The picture above is a high view facing the stage in Dimnent Chapel. There are large stained glass windows along the sides and one in the center of the backstage. You can see almost all the pews and the full ceiling.
Walking into Dimnent Chapel brings up so many feelings and emotions for many people. When I grip the old silver door handles to enter the Chapel I feel a sense of peace fall over me. Those handles have been touched by thousands of students, faculty, and friends of the Holland area. There are four main entrances and an entrance that leads directly into an elevator. Once you walk up the stairs or take the elevator up to the main gathering, you cannot help but notice the seven stained glass windows surrounding you and depending on the season, possibly Christmas decorations that overwhelm your senses. You will also notice the sound table about halfway up the left side of the pews. This space is always occupied by students who control the PowerPoint and music for the service. Parallel to the sound table, on the right side, is a space carved out for wheelchairs. I don’t know if that was the intended purpose of this space, however, it allows someone with a wheelchair to sit next to their friends or family without being in the aisle.
This purpose of this space is for The Gathering, weekly chapel, convocations, and other assemblies like concerts and guest speakers. The goal of this building is to connect the students and staff of Hope College to form a closer relationship with God. Dimnent Chapel is known by students for being a place that Christians can go to. I would say if you are a Christian, then the purpose of the space is fulfilled. Hope events that are centered around your faith and held in Dimnent allow you to feel like you are bettering your faith because you are in a space for God to move. However, if the purpose of the space is for ALL people, genders, disabilities, and beliefs, then I would argue this space does not fulfill that purpose.
On Wednesday, February 14th, I followed along with many groups of friends into Dimnent Chapel to hear a service that I was hoping would give me some hope for the week I was about to enter into. Everyone pushes their way through the crowds to their normal spot and the cold air flows in with each person. You can hear the mumbles of many conversations with all the different cliques until the music slowly starts to make an appearance. Once the service has officially started, everyone is invited to stand and worship.
As you look at the groups of people worshipping you will notice a few things that all seem to be centered around gender. One of the first things I noticed when walking into the space was the overwhelming amount of females compared to males. Hope College has a 60:40 ratio of females to males; Therefore, automatically we should expect to see more females at the service. Along with the dominance of females at the service, I also noticed the different attire of clothing each gender was wearing. I noticed many females seemed to dress up even if their hair was messy. The males, on the other hand, seemed to be wearing their sports sweatshirts or Patagonia jackets, uninterested to dress to impress for the service.
Not only did I notice the difference in clothing for the genders, I also noticed the number of females raising their hands to worship compared to the males keeping their hands in their pockets. This is not everyone that attends Chapel, but from my experience, this is a common mutual feeling. The attire of the gender does not affect how one should worship. Unfortunately, due to the standard or stereotype that has already been created, males are placed into the box that they need to be tough and not show emotion while females are free to show when they are hurting. I looked around and noticed that the males that were worshipping were not raising their hands but rather, at the most, they were swaying back and forth.
Females in Chapel have set an example that the ‘typical’ female that attends the service is one who is “hipster cute” and allowed to express her feelings towards God. Men, on the other hand, have created the example for the incoming generations that you are allowed to come, but you still need to be that “tough guy” during worship. While reading the article from Smitsonian.com, titled When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink, I came across a sentence that related to the idea of a tough guy and emotional girl; “The reason is that pink, being a more decided and stronger color, is more suitable for the boy, while blue, which is more delicate and dainty, is prettier for the girl” (Maglaty). The words, “decided, stronger, and suitable” are used to describe the male character while the female words were “delicate, dainty, and pretty.” These words are generally accepted in our society but also can be seen in our Chapel at Hope. I am in no way arguing that females are better Christians than males because they are not raising their hands or not dressing to impress. However, when I have observed the two genders in Chapel, these are habits I see demonstrated regularly. There is no right or wrong answer to this situation. I believe our society has set expectations that are going to be extremely difficult to adjust.
Not only does the ratio of female to male affect the attendance and appearance of people who are at the service, it also impacts the worship itself. If you listen to the voices that are singing along with the band, you will notice mostly high pitched voices. Not only are the voices around you high pitched but also the song choices seem to always be higher pitched as well. I would not assume that they pick the songs specifically for females, however, most often the lead singer of the student band is a female. When I hear a high pitched song I automatically have been raised that it is a better fit for a female. While I am worshipping, if I have a song that I believe I can sing the pitch correctly, then I enjoy the worship altogether more. What I am wondering is, who told our society that males cannot sing a high pitched song even if it doesn’t sound ‘appealing or good? Who told females they should prefer to sing the higher pitched songs even if their voices may be a little lower than the average female? Judith Lorber argued a similar idea in The Social Construction of Gender, “For human beings there is no essential femaleness or maleness, femininity or masculinity, womanhood or manhood, but once gender is ascribed, the social order constructs and holds individuals to strongly gendered norms and expectations” (Lorber 25). Yes, typically females have higher pitched voices; that is biology. However, I agree with Lorber that there should not be an expectation that they should automatically be better at something because of their gender.
One aspect of Chapel that may go unnoticed but still incredibly crucial to the gender that feels welcome into the space is the figures on the glass windows. Although the attendance of the services are mostly female, if you look at the stain glass windows, you will only see male figures. There are 10 stained glass windows located in the sanctuary that were given in honoring of friends and members of Hope Church. The ten figures are St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist, Christ Blessing a Child, St. Stephen, St. Paul, Moses, Elijah, The Good Shepherd, David, and Isaiah. They all are male saints that surround the students of anyone who is in Chapel. As a female, this is one of the first things I noticed when looking past all the decorations that Hope has added to the building itself. Looking at the architecture, I noticed that similar to the stories in the Bible, the males tend to outnumber the females. While I was reading chapter 17 from Delusions of Gender, I instantly was reminded of this situation in Chapel. The article reads, “Parents may also be slightly more likely to place a birth announcement for a boy than for a girl” (Fine 195). In both cases, I feel as though the females have been pushed aside and don’t seem to play a positive role in our society. Being a male is more likely to be seen as something to share and be proud of. If I were a male, I would find this encouraging seeing so many strong male figures surrounding the area where I am coming to worship. As a female, however, I would feel a little discouraged not seeing my gender represented in the architecture of the Chapel. Relating back to the quote on page 195, not only are females not represented well in our Chapel, females are placed on the short end of birthing announcements too.
Dimnent Chapel is a special space for many people. The space brings comfort and encouragement to many groups. On the other hand, it can bring unfamiliarity if you are not walking in with a group you have already formed and created almost an identity with. Gender is seen throughout the people who sit together, architecture surrounding the pews, and voices that are heard. Dimnent is welcoming to those who already fit the Chapel stereotype, however, it fails to welcome those who do not fit the Christian mold of a Hope College student exploring to deepen their faith in a service or event.
Discussion Questions:
- Do you feel like one gender is more welcome than another to attend a service in Dimnent Chapel? If so, why?
- Can you think and give examples of some ways to incorporate more female representation in Dimnent Chapel?
- Do you feel like men have an advantage because of the vast majority of male figures in the architecture in Dimnent Chapel?
Fine, Cordelia. Delusions of Gender. W.W. Norton & Company, 2010, pp. 189-213.
Lorber, Judith. “The Social Construction of Gender.” Night to His Day, edited by Rachael Groner and John F. O’Hara, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014, pp. 19-31.
Maglaty, J. (2011, April 07). When Did Girls Start Wearing Pink? Retrieved February 20, 2018, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-did-girls-start-wearing-pink-1370097/
Challenging Bodies 
I think, in an effort to appeal to more female chapel goers, Hope College has employed a more diverse staff of preachers and worship team members. However, it is true that all of the figures and saints in the stain glass and even Jesus himself was a male and for some that can be a turn off towards Christianity. I think that if you are going into a place of worship, or rather, not going to a place of worship because you fear being ostracized due to your gender, then that place of worship might not be a good fit for you. Islamic mosques, for example, are segregated by male and female and each sex is not allowed to see each other while the service is underway.
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I agree that Dimnent is likely intended to be a place that is equally welcoming to all genders. I think it’s interesting the observations you made on the ratio of male to female students, as well as the differences in appearance that each gender seemed to represent. I wonder if there’s a way to convey to male students that they don’t need to present that “tough guy” outward appearance when attending chapel, and that they are just as welcome as female students to visibly share when they are hurting.
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I agree with your observations about the male to female ratio of people who attend chapel services as well as their expressions and gestures during the service. More women tend to attend these services, and if I were male, this might influence me in a negative way and feel uncomfortable attending. I also agree that, unfortunately, in today’s society men are seen as having to be the “tough” guy as you pointed out. This comes across in the way they worship as well. Since worship can be an emotional experience, I think it is interesting how men and women handle these emotions differently. Do men feel restricted and out of place and that is why the majority do not raise their hands? Or is it rather that men express their emotions and worship differently in a way that does not call for hand raising? Men should feel comfortable expressing themselves however they want in Dimnent Chapel since this is a space for all people regardless of gender or any other demographic.
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Monika, I think you bring up some great questions. I wonder if one reason why men don’t raise their hands is because it makes them feel vulnerable. When I choose to raise my hands in chapel, it is my way of saying that I choose to surrender to God. This idea of surrendering means acknowledging your weakness and giving up control. I think that a lot of people, including most of the men I know, really struggle with this idea of being vulnerable and giving up that control.
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I think it is important that we have more women speak at Chapel to balance out the gender representation at Chapel. I think would make more women at Hope College feel inclined to attend and feel that their voices are heard during Chapel. As far as the architecture goes, I can understand how this would make women feel a lack of representation in faith here at Hope. I think the main way to solve this is to have more women speakers at Chapel.
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I really appreciated your observations and insights on the Chapel space. I had never noticed that the stain glass images depicted all men and thought that was very interesting. I also am now more inclined to notice the difference between men and women in the Chapel. This could possibly play into the stereotypes that women are more emotional in a service whereas men feel the need to keep it all inside. I think a way to incorporate more female representation through campus ministries is to hire more females as well as have more women speak in chapel.
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I think one way to create more female representation in the Chapel would be to bring in more females speakers! Lots of guests speakers that Hope brings in are males, so inviting more females is a good place to start. I do not think that men have an advantage at all. The pictures on the glass tell a story of history, sadly they did not include much women in this, but still it does not mean women are not welcome in the chapel. I think it is very ironic the amount of men on the walls, and the amount of females that pack into chapel every MWF! Even though women are underrepresented in the glass work of the chapel, women are essential to the chapel functioning in a healthy fashion!
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I do not believe that one gender is more welcome in Dimnent Chapel than another. Yes, the fact that there are more men on the windows is true, but I think it is such a minor detail in the chapel, that many were not even aware of this fact beforehand. One factor that MIGHT influence gender representation, as many stated above, would be the gender representation of the speakers at chapel, because many are men. However, I feel that the chapel, as a space, is very welcoming towards all genders because christianity is welcoming to all genders.
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I think this is a very important part of Hope College to examine. I think there is definitley a lack of female representation in The Church in general, and particularly at Hope College. I think this is largely because we only have one female figure in campus ministries, while the rest of the ministers are men. It’s important to point out the lack of female representation, even on the windows because this too sends a message to female Christians. I think there needs to be more messages centered around women in the church. I also think it is important for church leaders to encourage women to be role models and leaders in the church.
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I agree. In my experience there has always been more of a female crowd within church, while more so male figures on the wall. I think this shows the gender imbalance within the church setting.This begs the honest question, that since Christ is regarded as a male, does this fact have anything to do with the intimacy men have to Christ? Of course this feeling would be a social construction.
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