Saturday, February 2, 2019

Do We Really Want Gender Equality?

The man apparently turned himself in to the police (good job!), but when the video first came out of the "hulking brute" (the exact words of the news report) who violently slugged two women on the street who were trying to calm him down, people went nuts. Please withhold judgment for just a minute on the point I am making. I am not saying that people should have been cheering him on, no. I just find it to be surprising that anyone is shocked at this. What should we expect when we have been flooded with images of "tough women" in the media, and where young girls are encouraged to be soldiers and play on boy's football teams?

Take for example the portrayal of women that is being given in movies so much lately. How many times have we heard an actress say how great it is to "play a strong woman who can fight" or laud a female character "who can kick butt"? We see these actresses who are "tough" themselves playing roles that display women going fist to fist with men and, (at least in the story), showing themselves to be stronger and more physically adept. This is sometimes even the case when the men clearly outweigh them by about 100 pounds.

So, we are being shown all these "tough women" in movie situations (many of which are performing feats way beyond reality) and we get used to it. We become accustomed to thinking of women as "just one of the guys". How many movies these days show women in brutal combat positions performing with just as much strength as the guy who is 6' 4" and weighs 250 pounds? How often have we been shown female marines being treated as "just a soldier, regardless of sex"? The more we get used to the idea, the more we will play it out in real life. The intent (I presume) of those who choose this scenario for the movies is to encourage women to be strong and achieve an equal status in all things with the men.

The unexpected result (which is clear) is what is seen in the news story I referred to (and it is probably happening a whole lot more than we realize). Of course people will actually begin to treat women as "one of the guys". How much of a fervor would there have been in the news story if this "hulking brute" had punched two men? Most would have said nothing more than "he got in a fight", correct? So if we really want women to be "equal in all things" and to be strong fighters right along side the men, then why is anyone complaining that this man treated these two women as "one of the guys"? Is it because they are shorter than he? Not likely; many of the "tough women" of the movies are these skinny little things with barely any muscle (but somehow in the story writer's view of the world, they can still hold their own in a battle with all kinds of monsters!).

The point I am making is this: we all know that men and women are not genuinely "equal in all respects", and when that inequality (which was designed by God for our good) comes to the surface, we cannot ignore it. Those who want women soldiers should not say anything about a man violently punching a woman who confronted him. She put herself out there, right? If, however, you realize that God wants us to value and appreciate the differences between men and women, then you will want to allow those differences to be recognized by society and become the practice of all.

As I have said before, let men be men, and let women be women. Only there can we really "reach our full potential". Only when we reject feminism's foolish concept of "equality" can we really be able to find the proper equality that God calls us to; equality as baptized people before Christ our Lord. In this world, egalitarian ideals do not work, and they always lead to abuse; abuse that is both physical and spiritual. We need to see these "tough women" roles for what they are: an attack on femininity, an attack on womanhood, and an attack on godly order.