This was written by Vic108 a billion years ago for his ‘zine Enquirer #6. I always found it to be a bit cute and fun, so I figured I’d post it.

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Aren’t you sick of being seen as just a piece of meat? An exploitable toy? I want the Hare Krishnas out of hardcore, and I’ll tell you why: blatant sexism. Sexism has no place in our scene. Female domination and male subordination must end!

Marriage = Male Slavery
Srila Prabhupada, the founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), belittles the male’s role in marriage by repeatedly describing the wife as “the better half of the husband” (SB 1.7.45).

The man is portrayed as spiritually incompetent. The “foolish” and “hard-hearted” man is said to be completely dependent on the mercy of his “good wife.” Without her help he can not be elevated. Prabhupada says, “the wife is considered to be the source of all liberation” (SB 3.14.17).

Because of this, “husbands as a class cannot repay their debt to women either in this life or in the next… Not all husbands are able to appreciate the good qualities of their wives, but even though one is able to appreciate these qualities, it is still not possible to repay the debt to the wife” (SB 3.14.21).

Thus “[the] wife is mentioned here as ishta, which means ‘worshipable’” (SB 4.13.12). The husband is commanded to see the wife as his worshipable object of service. He dedicates his entire life to satisfying her every whim, supplying anything she may request – just to keep her happy.

The spiritual master of Srila Prabhupada’s guru instructs that the wife should always be seen as the greatest exalted devotee. The husbands should respectfully place the dust of her feet on his head, serving her like a menial servant. He is to serve her every meal, taking or himself only what she leaves behind. What fate awaits a husband who won’t do all this? Surely he falls down into hellish existence. (Babaji Maharaja, part 1)

As if all this were not demeaning enough, male slavery persists even after the husband is gone. The woman continues to be served hand and foot, this time by her eldest male child. “In the absence of the father it is the duty of the grown son to take charge of his mother and serve her to the best of his ability” (SB 3.25.5).

Man – Symbol of lust
After sacrificing his entire life for the wife, how does she see her husband? With gratitude? With thanks?

No. She is instructed not to be allured by the man, who is the death-like representative of maya [illusion and lust]. “A woman foolishly looks upon maya (illusion) in the form of a man, her husband. A woman, therefore, should consider the husband, her house, and her children to be the arrangement of the external energy of the Lord for her death, just as the sweet singing of the hunter is the death for the deer” (SB 3.31.41-42).

Women, on the other hand, are to be seen as embodiments of divinity and the representations of intelligence (SB 4.25.21). Should an unchaste male dare to question whether this assessment is fair, he is calmly informed that such a doubt is simply the product of his own sinful nature and impaired judgment skills. Krishna says, “alabdha-saranani [a Sanskrit term denoting females] are my own body. Those whose facility of judgment has been impaired by their own sin look upon these as distinct from Me” (SB 3.16.10).

“Intelligence is Feminine.”
It’s no surprise you men don’t agree; after all, according to Krishna, intelligence is a feminine quality. “Among women I am fame, fortune, fine speech, memory, intelligence, steadfastness, and patience,” Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita (10.34).

The man, on the other hand, is described as having “so-called” intelligence (KB p206), or just plain “less intelligent” (Cc Adi. 7.35.37).

Prabhupada says that it is women who will save the whole world from the miserable situation dogish men have created. “Women… become spiritual masters capable of delivering the whole world” (Cc Mad. 18.121-122).

Further, the very source of intelligence, the Vedas (the body of knowledge on which the Hare Krishna movement bases its existence) is given feminine gender. (SB 3.24.15).

[Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion of "Sexist Things the Krishnas Say"!]