Horney Gender Roles

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In today’s westernized church culture, there are specific roles for men and women in the church as well as in the home/family. Karen Horney emphasizes how one’s personality is not only defined as their assigned biological sex, but is shaped through the societal and cultural pressures of one’s life. These pressures influence the churches view of men typically of men’s roles in pastoral leadership in church, and as the head of the household in the family. One view that Christianity has on gender roles is the idea of complementarianism. Complementarianism is the view that men and women both have different roles in marriage, in the family, and in the church, that specifically compliment each other. Similar to Horney’s view of social pressures forming …show more content…
Alongside these roles, Horney would state that despite which parent or guardian figure has what role, that the parenting style is what plays an important impact on one’s development and personality. Whether that was how one’s parents guided them in the house, or how the church says men and women should guide their children. Theology looks at bible passages like 1 Peter 3:5, and Ephesians 6:1. Grudem discusses the importance of recognizing the differences that the bible highlights between how men and women should act. Specifically looking at 1 Corinthians 11:7 where Paul discusses how women should wear head dresses. Grudem argues that the passage is not saying that men and women are not equal, rather that, “differences between men and women should be reflected in the way the dress and act,” (Grudem 2008). Psychology shows that men and women in fact do act and behave in difference manners, due to both biological and cultural factors. Horney would also note that because culture plays a favor in developing one’s personality, that across cultures gender roles would look different. In other words, how men and women dress and act in America, will differ from Brasil and so