Can a feminist get married?

That was the headline of an article in Swedish evening mag Aftonbladet. The answer is: Yes, I already have, once. :)

Seriously though, there was a portion where some (other) feminists seriously proposed that it wasn't possible to get married in church, because of the partriachal history of it. This is like saying I wont wear clothes, because of the partiarchal history of clothes. Few would propose that blue jeans today would have anything to do with signalling that you're a full blown souther state cowboy who opress native americans, although jeans were invented to suit the needs of cowboys.

If the attitude is, nothing good can comes from anything that has a connection to a history, then we are not only stuck - we also utterly fool ourselves. It's simply not possible to disconnect from history. You may think that the church or christianity altogether is patriarchal, but the fact remains that many modern values and many ways that europeans and americans see the world, are deeply intertwined with religious perspectives regardless of whether we think that we hold them or not.

To rule out church weddings on said basis, is not to be a feminist. It is to be a conversative, not only opposing change, but thinking that it is an actual impossibility. I think nothing could be further from the truth. Change is going to come (and is happening everywhere, all the time). It may not always be pleasant or easy to figure out new modes of living together in a changed and still ever-changing world. Be that as it may, it is still our only option.

Länk till Aftonbladetartikeln (svenska)