OPINION:
Many things have been written about the attack on masculinity. The truth is that the attack is not on masculinity; it is on femininity. While it is undeniable that men have their own issues, it is women and children who suffer the most when men are not fulfilling their roles properly.
When God created humanity, the Bible states that there were two kinds of people: male and female. These distinctions were not merely based on sex but represented completely different identities. Men identify through masculinity and women through femininity. Despite their physical differences, both males and females share the same spiritual trait – they are both created in God’s image.
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This foundational truth has been recognized across all cultures and throughout history. Only recently has the concept of gender fluidity been embraced. It is one thing to show compassion towards a man who insists he is a woman, but it is entirely different to insist that he actually is a woman. A man can put on a dress, but that does not make him a woman. Our culture not only demands that we accept this untruth but also threatens those who refuse to affirm it.
The difference between men and women is evident, yet we have been subjected to years of propaganda claiming otherwise. Last year, 300 high school boys ran faster times than the fastest woman in the world. To put it another way, the fastest woman in the world would not have qualified for the boys’ state track meet in most states.
In 2017, a team of 15-year-old boys from a Dallas soccer academy beat the U.S. women’s national team 5-2. This means that the best women’s soccer team in the United States was soundly defeated by teenage boys.
The issue of men claiming to be women and competing in women’s sports is becoming a significant problem. Women have fought for years for equal pay in professional sports like tennis, golf, and national teams. Due to their success, there is now a strong incentive for men who cannot compete in the NBA, make the U.S. men’s soccer team, or play in the U.S. Open to claim gender fluidity and dominate women’s sports.
Did women fight so hard for equality only to have the very definition of womanhood redefined?
Men competing as women in sports is causing another issue. As the physical superiority of men becomes apparent, the feminist narrative is challenged. People will start questioning why we have women firefighters, police officers, or soldiers when there are men who are more physically qualified for these roles.
The Marine Corps conducted a study that conclusively showed women in combat would significantly lower troop readiness and increase casualties. Despite this, the Obama administration rejected the study and forced the Marines to accept women into combat units. So, at the Obama administration’s orders, the USMC sent their 14 most qualified female marines to their infantry school for officers. All but one failed on the first day of the 13-week course; the other failed on day four.
The fact is that women are physically superior to men in the most important way possible – they can create life in their bodies. This incredible gift should be celebrated and valued. However, our culture has minimized this gift and told women that their worth lies in their ability to compete with men. Instead of celebrating their unique ability to create and nurture life, society depicts it as a nuisance to be tolerated until they can hand their baby off to a caretaker and get back to competing with men.
This brings us to the crux of the issue: The attack is on femininity, not masculinity. We have attacked the identity of what it means to be a woman. We have told women that success means being like a man. A strong woman is depicted with masculine traits, such as being a police officer or soldier, rather than embracing her role as a mother or wife. As more men start to dominate women’s sports, where does this leave girls and young women who have been taught that their worth comes from emulating men instead of being strong, feminine women?
Men who believe they are the targets of the attack on gender often start acting like victims, lash out, or slip into complacency. When men understand that it is the women they love who are truly the targets of gender confusion – their mothers, wives, and daughters who are suffering – they will begin to reject this lie and stand for the truth. Their natural identity as protectors will emerge. All it takes is a few bold men and women to say, “Enough!” to the absurdity of the moment, and we can wake the world from the insanity into which we have fallen.
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Ken Harrison serves as Chief Executive Officer for Waterstone - a Christian foundation that comes alongside givers, advisors and ministries to provide trusted counsel and innovative giving strategies.
After graduating from Marine Corps Officer Candidate School and then serving as a Los Angeles Police Officer, Harrison spent nearly two decades running commercial real estate companies both nationally and internationally. An author and corporate speaker, Harrison has appeared on many television and radio interviews, including Fox News, The Huckabee Show, James Dobson’s Family Talk, Fox Nation, The 700 Club and Turning Point. He is a Colson Fellow and has served on many boards, such as Promise Keepers, FCA, Corban University, Colorado Uplift and Urban Youth Ministries.
Harrison also serves as chair of Promise Keepers, which recently issued the Proclamation on Godly Masculinity to affirm that God has created human beings to have authority over the world by serving it through two sexes (identities): masculinity in males and femininity in females. The Proclamation can be read, shared and signed at whatmakesaman.org.
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