It’s pretty clear by the truckloads of articles and books that keep showing up that more and more women who bought into the feminist “dream” are now taking it all back, acknowledging that it was a big flop. And, of course, they are complaining now that they are either approaching or are in their forties, that their big careers are not fulfilling, that all they really want is a husband and children, that time is running out, and that all the attractive men are going for the younger women.
The women’s movement has always been a complaining movement. Back in the heyday, they were complaining about having to stay home with the kids while the men got all the fun jobs. They complained so much and so loudly that the men held the door while women walked into the work force in mass. Then they complained that they didn’t get promoted as much or as quickly as the men, that the men didn’t do their share of the housework, that day care was too expensive. And they became competitive, not only with the men, but with the other women, fighting for the same jobs.
They complained that women are no different from men and rejected feminine virtue,modesty, virginity, and loyalty. So we got the “free love” movement of the sixties and women started sleeping around the way they thought the men had been all along. And then they complained about getting pregnant and burdened with unwanted children, so our high court gave them abortion. And they partied on, rejecting monogamy and marriage and motherhood.
All stupid ideas finally collapse under the weight of their own idiocy and that is what is happening with feminism. Today women are loudly complaining that they feel cheated. They had the opportunity to become wives and mothers, but put it on the back burner while they pursued their careers. Now they are sick and tired of it all and realizing they are all alone. After embracing abortion, many paid the big bucks to sperm donors so they could have a baby (“experience” motherhood). And then they found more to complain about as single moms. There’s no one else to help raise the baby, child care is expensive, and all the other parents in the PTA are married.
Complaining is always the result of discontent. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” What’s inside comes out undisguised. Discontent is the unhappy consequence of indulging envy and ingratitude. And it is no wonder that God sometimes just lets us have what we are whining for, as He clearly has in the case of feminism. But discontent is never satisfied when it gets what it wants; it wants more, something else.
So many women are discontent that it is now being called the feminist backlash. What a surprise. But if returning to the home is just another means of women trying to find satisfaction apart from Christ, then the whole cycle will just start over again.
The story of feminism in our country is a parable, rich with spiritual lessons. And as far as Christian women have bought into any part of it, there is still time to repent. Our country is ripening to receive the gospel, and the more miserable it becomes, the more open it will be to hear the good news.
Originally Published by Nancy Ann on February 18, 2008
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