[WATCH] Evangelist pastor defends sexist comments: 'Men need sex more than women'

“Men need sex more than women. And women need affection more than men. This is psychologically and biblically proven,” Pastor Jide Jetson, presenter of Overcomer’s Chapel, said in an interview to MaltaToday.

The preacher’s show on cable TV channel F Living recently caused controversy when co-host Pauline Attard Abela insisted that women should not refuse their husbands’ demands for sex.

The statement caused outrage, and a petition submitted to the Broadcasting Authority garnered over 1,000 signatures. Complainants said the show promoted alarming and potentially harmful sexist messages to easily-influenced and vulnerable viewers. 

But surprised by the backlash, both Jetson and Attard Abela are insisting that the idea behind the controversial episode was to “inspire bonding between couples.”

“I believe – and I might be wrong – that women [having sex]… it’s the last thing on their mind. That’s not top of their priorities,” the pastor said, when asked over the view of men needing sex as their top priority in marriage.

“The women the pastor was addressing know exactly what he was portraying,” Pauline Attard Abela continued.  

“Most of the time, we women, we have our children, we have our careers – we sometimes neglect our husbands. That’s what we’re saying, as Christians, as wives, as a mother, the husband should always be a priority,” she said, saying that a marriage “always takes two.”

Reasons such as ‘being tired, or having a headache’, are also valid reasons for refusing sex. “Being away from your husband, as an excuse… I mean the husband should help the wife so that her duties will run more smoothly so that the wife can find time for her husband,” Attard Abela noted.

But asked why they made no reference to husbands denying wives, Pastor Jide Jetson said the particular episode that attracted controversy was addressing women specifically.

In one of his interventions in the same programme, Jetson spoke of encouraging men to take women to the hair salon by suggesting they change their hairstyle.

Man's first priority: sexual fulfilment. Woman's first need: affection, financial support

The presenters were asked if they believed that such comments detract from the bodily autonomy of wives. “It does, yeah,” the pastor admitted. “I’m a pastor, and I have people coming for advice… and I hear things. ‘I want my wife to do this, I want my wife to do that’. Rather than complaining, why don’t you do things together?”

However, the presenters insisted that both partners should consent to the changes suggested towards one another, insisting that once again, the show’s comments were taken “out of context.”

Perhaps the more controversial aspect of the Overcomer’s Chapel’s message was a social media post on their Facebook page, listing men’s basic needs as sexual fulfilment as the first priority, whereas women’s first need was affection and financial support.

Here Jetson countered that he was “being cornered.”

“No matter how a man is well-to-do, or a woman is well-to-do, there has to be that support at home, from a man. It is normal,” Jetson said.

“People like to pick on things that, maybe, are considered feminist, but that’s not the question,” the pastor continued.  “We’re just encouraging a family that… you’ve got to be, as a man in the house, not necessarily the head, you need to support your family.”

Jetson insisted that their teachings are “not for women’s rights, or men’s rights, but for humanity.”

After asking MaltaToday for the definition of feminism, the pastor said, “No. They are not feminist.”

“You should come to church to hear the pastor preach,” Attard Abela enthused. “Just last week, we talked about how women should take pride in that we are women, that we should pursue our dreams.”

“I teach my daughters to become respectable adults, with or without husbands,” Jetson said, “and I encourage women to become dependable and get an education.”