Feminism: Beauty Or Beast?

Oooooh, gracious. I’ve considered stepping into this one for awhile but haven’t been quite that brave. But, I’m feeling a little on the wild side, so here we go.

Feminism. There’s just so much attached to that word isn’t there?

The definition of feminism is debatable. 

Dictionary.com defines feminism as: “the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men.”

Merriam Webster defines it as: “the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.”

I think many people believe that they also define feminism this way.  It’s simply about equality, right? 

Now let’s look at the definition of equality. 

Dictionary.com defines it as: “the state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability.”

Now, I for one, believe that equality (not sameness, mind you, but equality) between men and women is a beautiful and needful thing:

“For as a woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God.” (1 Corinthians 11:12)

“If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” (James 2:8-9)

Side note: Honestly, in the U.S., I believe this has, as a broad statement, already been achieved. Yes, there are sexist humans out there, but I don’t believe this is a systematic issue. I believe our country’s view of women has improved in leaps and bounds and continues to. Now, if you would like to experience true oppression as a female, I suggest you visit a number of other countries, which shall here remain unnamed, where this is a disturbing and legitimate issue. There are many cultures in our world where women are truly treated as lesser, as inhuman, as disposable, and it’s horrendous. In these countries you won’t find female millionaires, lead actresses, professional athletes, CEOs, business owners, politicians or presidential candidates as you do here in U.S. of A. I could seriously write a separate blog just on the blessing of being a woman in America today and how the so called “wage gaps”, and lack of equal opportunity in this country are generally the mere grumblings of a spoiled society, as well as highly, highly debatable. I could talk for days on how we should be incredibly thankful for the opportunities we are privy to. But I suppose we’ll save that for another day.

Now, let’s get back on track here and realize the truth of the matter. If we really felt like the above definitions are a fair description of the feministic movement, that would mean that a compromise could be found and satisfaction attained. If this was true, the pursuit would be for the finding of some kind of middle ground, the desire would be for true equality, for opportunity for everyone, for every person to feel the same worth. Men and women would be building one another up. Encouraging one another, because we would want to see ALL OF US succeed.

And yet… all one must do is look around for two full seconds to realize that this is not at all what the modern, woke, feminist movement is about. While it could so briefly seem a thing of beauty, take one step a little closer and, bright as day, you will see the insatiable beast that is feminism. 

Insatiable beast??? A little dramatic, right?

Let’s chat about that for a fast second.

Many are now grieving the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, supreme court justice and feminist icon. Here are a few things she had to say on the topic:

“When I’m sometimes asked ‘When will there be enough [women on the Supreme Court]?’ And I say ‘When there are nine,’ people are shocked. But there’d been nine men, and nobody’ ever raised a question about that.”

So what do you think? If it’s an issue in the mind of a feminist to have nine male supreme court justices, one would think a true “feminist”, desperate for equality, would hope for a balanced bench of judges rather than nine females, which would defeat the whole idea, would it not? Oh, no. We lady bosses must have them all.

And on the topic of the right to life, she had this to say, regarding women:

“I said on the equality side of it, that is is essential to a woman’s equality with man that she be the decision-maker, that her choice be controlling.”

So, the father has no choice here, the baby has no choice here, only the woman. Which does not echo a cry of equality by any stretch of the imagination. It is up to the woman and the woman alone. Her feelings are the only thing that matter, even in life and death situations.

Here’s another feminist quote I ran across:

“A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” – Irina Dunn

Now, I’m not saying that a woman is incomplete without a man, (I believe Jesus Christ is the only one who truly completes any person), but if someone reversed this to say what men would be without women, oh my word, the backlash would be insane. This is an insult to men just as much as it would be to women. This is not saying that women are just as necessary as men, this is saying that men aren’t necessary at all. Hmmmm….

Here’s another fun one:

“It’s not every day you hear a four-year-old say Prince Charming is a [explative] who only holds Cinderella back. That’s my girl.” – Emma Chase

Wow. Prince Charming is not seen here as equal, or needful but rather a road block. He’s not only unnecessary, he’s a hindrance to Cinderella’s potential.

And let’s think about something. Try to find a meme regarding men that is not a complete insult to their intelligence or character. 

I remember one day, trying to find a fun meme to text to my husband and it was nearly impossible to find one that I didn’t feel was a complete insult to him as a man. I may or may not have gone on to write a Facebook post thanking all my guy friends and family for being awesome. Cause they need to hear that now and again in our current climate.

Or try this, name one male character in a movie or tv show that displays any real intelligence or is of any good use and isn’t a complete pushover. (And if he does have honorable or strong characteristics, they generally kill him off or diminish him in some way or another, because heaven forbid he might accomplish something of merit and take the focus off the female lead.) 

I could go on for days. The modern feminist movement does not encourage equality, but rather it bashes men to pieces and removes any hope of it. Ever heard this argument? “Well, women had to deal with this for so many years, maybe men need a taste of it for a bit.” Wow! Yeah, because we all know that that’s EXACTLY how we ought to treat people. “It’s wrong for me to be treated this way, so rather than encourage everyone to treat each other with kindness and dignity to break this cycle, I’ll just return the injustice to those who may or may not have imposed it on me to begin with!” Yep, that’s awesome. That’s a way to make progress for sure. Forgive my sarcasm. It breaks my heart. We are called to something better:

“As you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” – Luke 6:31

Feminism does not encourage kindness and respect to everyone, at least not today’s feminism. Today’s feminism encourages domination and complete rule. It’s not enough for women to be EQUAL with men, there is a much stronger agenda for them to take the place they see men as possessing since the beginning of time. And it really doesn’t stop there.

Let’s talk about what our children are watching on the subject, what they are seeing as the norm. My brother and I were recently discussing the Disney movies we grew up watching. I’ve always seen the glaring feminist agenda in so many of them, because um… you’d have to be blind to miss it. Ya know, where basically every storyline involves a discontented young girl who defies her patriarchal father to pursue her dreams, which generally involves somehow saving the world and maybe ruling it when it’s all said and done. But then my brother pointed to his observation of how feminism has morphed over the years… how, no matter the power she (the princess or lead character) may come to possess, it’s never enough.

Think I’m stretching things a bit? Not really.

For awhile it was enough for the female lead to simply not have to marry the man she was “supposed to” or be kept home and away from “adventure” (e.g. Ariel, Pocahontas), or there was the desperate need to rule or lead just like the men (e.g. Jasmine, Mulan, Merida), but then, even when the role of leadership is handed to her on a silver platter, that’s too constricting as well, so we add in some special powers or god-like qualities to keep us climbing higher and higher. (e.g. Moana, Elsa). 

I once read a secular article that was down on Moana for how typical the storylines in Disney films continue to be. But honestly, it’s really just a clearly laid out example of the feminist movement in general. It’s an insatiable desire to dominate, to hold the place we’ve despised men for holding, and treating them as we despise being treated. 

Now, I can’t say I’m shocked that our rebellious nation has turned this way; it’s human nature to do so. When Adam and Even fell to sin and God laid out how sin would curse their natures:

To the woman he said, “…Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” – Genesis 3:16

This probably isn’t what some people want to hear but it sure is proving true. You might not like it, but you can’t deny it either. God called men to lead and to guide and to protect us, (which isn’t a cake walk for them either) but that hits our pride right where it hurts, causing us, in defense of a selfish ego, to fight against it with all we are.

(And there’s a whole other blog on men’s responsibility in carrying this through in a God honoring way, so I’m not ignoring that fact, there just isn’t time to cover it today).

But see, it’s not enough for us to want to be just like the men… we take it a million steps further. You might want to consider that the main reason Eve sinned in the first place was because the serpent told her:

“You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, AND YOU WILL BE LIKE GOD, knowing good and evil.” – Genesis 3:5 (Emphasis mine)

You might scoff or laugh, but human nature is always wanting what we don’t have and I find it extremely telling that the very thing that tripped Eve up, trips us up today. (As Disney has so cleverly laid out for us.) Funny ole world, isn’t it?

What’s My Point?

I say all this to say… can we please stop acting as though feminism is about equality? Can we stop pretending that feminism cares about everyone? How about we call it like it is. It’s an avenue to make us feel empowered as women, but calls us to trample on men as we feel we’ve been trampled upon. It’s not an ideal that will ever truly be attained. It’s not women wanting to be treated with the same dignity as men. Feminism is women desiring to rise above men and treat them with no respect or dignity at all. It’s a horrible way for humans to treat one another. 

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; MALE and FEMALE, he created THEM.” – Genesis 1:27 (Emphasis mine).

Maybe you don’t believe God created you to begin with. But he did. We are all created in the image of an all-powerful, almighty, everlasting, kind, loving, just God. We were never meant to become him, though humans have tried since the beginning of time, but were made to reflect who he is and to embrace the beauty of what he made us to be: Men and women, beautifully different but standing equally before God. If this is how our Creator sees us, it’s how we ought to see each other.

The feminist movement is not a thing of beauty, it’s a beast that is ever ravenous and will never be satisfied.

So stop feeding it. 

Starve it. 

It deserves to die.