Gender and the Blame Game

Defenders of traditional gender roles sometimes fall under the misconception that one gender alone is completely responsible for the current confusion in gender roles.  Bashing men for unmanliness and women for lacking femininity is commonplace, even among faithful Catholics.

This concept is based upon the modern misunderstanding that male and female can be understood apart from one another. But the truth is that the relationship between the genders is complimentary. When men change for better or worse, women are affected similarly. When women change for better or worse, the same is true. Men are rendered less manly if there is a dearth of good women. Similarly, women are made less feminine if there are few good men. Any attempt to examine difficulties in the relationship between men and women is rendered utterly useless if one gender is considered apart from the other.

Modern men have metamorphosed into half-men, focused only on gratifying their own desires. The spirit of self-sacrifice which defines manhood is in danger of extinction among secular men, discarded by men who instead selfishly pursue their own desires. They seek power without limit, companionship without love, and sexual pleasure without responsibility.

Modern women, goaded by feminists, have launched a vicious assault on womanhood, rejecting their own femininity in favor of power-lust. Modern women have become amazons, concerned only with hustling off to make their careers and indulge their dreams (or, more accurately, fantasies) of power and influence. They have rejected children and love as hindrances to their career.  

Whether men or women are initially to blame for this state of affairs is immaterial. Indeed, dwelling on this question leads to an unprofitable and destructive fixation on the faults of one gender.

The real question is not how the current confusion started, but what can be done to fix it. And the answer to that question is surprisingly simple. Both men and women need to take responsibility for their own part in perpetuating these flaws, and do their best to atone for them.

The complaints about there being a dearth of “real men” among women or “good women” among men reflect a lack of understanding of the salutary relationship between the two genders. Men will be inspired to embrace their masculinity, if women embrace their holy feminine virtue. Similarly, women will be inspired to embrace their femininity, if men act in a spirit of manly virtue.