmmm....wonder how 'Christian' the author is feeling these days? *sigh*
Oh the irony.
GretelTrilogy
@Dino - Although I'm not a expert, I shop at Lifeway on occasion and I wouldn't be shocked if they did refuse to carry a book because of the word 'penis'. It tends to be a very sexually conservative place.
@Dan - Do you know if that book comes down negatively on those things?
There is no excuse for this, just a bunch of rightous people who are trying to prove how rightous they really are by action like idiots.
Penis and vagaina are not foul terms, they are medical terms like lung, liver and splin.
@Dwayne - honestly, I don't know. I don't read a lot of Christian literature, but I think I'll be reading A Year of Biblical Womanhood. This situation certainly sparked a lot of discussion in my household, and I'm interested to see how Evans approaches her subject in light of her apparently progressive views.
This blog post has some interesting views on the matter, and the whole situation, which some of Evans' supporters dubbed "Vaginagate," doesn't seem to have been too damaging to Evans' reputation, at least among readers and other members of the Christian community. I'd be interested to see how this situation has affected sales of her book.
It was interesting that the other night on Boardwalk Empire, the wife of the main character, who witnessed a woman have a miscarriage in a hospital lobby, takes it upon herself to introduce a pre-natal education program at the hospital in order to teach women about nutrition and what to expect during pregnancy (bear in mind, this is during Prohibition). The hospital admin. scoffs initially at this, but a little intimidation from her husband gets them to yield. Not long after she's making her first presentation to the admin. as to her strategy to get women to attend, and her idea is to pass out fliers. Only the catholic nun who's there objects to the word "vagina" on the leaflets and the potential literature pamphlets. She tries to argue that it's the clinical word for part of the female anatomy, but the nun would have nothing to do with it.
This was almost 90 years ago now, and this shit still exists.