Camille Paglia has been called an “anti-feminist feminist.” “Anyone who has been following the body count of the cultural wars over the past decades,” one observer noted, “knows Paglia.” In a recent interview she was critical of the feminist movement. “”I don’t feel that gender is sufficient to explain all of human life. This gender myopia has become a disease, a substitute for a religion….It’s impossible that the feminist agenda can ever be the total explanation for human life. Our problem now is that this monomania….sees everything through the lens of race, gender, or class – this is an absolute madness…gender identity has become really almost fascist.” I agree. The days to come, in my opinion, will see an intensification of “the gender wars.”
Remember God, the creator, has the first and final word on gender. “When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and called them man when they were created” (Genesis 5:2). Listen to the words of philosopher Peter Kreeft: “The masculine and the feminine are cosmological. They are not limited to humans, or even just animals. Every language that I know of, except English, has masculine or feminine nouns….the sun and moon, the day and night, the water and the rocks….but most today think this is a projection of our sexuality into the universe. That makes us strangers to the universe. The God who invented human sexuality also invented the universe; the two fit. It’s a much happier philosophy: we fit the nature of things.”
So how do men practice this happier philosophy, which our culture has lost? First, Don’t let the blind rage of the extreme feminist movement and the gender wars blind you to the wonder of God ‘s design for male and female. Celebrate your uniqueness as masculine, created in God’s image. Learn from your elders to embrace your authentic masculine energy. Don’t apologize or deny who you are. Secondly, come an honest recognition of your need to receive affirmation of your masculinity, by coming to the Father, through the Son by the Holy Spirit. Allow yourself to be “drenched” in the love of the Father. It is vitally important that every male follower of Jesus become secure in his masculine soul. Thirdly, out of this sense of inner assurance embrace the feminine side of your personality. “A man who is secure in his gender identity will have a healthy masculine gender identity as well as the balance of the complementary feminine.” (Richard Rohr) Without this balance we lose the good of the masculine. As a result many women have suffered. Fourthly, learn to live with this balance in your life, while discerning the balance in women as well. It is dangerous for either a man or woman to be out of balance.
A short testimony – I have lived with an understanding of this balance in my life for over 25 years. I have come to a healthy affirmation regarding my masculine side, while also embracing my feminine compliment. My blend or balance is unique to me as created in the image of God. I celebrate this uniqueness while rejoicing in how other men are different from me. It has also helped me understand the healthy feminine, while seeing the distortions of the feminine out of balance in women. I close with these words from Leanne Payne who has been such a help to me. “A culture will never become decadent in the face of a healthy, balanced masculinity. When a nation or an entire Western culture backslides, it is the masculine which is first to decline.”
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