REMANATIONS

One of the things that I am always telling my students is that for all of the bluff and blather of the feminists and egalitarians, our culture really hates women. And not in the ways that feminists are always going on about. I mean that our feminist and egalitarian culture hates women. Perhaps it would be slightly more accurate to say that our culture hates womanhood, but it eventually comes to the same thing.

Women who love being homemakers, who aspire to joyfully submit to their husbands, who gladly embrace the high calling of motherhood, are either pitied (“Poor rubes, they think that making babies is as significant a calling as being a CEO”) or, if one of those “rubes” has the audacity to respond to such sentiments with a twinkle-eyed laugh and, “Actually, it’s more significant,” then the pagan intelligentsia responds with blustering and blistering anger.

Hell hath no fury like a feminist who just got told.

This isn’t to say that modern feminism doesn’t talk a good game. It’s just to point out that, when the rhetoric gets tired, old, and wrinkly, and the time comes to actually stand up for something, feminism has the backbone of a squid.

My students, inquisitive and incredulous bunch that they are, often press me here to provide proof and evidence of such bold statements. It’s one thing to say that modern feminism has gone “too far” in its pursuit of women’s dignity; it’s another to say that it’s running pell mell in the opposite direction.

A recent example of this is the surprisingly minor flap involving Obama’s head speechwriter, Jon Favreau, and a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton. In a nutshell, at a campaign party Favreau did his best frat guy impersonation and placed his hand on Cardboard Hillary in a way that would get a true frat guy kicked out of school. Of course, someone snapped a picture of the smiling speechwriter and it raised a minor wave in the world of the politicos.

For his part, Favreau apologized and Hillary laughed it off. Obama, in great presidential style, had no comment, as did the National Organization of Women. The media, great watchdogs that they are, did their best to sweep it under the rug, lest any scandal besmirch the president-elect. Any outrage on the part of anybody was muted and brief. And Favreau went on writing the most historic inaugural address ever.

So how could this possibly be evidence that our culture hates women? Simple, we all know that if almost anyone else had been stupid enough to have his picture taken in like manner–say, a speechwriter for Sarah Palin or John McCain, or any evangelical pastor in the country–they would have been taken to the toolshed and bloodied. Firing the culprit wouldn’t be sufficient; he would have to be black-listed forever. His name would have had the word “-gate” added to the end and we would still be treated to nightly updates about it. As it stands, most of you may have never even heard about it.

What this shows is that the fight for “women’s rights” has very little to do with women and everything to do with amassing power. Cultural elites, including politicians, journalists, and organizations, are more than happy to use women to achieve their ends. And, when convenient for them, they will savagely destroy someone’s reputation for breaches of conduct, both real and imagined.

But when the shoe is on the other foot, and one of their own commits a brazen act that demeans a prominent female politician, the chattering classes are struck as mute as the father of John the Baptist… at least until someone on the other team commits a faux paux. Then, glory be, their voice returns.

The reason I belabor this point with my students is that I want them to understand what’s going on. I want them to learn to interpret the times. I want them to see the hypocrisy and foolishness of all the Christ-less “-isms” out there.

I want the young women to resist the allure of feminist propaganda that promises freedom and delivers slavery, that preaches empowerment and fulfillment and practices brokenness and inanity, that exchanges the God-designed protection of loving husbands and fathers for the utilitarian protection of a god-like state.

I want the young men to refuse to be cowed by accusations of misogyny because they believe that husbands should humbly lead and wives should joyfully submit. I want them to avoid their own temptations, the temptation to abandon chivalry and refuse to lead because this He-Man Woman-Hater’s Culture considers opening doors for ladies and taking initiative and responsibility in relationships to be demeaning to the fairer sex.

Biblical manhood and womanhood, marked as it is by headship and submission, initiative and responsiveness, responsibility and support, is an incredible gift from a wise and loving Creator, a marvelous remanation of the ineffable harmony, holiness and happiness that exists within the Godhead. It’ll stand up to scrutiny. We just have to have the courage to defend it.