God is no respecter of persons.  Male-female division is a man made battle.  We are created equal and in God’s name our country was established upon that basic liberty of humanity. Somehow, however, the “all men are created equal” mantra excluded women and people of color.  Somehow we missed the mark. 

Enter Feminism.  Women championing together for suffrage.  A vote.  That’s all we asked for.  We were mocked, abused, humiliated and jailed for our courage to demand what is rightfully ours.  But when did our patient and brave demand for equal liberty become so skewed? When did femininity get taken out of Feminism? When did the word “woman” become a derogatory term and when did “girly” become an insult?

I live next to a college town.  When I drive home on a Saturday morning it is not at all unusual to see yards strewn with red Solo cups, toilet paper streamers  and smashed folding tables.  Ironic that, during the time of their lives which they are supposed to be gaining intelligence,  college students act the most asinine.   But what has really come to disturb me are the young women I come across in town.

Walking through Target, it is inevitable that I will get bumped into, cut off or shoved aside by a young college  hanging out with her friends.  There is never an apology or even eye contact.  They are romping through the aisles, opening cosmetics, laughing while sneaking on black lipstick. They are gorgeous with their long unkempt tendrils and Doc Martins, but they lack the allure that only ladies can possess.  Where did gentleness, elegance and grace go? I want to champion a new cause.  We have liberty now let us have our femininity back.  Stop burning bras, young women and learn to embrace the root of what makes you female: God.  “He” is the author of your femininity because he patterned the things most cherished in women after his own nature.  We have been so busy trying to be equal to men that we have lost sight of the goal which is to be free to be what we are; women endowed with the unalienable right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Being a lady is a sign of gentle strength that is braver by far then the trampling of grace we ought to be showing.  I love strong women, brave and mighty women who stand against tyranny.  I love the Rosie the Riveters who stand bold with strong arms.  But I do not find a women who has rejected who she is in order to look more like a man to be strong.  She is an imposter.

I am a gunsmith’s daughter, I wielded a gun since I was old enough to lift one.  I’ve hunted with men and lived in a man’s culture.  Without a mother in our home, I became a hopeless tom boy and was genuinely insulted if someone dare call me a lady.  But I am grown now and God has touched the part of me that is deeply sexist against women.   When I first read Proverbs 31 I was wooed at the prospect of a woman of noble character and have chased after her all this time, hoping some day to become  her. With God’s guidance some day I will be.

In the meanwhile, I will teach my young men to be gentlemen and hold the door for women.  I want to be a voice against the oppression that has been born against women because of the pressure to be less like one.  I am a lady, no apologies here. It’s time we take back femininity.

Thoughts, comments? Even nasty, unladylike ones will do.  I love your feedback!  And remember, sharing is caring.  So is subscribing.