By Kathy Athearn
The Washington Stand
Have you noticed how many of society’s problems are rooted in gender confusion?
- Kids are pressured by television, movies, books, teachers, counselors, and social workers to question their gender at a very early age.
- Kids and adults are undergoing gender transition surgeries to try to conform their bodies to how they feel.
- Congress continues to consider drafting women into the military.
- Men and boys are accused of being “toxic” and oppressors simply because they’re males.
- Gender-confused boys are insisting on the “right” to use girls’ bathrooms and vice versa.
Gender confusion is a deep-rooted societal problem which, thankfully, more Americans (and people around the world) are waking up to. The LGBTQ lobby and wokeism were largely rejected in the November election and, thankfully, common sense prevailed.
While this is great news, we cannot let up in our fight to end the gender confusion epidemic completely. One key to defeating gender confusion is opposing extreme feminism.
This extreme feminism was on full display immediately after last month’s presidential election. “Woke” feminists were so appalled that Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris that they took to social media, threatening to kill their boyfriend or husband, using #MATGA or “Make Aqua Tofana Great Again.” (“Aqua Tofana” was a deadly poison women in 17th century Italy used to murder hundreds of men that were allegedly abusive.) The first #MATGA video received 1.3 million likes!
Last month The Federalist journalist, Mark Hemingway, wrote about #MATGA and a glaring problem which he calls “toxic femininity.” He wrote:
“Sadly, today’s gender confusion epidemic finds its roots in feminism. Feminism was initially a fight for equality. Yet in fighting for equality, feminists were actually arguing that femininity was inferior to masculinity because they sought to become more like men.
“The problem is that healthy masculinity is best realized not by erasing the distinctions between men and women or catering to one over the other, but by embracing the complementarity of the two sexes. Whether they resent this being mansplained or not, women have a responsibility to be the nurturing and moderating influence on men the same way men have a responsibility to channel their aggressive tendencies to provide for and defend women.”
There is no doubt that we should be thankful for first-wave feminists who worked hard, persuading Congress to add the 19th Amendment to the Constitution in 1920, ensuring that women have the right to vote. Women also now have tremendous education and career opportunities. However, ironically, as feminists argued for women’s equality, over time many of them actually devalued the unique qualities that God has given women such as sensitivity, caregiving, nurturing, and the amazing gift of motherhood.
Scholar Christina Hoff Summers explains that first-wave feminism (from the early 1900s to the late 1960s) can be divided into two groups: maternal feminists and egalitarian feminists. Both groups fought for women’s voting rights, education, and property rights. However, maternal feminists fought for women’s rights while also appreciating the unique qualities of women and the importance of motherhood. By fighting for women’s legal equality, they did not argue that men and women are the same.
Egalitarian feminists, on the other hand, devalued femininity and motherhood, believing that women were “oppressed” by men (reflecting Marxist philosophy). They believed that women should not stay home to raise children but rather escape their “oppressive” houses and work where men did. By doing so, they completely devalued one of the most important jobs a woman can have — motherhood. Moms who stayed home to raise their children were told that they were oppressed by their husbands and underappreciated by society.
Sadly, this devaluing of femininity and motherhood did not stop at requiring women to work anywhere a man can work. It led to second-wave feminists in the 1970s demanding the legalization of abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. But that wasn’t enough. Third-wave feminism, which began in the 1980s, seeks the complete overhaul of society to defeat “the patriarchy” (again exposing its Marxist roots). This extreme feminism creates animosity and division as well as the continued devaluing of women and their unique gifts.
To defeat extreme feminism (or “toxic femininity”), we need to teach our kids the truth that while men’s and women’s gifts, roles, and responsibilities are different, they are inherently equal in worth and value. Men and women complement each other. Motherhood and fatherhood are two of the most important jobs women and men can have. We need to flood movies, television, books, and schools with these truths.
We should also reaffirm what boys across all cultures already know, as Nancy Pearcey has found: that good men provide, protect, and procreate (i.e. raise a family and build the next generation). And we need to reaffirm what girls innately know: that God has given them special gifts that are equally as important — the gifts of sensitivity, caregiving, and nurturing. As Alisa Childers explains, “Real strength is not ‘girl power.’ The way to build up girls is to help them embrace and celebrate the specific role and traits God hardwired into women, who are beautiful, valuable, and precious to him.”
Originally published at The Washington Stand!
