Who are you? Who am I? | Week 45

November | Politics | Week 45 | 11/12/2023 
Feminism vs Masculinity: History and Political Impact

Depending on which intellectual you listen to, you may have been told that the history of males and females is one of unidirectional oppression and unequivocal parasitism. Nothing could be further from the truth, but unfortunately it drives a strange political malignancy - the war between feminism and traditional masculinity. 

First, a historical rebuttal. As far back as we can look, in The Old Testament, it is abundantly clear that man is lost and useless without women. In the book of Genesis, Adam is incomplete without Eve, both figuratively and literally (coming from his rib). The Bible goes on to detail this in narrative form in the Book of Exodus. The heroes of the early chapters are almost entirely women. Midwives Shiphrah and Puah, disobey the Pharaoh and save the Hebrew children. Moses's mother, Jochebed, rejects the Pharaoh's authority and saves her child's life. Miriam, Moses's sister, takes a massive risk in order for Moses to live. The Pharaoh's daughter, who saves a helpless Hebrew baby with whom she has no relation, changes history forever. And Zipporah, Moses's wife, saves his life later on by seeing the signs of his demise. Although Moses is the character chosen for the Hero's Journey by God, it is women, before, during and after his time which enable, protect and aid in that journey, a journey which otherwise would have been unsuccessful without them. The New Testament concretizes this eternal truth beautifully through the story of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus who serves as the hero, but he would be nothing without his Mother Mary. It is Jesus who suffers at the cross, whose figurine we gaze at eternally, but it was his Mother Mary who suffered as well, most beautifully depicted in the Pieta. It was the disciples of John, Matthew, Thomas and Paul who carried the message of Jesus into many lands, who were persecuted for it and whom we regard today as heroes in their own right. But it was also the powerful women of Mary Magdalene, Susanna and Joanna whom we remember as equally important to the mission of Christianity.

Ultimately, men are chosen to bear the burdens of life and to confront evil with their hands, but they are unable to defeat evil without the necessary but separate power and influence of women. This is the true dynamic of men and women. Men are born with the capacity for more physical power, more aggression, more leadership and more risk tolerance. Women are born with the capacity for emotional breadth and depth, with the ability to support unwaveringly, the ability to bear life, and the ability to inspire divine goodness in man.

If we look to history, since the dawn of time, men were the bodies thrown at problems and conflicts. Men were the enslaved workforce, the conscripted masses, the laborers, the sacrifices. Men fought and died in every war, many times against their will, but in every case to protect their families and their nations. Men died in saw mills, coal mines, atop skyscrapers, in far away lands and on distant seas, in every case, to provide for their families and their countries. Throughout that time, women were given away to families to bear children, often dying in childbirth. They lived in squalor and raised families while the men were off dying in factories or on the battlefield. If a place was invaded, the men were taken as slaves and the women were raped. Of course there were 1% of men who sat in ivory towers and atop piles of gold who exploited the rest, but by their side sat women of prominence and opulence who enjoyed much of the same treatment. The moral of this story and the truth about history, is that for much of it, the vast majority of men and women suffered in their own right, facing the brutality of life and their individual situations. 

The story of the modern West and our current wealth, freedom and abundance is the story of brave men and women, who together, dared to come to the new world and set up colonies, who dared to challenge status quo, and who dared to seek goodness for humanity. Whilst the men fought back the British, the women raised children to believe in the mission of America, and taught them about their father's bravery. This led to countless next generations of men who would go on to protect their mothers, sisters and daughters and countless generations of women who would be worthy of that protection, who advanced society through their own bravery and commitment. The progeny of those men and women became Abraham Lincoln and Harriet Tubman, who in their equal ways freed millions. The progeny of those men and women would become the forces who fought back the Nazis, and the women who stepped up to keep the US economic engine running in their absence. The progeny of those men and women would become the brilliant scientists, leaders, missionaries, and families that created true equality of opportunity. 

This is an accurate depiction of humanity and of history. Men and women struggled together and now succeed and flourish together. We've always been together, and we've always thrived when men accept their burdens and women accept theirs. Masculinity, in its truest form, is protection of life and limb, provision for families and nations, and capability in the face of hardship or malevolence. Femininity, in its truest form, is protection of souls and divinity, provision for children and men, and duty in the face of struggle and strife. We are incomplete without one another. These are the truths lost in modernity, and the source of our current intersexual antagonism. The rejection of our nature, the rejection of our divine purposes, and the rejection of our separate but equal challenges, roles and responsibilities are what has created a wedge between man and woman. There is a simple solution: understand history, accept truth, and work together.