What do the new Archbishop of Canterbury and Taylor Swift have in common? They have both been subject to some pretty unpleasant behaviour – online and offline – as women in the public eye.
The new Archbishop, Sarah Mullally, broke down at the General Synod earlier this year. She told the Synod, “I would love to encourage women, which I do all the time, but there continues to be institutional barriers, we continue to experience micro-aggressions,” before turning away from the microphone, fighting back tears. On the announcement of her appointment to the top Church of England job in October, those of us still on X/Twitter couldn’t fail to miss what one user called the “venomous reaction” from “hardcore Catholics” and “culture war atheists”.
On the same day the new Archbishop of Canterbury was announced, Taylor Swift was releasing her new album Life of a Showgirl. Swift uses her songs to fight back against those who treat her badly. In 2016 Kim Kardashian labelled Swift a “snake” on social media. Her 2017 video Look What You Made Me Do began with her getting back up after the “death” of her reputation – and featured over 100 snake images. In March last year, sexually explicit deepfake images of Taylor Swift exploded across the internet – one image was seen 47 million times before X removed it just 17 hours later.
This is appalling. But poor treatment isn’t restricted to women in the public eye. A survey by Girlguiding UK showed 68% of girls have changed their everyday behaviour to avoid sexual harassment. 31% avoided taking public transport alone. 28% avoided places where they used to socialise. 17% said boys at school regularly comment on the bodies of girls and young women. Earlier this year, Netflix’s series Adolescence highlighted the impact of social media and the internet on boys and men. This survey shows something of what it might be doing to girls and young women.
In the secular space, women encourage each other to stand in support. Taylor Swift’s new album suggests that women stick together. “Can’t you see my infamy loves company?” she sings in Cancelled!; “Now they’ve broken you like they’ve broken me / But a shattered glass is a lot more sharp / And now you know exactly who your friends are / You know who we are / We’re the ones with matching scars”. That Girlguiding survey found 70% of 11–21-year-olds said they had supported another girl or young woman who had experienced sexism or misogyny, including 41% who had stood up for another girl that was being picked on for simply being a girl, and 36% that have walked or sat with a girl made to feel uncomfortable or unsafe due to misogynistic behaviour.
We need to encourage women to mentor and encourage other women. In the Girlguiding survey over half of girls aged 7–21 said they have a woman role model outside their family, and 53% said those role models make them feel empowered and more confident to be themselves. How much more powerful would having this sort of role model, and mentor, be in a church context?
The Bible calls us to respect kindness and love of each other, regardless of our different gender and our different roles. It is full of wonderful stories about amazing, godly women. Sadly, in our modern world, being a woman so often seems to be under fire. Especially for women in the public eye. We cannot control what happens online, we may even have limited influence over the behaviour of boys at school or on the bus. But we can follow the example of Jesus and model a different way; a counter-cultural example where women were seen, heard, and respected.
Churches, do you really know your communities?
Who is missing from your church?Who feels at home in your church? And who doesn’t?