Complementarian Christians Do Not Think Women are of Equal Worth to Men – Case 1 – Married, Family Values Ralph Shortey’s Sandwich Shirt
My Twitter friend Teresa sent this my way:
(Link): VIDEO: Republican politician Ralph Shortey who hired an underage male prostitute greeted cops in a novelty Bible verse T-shirt – via Twitchy
The video the page is mentioning shows Shortey answering the cop’s knock on his door, where he’s wearing a t-shirt that says ‘Ephesians 5:22‘ on it, there’s a drawing of a sandwich under it, and under that, the shirt also says, “Now go make me a sandwich.”
According to the articles, Shortey was a family values politician, and he is married with four children.
Shortey was caught by cops with an underage male prostitute in his hotel room, along with a bottle of lotion, open box of condoms, and sex texts to the boy on his electronic devices.
After I copy these other links to news articles about it, I will explain what this has to do with complementarianism:
(Link): Oklahoma police release body cam footage of former state senator caught with underage male
(Link): Bodycam footage shows moment Republican pol was busted in motel room with 17-year-old boy
Bodycam footage from Oklahoma police shows the moment they found a Republican state senator in a motel room with a 17-year-old boy.
Two-term state senator Ralph Shortey, 35, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of child sex trafficking last week after an investigation found the married father of four offered a teenage boy cash in exchange for “sexual stuff.”
[Photo caption on the page]:
Shortey answered the motel room door wearing a T-shirt citing the Bible verse Ephesians 5:22 — which urges wives to submit to their husbands — with the words “now go make me a sandwich” emblazoned below.(MOORE POLICE DEPARTMENT)
…Shortey, who served as Trump’s Oklahoma campaign chair, was also wearing a T-shirt citing the Bible verse Ephesians 5:22 — which urges wives to submit to their husbands — with the words, “now go make me a sandwich” emblazoned beneath.
COMPLEMENTARIANS SAY WOMEN ARE EQUAL IN WORTH NOT IN ROLE
If you grew up complementarian (as I did (Link): but am no longer), you should be well aware that their motto is that they think that “women are equal in value or worth to men, but not in role.”
That motto is how they attempt to dodge the obviously unfair and sexist church rules where they do things such as forbid women to preach or lead in churches or in marriages.
But dang if they don’t try really, super hard to convince everyone who doubts their sincerity of supporting women that they are not sexist.
Complementarians reassure every one constantly that they don’t think women are below men, or believe sexist stuff like women are dumber than men, or women only exist to do stereotypical things for men, like be barefoot, pregnant, in the kitchen making sandwiches.
But isn’t in interesting that in spite of their insistence to the contrary, that the men in the complementarian, conservative movement, at the end of the day, find it appropriate or cute to wear a shirt with a sexist take on (Link): Ephesians 5:22 on it?
Complementarians put a spin on their sexist biblical interpretation to try to convince the public, or women taught to live under this garbage, that no, they’re not saying that they think women are second class citizens who are “second banana” to men, intended by God to be nothing but personal servants to men to engage in housework.
Complementarian actions, however, do not match their rhetoric.
Complementarians may say they think women are of “equal worth” to men, but here we have a man, who’d I’d bet anything is complementarian, thinking it’s funny to wear a t-shirt with a sexist twist of Ephesians 5: 22 upon it – proof that complementarians really do not believe their own advertising of “equal in worth, just not in role.”
If complementarians really and truly believe that women are equal to men in worth to God, why do we find them making sexist, degrading Ephesians 5:22 shirts, selling such shirts, or wearing them?
If complementarians want to explain that shirt is not representative of their position, then how is it that the t-shirt maker and the man who wore the shirt, understand their interpretation of Ephesians 5:22 in such a manner? I think it’s because it’s plain and obvious to anyone that complementarian interpretation of the Bible is in fact sexist.
You have to ask yourself, if you are a complementarian, how is it that any man would take the complementarian interpretation of a verse such as Ephesians 5:22 and think it’s acceptable to slap a drawing of a sandwich on it along with “now go make me a sandwich.”
If your complementarian message consists of the point that women are equal in worth to men, then I would assume I could expect to see this man wearing a shirt saying more along the lines of, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” But he is not wearing a shirt with such a message of affirmation of the female biological sex…
Because complementarianism, in spite of all it’s “girl power” mottos to the contrary, is sexist and comes across as sexist to the average person.
Christian Pundit 
Ugh! – To so many aspects of your post. I decided to google search for Ephesians 5:22 t-shirt and did not find the sandwich one in particular, but I did find t-shirts with a verse/s from 5:22 -25. I was surprised! I mean, who’d really want to walk around with this type shirt? Even if someone interprets these verses in a comp way, do they really think walking around with a shirt that says wives submit is going to be helpful??!! It will only annoy people and appear sexist – as you end your post.
Thank you for reading the entire post, or skimming it. I swear I don’t mean to be so long when I write a post. I always feel I should give prizes or monetary awards to folks who come here, read a whole post and leave a comment!
I wasn’t sure where he got his shirt from. Sometimes, these sorts of “niche” shirts are sold by individual artists via sites such as “Cafe Press” or “Society 6.” He may have bought it from a site like that one.
But yeah, I just do not comprehend how complementarians on the one hand are always telling every one they really do believe women are equal in worth to men, when they, on the other hand, wear sexist shirts that read, “Go make me a sandwich.”
Most complementarians these days would deny that their doctrine supports or communicates a “go make me a sandwich” vibe, but others actually embrace this.
You have complementarian women such as Debi Pearl or Lori Alexander who advocate for this type of “barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen” perspective.
If complementarian men feel that the Bible is teaching “go make me a sandwich” sexist view points, obviously, complementarians are not conveying this idea of equality of women clearly.
(I used to be a complementarian, so personally, I feel it’s sexist at its roots.)