As a female shaped like Marilyn Monroe during the peak of Twiggy's reign, I was called up to Miss Riley's [Dean of Women] office and was told that one of the "preacher boys" had complained because my "breasts were too large". The most DANGEROUS group on that campus are the "preacher boys". Their sense of entitlement is scary.

 I had Garlock as a professor and was told, by him, that if I was "only a singer" that I should not be a music major. I was also told that pursuing a career as an opera singer was definitely NOT God's will for my life and that I needed to marry preferably a "preacher boy" and improve my piano skills because that was what was needed in  a church.

 It has taken me many years, a divorce and a move to California to accept myself for the strong, intelligent, beautiful woman that I am.  I have learned to stay away from churches because of the male supremacy attitude that I am nothing without a man. Unfortunately, I have learned from my experiences not to trust men.

-- Serena

Serena:

To keep the zealots at a respectable distance, I don't identify myself anywhere on this website. In a private email to you, I've told you my name.

I don't believe we knew each other back then, although we were there at the same time.  You were in college, and I was in the academy. But we certainly attended the same chapel services, ate in the same dining facility, and no doubt passed each other anonymously from time to time.

Your message alludes to the single greatest complaint I have against the BoJos.  If I had to condense all my objections down to one grievance it would be this: 

They are pathologically intrusive and presumptuous. They absolutely will not respect other people's personal boundaries.  In other words, they are the polar opposite of "live and let live" and of  "judge not lest ye be judged." This is their original sin, and all their other sins stem from this in my opinion.

From that bizarre rebuke of your bosom by the Dean of Women, to the no-locks-on-the-doors dorm rooms, to the rule that students must rat out each other's infractions, to their insults of Billy Graham and the pope (among many others), their self-righteous abominations begin by violating other people's personal boundaries. As you and I well know, students there quickly internalize the notion that this is their birthright as a "true believer" and that it's a perfectly appropriate way for them to behave.

After being sized up like a heifer, admonished for your talents, squeezed into a one-size-fits-all preacher's wife mold, and subjected to the verbal flatulence of every pious fool with a complaint or criticism, it's no wonder you developed some trust and male authority issues.

Nietzche:  "That which does not kill us makes us strong." Hemingway: "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places."

-- Nobojo