Feminism

repost from April 2010

In a world of growing feminism, as all polar oppositional forces tend to swing too far, our efforts to secure “equality” actually have diminished the importance of sexual roles and some of the disparities that are inherently present in men and women. While feminism has been amazingly influential in increasing women’s pay and general status in our culture, it has also done some harm when it comes to the family. Feminism’s own language of empowerment has been harnessed to confuse gender roles, causing confusion among men and overwhelming pressure and stress on women. I feel in some ways, the feminist movement has put far too much responsibility on females. The common trend of breaking down gender stereotypes has lead to the traditional roles as nearly being seen as taboo. There are biological differences in men and women and much evidence shows that men are supposed to be men and women are suppose to be women.

Again, there have been many wonderful positives from the feminist movement including freedom and self determination for women, greater diversity of accomplishments, and ideas and a more educated populace. This issue is not easy to discuss because there are so many strong opinions about women and their place in the world. I am not about to argue that woman or any human being is not equal regardless of their sex, race, origin, or abilities. But I would like to try and shed light on the fact that the feminist movement has gone too far.

The economics of our nation have adjusted for a two income family. The average married couple most likely cannot afford to have the American dream lifestyle without two people bringing in a full time wage. Two adults having to grind the wheel of the workforce often, not always, but often results in women feeling overwhelmed, overworked, and feeling as though they are not measuring up as mothers and wives. For many men the result is feeling neglected by their spouses, emasculated, and constantly nagged by their partner because they are not doing enough. Both parties suffer in their health because neither have time to prepare nutritional meals and of course the ultimate decline of their intimacy.

Equality does not mean men and women are the exact same, fundamentally and physiologically we are not! I actually feel that the extreme negative effects of feminism have actually paradoxically been further oppressive. We have shaken up the pre-conceived ideas about how to treat women, but we did not really offer anything in place of those ideas. Perhaps some concepts of our grandmothers’ were not so bad, perhaps we can learn what it means to be a woman and what our divine roles are here on this earth.