issues associated with secular feminism have a long history. In 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York, in a Declaration of Sentiments, a group of feminists made the following statement: “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having as direct object the establishment of absolute tyranny over her.”
Women decided to fight back. But their platform was defective. Their narrow view of history was a travesty of justice. Placing all men in a stereotype was exactly the kind of tactic that feminists abhorred. They were launching a movement that was built on a contradiction. By employing a strategy normally associated with men, they were seeking to imitate what they denounced. Men were the enemies not the allies. Feminists were called to arms, to throw off the yoke of tyranny.
A little more than one hundred years later, in 1957, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote a lengthy article encapsulated by a daring title: “Does a Business Career Harden a Woman?” He concluded that, “It is not a question of whether woman should appear in public or be content to reign in private; the question is rather whether she will exercise her role in a specifically feminine way. All the professions can be bettered through her spiritual influence.” The Venerable bishop may be excused for bifurcating woman into public and private, for his point is that the career world will not harden a woman but draw benefits from her as long as she is true to her original nature. Thus, Sheen distinguished between woman’s authentic nature as feminine and her deviation from that as being a feminist.
The book of Genesis teaches that God created woman from man, whereas man came from slime, from dirt. He was to be her protector, whereas she was to be his helper, saving him from extremes, as the Hebrew word ezer indicates. These original roles were twisted out of shape as a result of original sin. Man was not made to be a tyrant, nor was woman made to be at war with him. The sexes were not created to battle each other but to help each other in complementary ways. Secular feminism loses sight of the original vocations of men and women and is fixated on the disturbing effects of original sin.
In 1988, Pope John Paul II turned his attention to the issues of woman in his Apostolic Letter, Mulieris Dignitatem. He spoke of the “genius” of woman and “the fruits of feminine holiness.” He acknowledged in the Introduction that “the dignity and the vocation of women [is] a subject of constant human Christian reflection—having gained exceptional prominence in recent years.’’ According to the Second Vatican Council:
The hour . . . has come when the vocation of women is being acknowledged in its fullness, the hour in which women acquire in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at the moment when the human race is undergoing so deep a transformation, women imbued with a spirit of the Gospel can do so much to aid humanity in not falling.
Alongside this outstanding tribute to the dignity and importance of women is a cautionary note. His Holiness warns against “the ‘masculinization’ of women,” writing:
In the name of liberation from male “domination,” women must not appropriate to themselves male characteristics contrary to their own feminine “originality.” There is a well-founded fear that if they take this path, women will not “reach fulfilment,” but instead will deform and lose what constitutes their essential richness.
The Pontiff’s words offer a confirmation of what Bishop Sheen had to say about women in the aforementioned article. He is aware that a contradiction cannot lead to a fulfillment. The contradiction to which he is referring is the futile attempt to denounce men and at the same time attempt to imitate them. In the process, women lose their femininity. Abortion, now considered by many as a “right,” cannot be regarded as being consistent with women’s fulfillment. The rejection of men, who are said to be imposing a “patriarchy” that suppresses women, is also the rejection of an ally that is needed in order for women to achieve their fulfillment.
On August 15th, 2013, The End of Woman: How Smashing the Patriarchy Has Destroyed Us was released. Author Carrie Gless is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America. Her central thesis is that feminism does not empower women; it erases them. This unhappy result is brought about by women trying to become something they are not, like the proverbial horse that wanted to sing like a nightingale. Being “liberated” from one’s own original nature is akin to a flower being plucked from its roots.
Dr. Gless reflects on the seeds of contemporary feminism that were planted in the 1800s. She is struck by how many Catholics have embraced secular feminism as if it were congruent with their faith.
It is an odd phenomenon that so many women can become members of a movement that is clearly contrary to scripture as well as to common sense. The Bible portrays women of great strength and leadership. Independence is a myth. We all have a specific nature that was given to us by God. We cannot be independent of ourselves and thrive. Personal authenticity means being true to one’s self and not to an ideological group that is bent on overthrowing an imaginary tyrant.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
