Sharon Sullivan | July 11, 2023 | SHARE: 
I was born and raised in the Northeast, with my formative years taking place during the 1970’s and 80’s. I remember my mother being home every afternoon when I returned from school. She was the epitome of the stay-at-home mom: cooking, cleaning, carpooling, and taking care of all things relating to her children and the home. I was in 3rd grade when I personally viewed divorce for the first time, when one of my best friend’s parents split up. This was followed by a steady stream of other friends whose parents made the same decision to leave their marriages and place their children in the crossfire of custody battles and single-parent homes. Many of my friends were original latchkey kids.
Of course, it’s no surprise that the uptick in divorce coincided with Hollywood’s attack on traditional marriage and family values. Who can forget the gut-wrenching movie Kramer vs Kramer, or the “comedy” One Day at a Time, even The Brady Bunch, a show that targeted a child audience and never gave an explanation for Mrs. Brady’s missing first husband. I, as the rest of my generation, was slowly being conditioned to accept single-parent households, blended families, divorce, and, ultimately, the ascent of feminism. While Hollywood was, and is, a factor in the desensitization towards the “modern family,” there were additional factors that predate the entertainment industry’s covert operation to devalue the nuclear family.
One of the early attacks on the family was the elimination of Bibles and prayer from public schools. This effort, driven in large part by atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, made its way to the US Supreme Court where the Court affirmed in 1963 that schools must remain neutral in matters of religion. The end result meant that Christian values could no longer be taught in public classrooms across America, and children would no longer learn about God’s design for families, marriage, and the important role of women in these arenas. These lessons would now rest solely on the shoulders of parents, some of whom were divorced, and our churches that not all students attended.
The introduction of the birth control pill also was a monumental moment in the rise of American feminism and the fall of the traditional family. Approved for use in the 1960’s, birth control pills opened the door for women to have casual sex with multiple partners without commitment or the “complication” of pregnancy. It should come as no surprise that Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger is credited with aiding in the development of the medication that radically influenced the Free Love Movement during the 60’s and 70’s.
Although a hero in the feminist movement for her work in developing and distributing “the Pill,” Sanger has long been a controversial figure and generally a taboo subject amongst feminist advocates, as her reputation in eugenics undermined her work in the feminist movement. Sanger favored the practice of sterilizing women against their will to “perfect” the human race via population control—particularly women with diseases, those living in poverty, and those of presumed “inferior intelligence.”
These ideas are far from supportive of women’s autonomy and could never be considered feministic ideals. In fact, Planned Parenthood has distanced itself from Sanger in recent years, so as not to further tarnish its reputation.
The notion that a woman can do it all and have it all, while doing it all alone, is nonsense. By definition, feminism is “an organized effort to give women the same economic, social, and political rights as men.” This idea is actually born from a Biblical principle found in Genesis 1:26-27, “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them.” Both men and women were created in His image. It says nothing about being inequitably made in His image. In addition, Genesis 2:18 tells us that woman was created as a helper for man. God states in Genesis that it was “not good for man to be alone.” If God’s Word states that man and woman were created in His image and that man needed a helper, it’s fair to conclude that woman also needed a helper.
While the basis of feminism sounds like a good idea on its surface, it has been distorted and even hijacked through time. Allowing women the right to vote, giving them equal pay for equal work, and allowing the admission of women into schools and professions commonly open only to men does fit the definition of feminism, but what’s really at its core?
Somewhere along the way, feminism was commandeered as a social justice term, and frequently used as an excuse for poor and demeaning behavior from incensed women towards men. Often times, men were accused of being chauvinistic because they dared to open a door for a woman or offered to pay the whole tab of a dinner date bill. This was offensive to some women because, in their minds, this implied that they were incapable and unable to pay for themselves. As a result, we now have a generation of men who have little concept of chivalry, who lack politeness, and who are terrified of being accused of anti-feministic acts.
I’ve never understood the desire of women to be like, or strive to be better than, men. I have personally found great joy in our differences throughout my years. While being a woman certainly comes with its challenges, I have cherished the gifts of womanhood given to me by my Creator; pregnancy, childbearing, and nursing to be among some of the most precious gifts. And while I believe that men and women have equal value in God’s eyes, we are different and serve different roles within His plan.
It’s for this reason that I have found myself so puzzled by the lack of feministic outrage over recent socio-political events. Where were the feminists when all across the country legal entities decreed that men who identify as women should be allowed to use women’s restrooms? Shouldn’t feminists everywhere be alarmed at the prospect of a woman being vulnerable and half undressed in a room with an unknown man in the next stall? Moreover, what if this woman in the bathroom has a history of being a victim of violent crime perpetrated by a man? The outpouring of sentiments expressed during the #metoo movement stand in stark contrast to placing women in such vulnerable positions.
Then there’s the trans movement. Biological men are now claiming that they have also suffered the hardships of womanhood. Social media and Hollywood celebrate this, too, calling these men brave “trendsetters.” It has become normalized for men to complain about the physical hardships of being female including menstruation and pregnancy. We have progressed from mothers to “birthing people,” developed devices that allow men to “chestfeed” their babies, and are selling bathing suits to biological male “trans-girls” which allow them to hide the unique body parts that God designed for them.
The irony here is that men are now telling women that we can no longer be special doing the things that make us unique as women. Where are the frantic feminists? These anti-women ideas fly directly in the face of feminism, as it neuters women of womanhood and drives the idea that anyone can be a woman. Redefining our feminine capabilities is not equality, it’s sexism.
To that point, one of the most blatant illustrations of sexism in our society today is the participation of boys and men in girl’s and women’s sports. Title IX, considered a huge victory for women’s sports as part of the Education Amendments of 1972, was intended to reduce sex-based discrimination in women’s sports for any program that received federal funds. In recent years, however, participation by trans athletes in women’s sports has become a strange reality. Biological females who train for years to obtain the highest rankings and subsequent scholarships are now losing the rewards of their hard work to faster, stronger, and biologically different “trans” athletes. Additionally, these female athletes have to give up their privacy as they are often forced to share a locker room with biological males. Feminists? Hello? Anywhere?
Oddly, the Title IX protections written to provide women with equal rights in sports are now being used against them as trans athletes scream discrimination while simultaneously cheating females out of their rightful positions. Yes, you read that right. Biological women are now fighting biological men to maintain the protections biological women were granted in 1972 to protect them from the inequality they faced in sports that biological men did not. This is utter madness. But still, no feminists uprising. In fact, I haven’t even seen one write an expose or give an interview.
In reality, feminism isn’t about social, political, or economic equality. Feminism is a systematic, gradual, and purposeful breakdown of Christian beliefs, marriage and the family, which are the bedrock of a spiritually sound culture. As God tells us in Deuteronomy 11:19, we are to teach our children about God’s ways all day long. The establishment of the public school system eroded the time parents spent with their children, but the removal of Christianity from the schools was the proverbial nail in the coffin.
Telling women that they could have it all worked at breaking down both marriage and the family structure. In truth, sometimes life is messy. Not all women marry or experience the joy of motherhood, and many find great fulfillment in their careers. I appreciate these women. I also personally cheer on the women who, due to no fault of their own, end up raising children alone while working to keep their family afloat. The importance here is remembering that we were created for fellowship; with God and with each other. Life is complex, and we aren’t supposed to go it alone.
We are inundated daily with the messages that we have no need for God, church, fellowship, morals, marriage, spouses, children, or families. These lies are reinforced with the messages that we are our own gods, money fixes all things, the government is better at parenting our kids than we are, and that God did not design us in His image as male and female or that He simply made “mistakes” along the way.
Feminists aren’t coming out of the woodwork to defend these issues because feminism has long been a strategy to take our culture down. It’s a charade that has been quite successful. Our only acceptable response is to follow the directive of 2 Chronicles 7:14 which says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
