Roman Catholic Fundamentalism: What’s Sex (and Power) Got to Do with It?

Abstract

I would like to start this chapter with a reflection and some observations on the process followed by all of us who attended the May 1998 con- ference on Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women (from which this book developed). I was absolutely fascinated by the fear that speakers—many of whom are among the most courageous women active in politics today—showed when confronted with time lim- its. Each of us was allotted a brief amount of time to speak, a time we felt was far too short to make our cases. In traditional fashion, we bemoaned our fate, and moderators, with greater and lesser success, slipped little yel- low pieces of paper to each person as their time elapsed.