It's so wild to me that conversations of thIS Nature are considered controversial ....
The Truth IS:
Gender IS a fundamental and foundational part of our emBodied, Human experience.
Scripture calls us to abandon the destructive struggle for domINance — whether Man over Woman or Woman over Man. IN doINg so, WE can BEar witness to the Truth: that Wholeness withIN our gendered identities IS not only possible, but available to anyOne and everyOne who claims and confesses what Christ alone has secured for us through His sacrifice on the Cross.
Scripture teaches us that Woman IS not God’s afterthought of Man. That Woman IS God’s amplifier of Man. That Adam, alone, IS simply a Man.
Adam — with Eve — conceives and gives Life to, the Human race. Eve transforms the INdividual INto the INfINite. Eve IS the space that gives the Seed its Purpose and place. Without Her, the Seed’s excellence and exquisiteness could not emerge.
Ultimately — the MasculiNe provides structure and substance, and the FemININe amplifies, nurtures, and brINgs it to full fruition / Life.
ThlS relationship echoes the Creational prINciples of Seed and Soil.
The Seed, a symbol of the MasculINe, contalNs potential, but it needs the nurturINg environment of the Soil, rePresentINg the FemlNINe, to grow, blossom, and BEar Fruit.
Both are essential — as neither would fully actualize their Purpose, and full POTENTIAL, without the other.
The Truth IS: God made Men and Women EQUAL IN VALUE and different IN roles and responsibilities as Caretakers of Creation — and God made Men and Women complementary IN Nature and distINct IN callINg (vocation) as Caretakers of Creation.
WE ARE ESSENTIAL COLLABORATORS IN FULFILLING GOD’S CREATION MANDATE.
Despite the clashINg and contradictory INformation on gender today, confusion and chaos around thIS topic has never BEen greater. While the academic and media INdustries (yes, INdustries) have (unnecessarily) complicated the issue, the Scriptures INvite us back to the sophisticated simplicity of the Garden. THere, IN the BEaUty of God’s Creation, MasculINity and FemININity are not complex, but direct and defINed.
I laughed at the drawing illustration because it's so true! Just yesterday, as my boy and girl did painting; my daughter drawing people, flowers and scenery while my 4 yr old son, who rarely draws, was blobbing paint haphazardly over the page, talking about how he was drawing a monster who killed the bad guys....and did poo 🤦🏼♀️
I was brought up, back in the '70s, to be a good little feminist and I never once questioned the idea that it was all societal conditioning that made the differences between men and women. We were interchangeable, aside from some minor differences in plumbing, and the fact that women were usually smaller than men, right? The fact that I liked girly stuff like makeup and fashion was totally due to society telling me I liked it. And the reason I thought stuff like arguing about which superhero would win in a fight or working on cars was excruciatingly boring was clearly societal pressure as well. If I had lived in a less sexist society, no doubt I would be excited to rebuild a fuel injector. Never mind that my boyfriend was a car guy, and was constantly trying to get me to gap my own spark plugs and share his excitement about V-8 engines, it was SEXISM THAT MADE ME FIND THIS SO BORING.
I remember watching pro skateboarding with my husband back in the early '90s, and it was apparent that the female skaters didn't do the harder tricks or skate as aggressively - we actually had a bit of an argument, because I said it was all societal conditioning, and that women would totally be outskating Tony Hawk in the future as they were raised in a less sexist environment. He laughed at me and said "yeah, sure..."
I was a committed blank-slatist right up until I actually had children of my own. Our first child was a daughter, and I was determined that she would be raised in a non-sexist way. She had dolls and trucks, tea sets and dinosaurs, and I purposely didn't let her watch Disney movies because I didn't want her to get any ideas about being a helpless princess.
It sort of worked - she loved playing with her trucks and cars and dinosaurs. Except she always played truck family, or dinosaur family...I noticed her male playmates seemed to exclusively focus on the "Tyrannosaurus is gonna EAT YOU!" concept. And I have to this day never heard a little girl go "vrooom! VROOM!" immediately upon encountering a toy car.
I went on to have two more daughters, and while one of them was kind of a tomboy who liked climbing trees and playing swords with the boys, she also really liked fairies, dolls, and pretending to be kittycats. The youngest was the most ladylike of the bunch; she was obsessed with tea sets and constructing elaborate fairy houses. And all three of them went through a stage around age 3 or 4 when they insisted in ONLY wearing pink, wouldn't wear pants "they're for boys!", and were obsessed with anything vaguely princess-related.
Yup. Turns out boys and girls are different, on the whole. While some are less gender-conforming than others, there are still some major physical and mental differences. Crazy, huh?
Even in the animal kingdom - my female dog stays by my side and she has a stuffed toy that she carries around and licks and carefully guards from the other pets; while my male dog is prone to wandering off on his own and rips all his toys to shreds.
Thank you for sharing this! I am so intrigued by how thoroughly and deeply the Socialization-Is-The-Cause-Of-All-Gender-Difference idea rooted in our psyches and in our society. And it happened between our mother's generation and ours. I think a lot of women--as you recount, and this was certainly true for me as well--see the cracks in that idea when they have children of their own. But observing the world as it is--as you point out, your male dog behaves differently from your female dog; before having children, it's possible to note gender-based differences in younger siblings, cousins, and neighborhood children--would seem to pose a challenge to the Socialization Doctrine. But there's something so attractive about it, so convincing about it, that it persists! I'm thinking about this a lot right now.
It's so interesting, too, that your daughters fall on different points of the gender-behavioral continuum. People are different! Our children do a reliably good job of reminding us of all sorts of inalienable truths.
It's so wild to me that conversations of thIS Nature are considered controversial ....
The Truth IS:
Gender IS a fundamental and foundational part of our emBodied, Human experience.
Scripture calls us to abandon the destructive struggle for domINance — whether Man over Woman or Woman over Man. IN doINg so, WE can BEar witness to the Truth: that Wholeness withIN our gendered identities IS not only possible, but available to anyOne and everyOne who claims and confesses what Christ alone has secured for us through His sacrifice on the Cross.
Scripture teaches us that Woman IS not God’s afterthought of Man. That Woman IS God’s amplifier of Man. That Adam, alone, IS simply a Man.
Adam — with Eve — conceives and gives Life to, the Human race. Eve transforms the INdividual INto the INfINite. Eve IS the space that gives the Seed its Purpose and place. Without Her, the Seed’s excellence and exquisiteness could not emerge.
Ultimately — the MasculiNe provides structure and substance, and the FemININe amplifies, nurtures, and brINgs it to full fruition / Life.
ThlS relationship echoes the Creational prINciples of Seed and Soil.
The Seed, a symbol of the MasculINe, contalNs potential, but it needs the nurturINg environment of the Soil, rePresentINg the FemlNINe, to grow, blossom, and BEar Fruit.
Both are essential — as neither would fully actualize their Purpose, and full POTENTIAL, without the other.
The Truth IS: God made Men and Women EQUAL IN VALUE and different IN roles and responsibilities as Caretakers of Creation — and God made Men and Women complementary IN Nature and distINct IN callINg (vocation) as Caretakers of Creation.
WE ARE ESSENTIAL COLLABORATORS IN FULFILLING GOD’S CREATION MANDATE.
Despite the clashINg and contradictory INformation on gender today, confusion and chaos around thIS topic has never BEen greater. While the academic and media INdustries (yes, INdustries) have (unnecessarily) complicated the issue, the Scriptures INvite us back to the sophisticated simplicity of the Garden. THere, IN the BEaUty of God’s Creation, MasculINity and FemININity are not complex, but direct and defINed.
I laughed at the drawing illustration because it's so true! Just yesterday, as my boy and girl did painting; my daughter drawing people, flowers and scenery while my 4 yr old son, who rarely draws, was blobbing paint haphazardly over the page, talking about how he was drawing a monster who killed the bad guys....and did poo 🤦🏼♀️
You gotta love this. Vive la difference!
I was brought up, back in the '70s, to be a good little feminist and I never once questioned the idea that it was all societal conditioning that made the differences between men and women. We were interchangeable, aside from some minor differences in plumbing, and the fact that women were usually smaller than men, right? The fact that I liked girly stuff like makeup and fashion was totally due to society telling me I liked it. And the reason I thought stuff like arguing about which superhero would win in a fight or working on cars was excruciatingly boring was clearly societal pressure as well. If I had lived in a less sexist society, no doubt I would be excited to rebuild a fuel injector. Never mind that my boyfriend was a car guy, and was constantly trying to get me to gap my own spark plugs and share his excitement about V-8 engines, it was SEXISM THAT MADE ME FIND THIS SO BORING.
I remember watching pro skateboarding with my husband back in the early '90s, and it was apparent that the female skaters didn't do the harder tricks or skate as aggressively - we actually had a bit of an argument, because I said it was all societal conditioning, and that women would totally be outskating Tony Hawk in the future as they were raised in a less sexist environment. He laughed at me and said "yeah, sure..."
I was a committed blank-slatist right up until I actually had children of my own. Our first child was a daughter, and I was determined that she would be raised in a non-sexist way. She had dolls and trucks, tea sets and dinosaurs, and I purposely didn't let her watch Disney movies because I didn't want her to get any ideas about being a helpless princess.
It sort of worked - she loved playing with her trucks and cars and dinosaurs. Except she always played truck family, or dinosaur family...I noticed her male playmates seemed to exclusively focus on the "Tyrannosaurus is gonna EAT YOU!" concept. And I have to this day never heard a little girl go "vrooom! VROOM!" immediately upon encountering a toy car.
I went on to have two more daughters, and while one of them was kind of a tomboy who liked climbing trees and playing swords with the boys, she also really liked fairies, dolls, and pretending to be kittycats. The youngest was the most ladylike of the bunch; she was obsessed with tea sets and constructing elaborate fairy houses. And all three of them went through a stage around age 3 or 4 when they insisted in ONLY wearing pink, wouldn't wear pants "they're for boys!", and were obsessed with anything vaguely princess-related.
Yup. Turns out boys and girls are different, on the whole. While some are less gender-conforming than others, there are still some major physical and mental differences. Crazy, huh?
Even in the animal kingdom - my female dog stays by my side and she has a stuffed toy that she carries around and licks and carefully guards from the other pets; while my male dog is prone to wandering off on his own and rips all his toys to shreds.
Thank you for sharing this! I am so intrigued by how thoroughly and deeply the Socialization-Is-The-Cause-Of-All-Gender-Difference idea rooted in our psyches and in our society. And it happened between our mother's generation and ours. I think a lot of women--as you recount, and this was certainly true for me as well--see the cracks in that idea when they have children of their own. But observing the world as it is--as you point out, your male dog behaves differently from your female dog; before having children, it's possible to note gender-based differences in younger siblings, cousins, and neighborhood children--would seem to pose a challenge to the Socialization Doctrine. But there's something so attractive about it, so convincing about it, that it persists! I'm thinking about this a lot right now.
It's so interesting, too, that your daughters fall on different points of the gender-behavioral continuum. People are different! Our children do a reliably good job of reminding us of all sorts of inalienable truths.