"The Curse of a Woman"
“And so that's what is called progressive sanctification, one of these fun theological words. You guys know I have very little respect for theology and doctrine. To watch the disgustingness of people hide behind doctrine and theology but have no concept of the heart of the Lord.
Yet this progressive sanctification is to get you to that place where you realize that there is peace forevermore in his presence. That actually all you want is Him and Him alone. He'll let you feed the flesh. He'll let you run after the men or run after the women or run after the money or run after the validation. He'll let you feign being a victim for 30 years. He'll let you fight and kick and claw and scream for validation. He'll let the “curse of a woman” try to rule over a man and wreck her marriage for 40 years to realize that it didn't satisfy. He'll let the man get all kinds of accolades and atta boys and whatever cool guy status possible to realize that didn't satisfy. He'll let all the churchianity go and go and go and all the serving and all the whatever to be validated among your peers and realize that didn't satisfy either.
He is so faithful and loving and merciful and kind and patient and forbearing to let you run it out as long as it takes for you to come to the simple revelation that actually all you ever wanted was him.” ~~ Jamie Walden Sermon: Forged For Battle, Given on July 3rd 2025
The majority of the above quote is pretty good stuff, but the “curse of a woman.” Wow.
The above-quoted pastor who claims to have little respect for theology and doctrine—calls it disgusting when people hide behind it—shows utmost respect for the complementarian Evil Woman doctrine. He effortlessly chants their mantra without missing a beat, apparently without realizing what a hateful, unscriptural, and utterly disgusting doctrine it is.
“He'll let “the curse of a woman” try to rule over a man and wreck her marriage for 40 years….” (?!)
The non-existent “curse of a woman” this pastor references is a perversion of Genesis 3:16, where the first woman, and by extrapolation all women, are told their desire would be to (as in towards) their husbands.
Now, Genesis 3:16 might seem to be a fairly straight forward statement—and a prophecy that has been shown to be true—but traditional theologians have always wrestled with the idea that most women might actually love their husbands. God forbid anything good can be said about women. They concoct ridiculous theories as to what a woman’s “desire” might mean. One of those cases of “the Bible says this, but it actually means this.” And then they debate for centuries about what it means.
To make matters worse, the heinous idea that a woman’s primary desire is to dominate her husband—though enthusiastically embraced throughout Christendom (seminaries, Bible colleges, Moody Bible Radio, Christianity Today, pastors everywhere, etc.)—was actually introduced by a woman.
“Susan Foh ‘What Is the Woman's Desire?’, 1975, “Sin’s desire for Cain was one of possession or control. The desire was such that Cain should master it, wrestle with it and conquer it; it required an active struggle. . . . [In Gen. 3:16] there is a struggle . . . between the one who has the desire (wife) and the one who must / should rule or master (husband). . . . After the fall, the husband no longer rules easily; he must fight for his headship. The woman’s desire is to control her husband . . . and he must master her, if he can. Sin has corrupted both the willing submission of the wife and the loving headship of the husband. And so, the rule of love founded in paradise is replaced by struggle, tyranny, domination, and manipulation…” http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/OTeSources/01-Genesis/Text/Articles-Books/Foh-WomansDesire-WTJ.pdf
“One of the consequences of the Fall for women…is that their desire shall be for their husbands…because of the curse, we now have a sinful tendency to want our own way and to resist our husband’s authority. This evil desire poses the greatest opposition to our submission…when a wife is not submissive; she is only caving in to her natural inclination to usurp authority and demand her own way.” ~~ Carolyn Mahaney, Feminine Appeal, 2003, 2004
Susan T. Foh’s nauseating interpretation was adopted and widely disseminated by The Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (CBMW), who for years quoted and linked to her book on their website. They appear to have finally removed it, not because they came to realization of their error but that having it there was a contradiction of their theology that forbids women to teach men.
Since 1987, CBMW has disseminated their disgusting and hateful doctrine that men are created to govern women and that the desire of women is to undermine and dominate their husbands. They agree with Foh, who claims the desire of wives is like that of a lion crouching at the door looking for every opportunity to dominate their husbands. Of course, we know that lions are not the least bit interested in dominating their prey—only the total destruction of them.
For 50 years, this malicious, revolting, and extremely contagious doctrine has infected the Christian world—virtually every denomination—and continues to spread like an out-of-control wildfire. Complementarianism, the doctrine of male governance and female submission a vile and hateful doctrine that is contrary to the love and direct commandment of God for women and men to rule over and manage the earth’s resources together as the autonomous equals they were created to be.
The same pastor quoted at the beginning of this article, who blithely regurgitated Susan Foh’s and the CBMW’s Evil Woman doctrine, also said, “The hallmark of maturity and a true regenerate heart in the faith is the fact that all I want is the Lord's presence. Like that's it.”
He also decried the “disgustingness” of how “people hide behind doctrine and theology but have no concept of the heart of the Lord.”
What about the “heart of the Lord” towards his disgusting pulpit-slander of God’s daughters?
Don’t imagine this pastor was ignorantly referencing some isolated incident. The complementarian Evil Woman doctrine is widely taught, institutionalized hatred and prejudice against women, preached from virtually every pulpit, distributed via myriads of blogs, podcasts, radio, and magazines, and this pastor quoted it to perfection.
Even pastors who claim to have little use for tradition, theology, or doctrine that people “disgustingly hide behind” ingest the tasty complementarian morsel that they are lords of creation, and then feed it others, embracing the lie that the “curse of a woman” is to dominate men—despite the fact that the Lord God clearly stated, in Genesis 3:16, that it was husbands who would dominate wives.
He shall rule over you….
“He'll let “the curse of a woman” try to rule over a man and wreck her marriage for 40 years….” (?!)
The non-existent “curse of a woman” allegedly contained in Genesis 3:16, has ever been maliciously used against women in every aspect of life. It has been misrepresented by Christian leadership, the majority of whom are men who benefit from the gender-biased misinterpretation. It is long past time for believers to stop allowing statements like these to pass unnoticed and unconfronted.
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Jocelyn Andersen is author of, Woman this is WAR! Gender, Slavery, and the Evangelical Caste System.