The women appropriated the character of the religious leaders to that of their surrounding community where they have experienced significant rejection, similar to the woman who anointed Jesus. In addition, the participants in the study identified with the woman who anointed Jesus, and equated the treatment of Simon’s guests with the type of degrading treatment they had received at the hands of their community.
This sentiment of exclusion correlates with a response shared during a contextual Bible study on the woman who was almost stoned to death (John 8), when the women were asked how they thought their community viewed them:
When we want to go to big celebrations, we feel ashamed because we are prostitutes and people do not want to be with us. The people do not think that one day we may leave this work [and] become like them.70
68
Ibid.
69 Transcript of Anointing Woman Session Flamingo Women, 1/10/2015, Addis Ababa, 6. 70 Transcript of Stoning Woman Session Flamingo Women, 3/10/2015, Addis Ababa, 3.
115
Ethiopian celebrations and festivals are often celebrated at both a family and community-wide level, so it is very common for festivities to be held in an open-air location in the centre of a community.71 This woman expressed a desire to be a part of her community; however, due to her involvement in prostitution, she has experienced that people in the community do not want to be near her. African Womanist
theologians stress within their Christian anthropology that African culture recognises life as life-in-community; therefore, being human requires living with a consideration of other people and not living in isolation.72 Unfortunately, this woman is not able to participate in this aspect of life in her community due to the fact that her means of income generation is considered shameful.73
The label ‘prostitute,’ as interpreted by this woman, seems to imply a feeling of being permanently relegated to the status of a non-community member due to the lack of belief, by the community, that this woman could potentially not be a prostitute one day. It has been noted that within Ethiopian culture, ‘there is a sceptical attitude towards people outside of the immediate family’ which makes it difficult to trust each other.74 As this story came to a conclusion, the women were asked to reflect on what they had learned and one woman shared about the circumstances under which she thought the community might be able to accept her:
Translator: What is your thought about this story?
Woman: This story has taught us a lot. For example, right now I am a
prostitute, a sinner and God does not like that. But if we stop sex work, God will forgive me and so will people. People who used to hate us and keep themselves away from us will be close to us, and will like us if we leave this life. If I don’t [leave this life], I will stay dirty and people will continue to hate and disrespect us.75
This woman refers to her identity as a prostitute, a sinner, and as a person that God does not like. To what extent have these labels been taken on by this woman and reinforced by the way in which her surrounding community has treated her? While this
71 I experienced this during my three years of living in Ethiopia as a participant-observer and had the
opportunity to join a number of national, community, and familial celebrations.
72
David Kirwa Tarus, ‘Theology of Social Transformation in the Theological Works of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians,’ African Journal of Evangelical Theology 33, no.1 (2014): 7.
73 Lorraine van Blerk’s research among young Ethiopian women engaged in sex work documents the
shame associated with behaviours related to sex workers in Ethiopia. See Lorraine van Blerk, ‘Poverty, Migration and Sex Work: Youth Transitions in Ethiopia,’ Area 40, no. 2 (2008): 250.
74 Mekonnen, op cit., 44.
cannot be clearly ascertained from her remarks, it could be suggested that her
involvement with prostitution has enabled a self-rejecting identity in this community. Her perceived pathway to acceptance is significant, as it suggests that stopping
prostitution must precede forgiveness by God, and forgiveness by God must precede forgiveness by the community. It could be suggested that the cessation of prostitution was perceived by this woman as the condition required to attain forgiveness and its corollary, acceptance, by God. This woman believed once she was forgiven and accepted by God, her community would stop distancing itself from her, that they would be ‘close to [her].’76
Discussion: Human Beings Do Not Accept Us
This section presented excerpts from various contextual Bible study sessions that suggest that women affected by prostitution view humanity as rejecting. The primary reason given by the women for not experiencing a sense of acceptance by their
communities was because of their involvement in prostitution. The women recognised in the stories discussed that Jesus was forgiving and accepting, but because of their status as prostitutes within their communities the community failed to extend acceptance or hospitality toward them.
The women drew a close correlation between forgiveness and acceptance: if God forgives them for being engaged in prostitution, than they will be accepted by the community. These types of statements are indicative of these women’s longing for acceptance and point to their understanding that hospitality is conditional. In their view, only if they could pull themselves out of prostitution would they then be worthy of receiving hospitality at the hands of their community.
The Biblical stories referenced in this section gave the women permission to talk about the poor treatment they have received at the hands of their community. Mercy Amba Oduyoye observes that redemption often includes a sense of rescue in the story of the Hebrew people; therefore, the redemption Africa experiences by turning to God is from ‘the perversions of human nature that make it possible for some to prey on others and for individuals to trample upon the humanity of others.’77
As things currently stand, it seems the humanity of these women is being trampled upon through the rejecting, non-accepting, and sometimes even degrading treatment they face, all of which is the antithesis to being treated as an image-bearer of God.
76 Ibid.
117
African Womanist theologians affirm that men and women are created in the image of God, and precisely because of the interrelated nature of the Godhead, this fact should shape all social relations.78 Instead of their surrounding community viewing prostitution as a means of survival, these women are deemed as unacceptable to the community and denied basic hospitality within it.
Injustice as Normalised: ‘Man is not judged, it is shameful for a woman’
This statement emerged in a contextual Bible study session on the story of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) and the women were asked to reflect on how Ethiopian society views women in society, compared to men:
Translator: So do you think the society judges and blames the woman [for
prostitution] and not the man? Why does the society blame the woman?