(These are my personaly observations)
Feminism- The belief that all (or at least most) men viewed women as lesser beings and kept them in slavery in the home doing brainless, degrading menial labor while the men went out and had fun and fulfillment in the workforce until the glorious feminists saved us all.
It is the belief that anything within the traditional female sphere of influence is degrading drudgery (unless, of course, it is done for someone other than your own family such as childcare, teaching, maid work, nursing or running a restaurant. Then it is noble, important and fulfilling.)
It is the belief that there is no difference between men and women except for a few strategic bumps and lumps and what society brainwashes into us.
The Pill, abortion, baby formula and daycare are all civil rights. Woman should be able to have sex with whoever they want to whenever they want to without being saddled with the little pests unless she just wants to be. After all, a woman can’t be identical to a man if she has to nurse a baby every three hours.
It is the belief that all things should be measured by women’s desires even if it means bullying, abusing or divorcing hubbies and aborting or neglecting babies.
Pro-femininity: The knowledge that men have always valued their mothers and wives as powerful, intelligent individuals with a difficult and incredibly important job (yes, some men were jerks and abusers in the past, but that hasn’t changed a twit. If anything, it is worse. Instead of women receiving respect because they are good women, many receive disdain because they make lousy men, no matter how hard they try.)
Women owned property, had jobs, conducted business throughout history. Some of the best romance novels of all time were written before feminism by women. When Ben Franklin wrote letters to the editor to influence government, he used a woman’s name; hardly the actions of someone living during a time when women weren’t allowed to express themselves. Obviously, they were. Read things written during the time (not during the 60’s, but the early to mid 1800s). Women ran business, worked the farm, engaged in politics. If a man died, the state did not come take away the widow’s general store. She continued to run it by herself to the best of her ability (because of the lack of welfare and electronic servants, it was nearly impossible for any house to run without the division of labor between a man and woman, so most widowed men and women remarried. In fact, if a woman survived childhood and childbirth, she could be expected to go through an average of three husbands. If you don’t count childbirth, men died WAY more often and WAY earlier.)
It is the acknowledgement that work has always been work, whether in the home or out and is only as fulfilling as the individual allows it to be. Mere money does not make a job suddenly fulfilling. Men were pretty much limited to farmer, shop keeper, banker or black smith at the time. Women were no more limited than men.
It is the belief that the work done by a caring wife and mother in the home is possibly the most important work on the planet. That the nurturing and teaching of children is the forming (and in fact ruling) of the world through the next generation (“The hand that rocks the cradle RULES the world.”) It was a woman that taught George Washington, in fact most if not all of our founding fathers, to read, reason and understand logic and God. Washington et al may be our founding fathers, but their mothers were our founding Grandmas. The men wouldn’t have done what they did if it weren’t for what their mom’s taught them.
That the making of a home is the making of lives worth living.
Men and women are Created very different. Men were created in the image of the logical, ruling, strong part of God. Women were created in the intuitive, nurturing, beautiful part of God. Without both, we have an incomplete picture of God. Both are necessary to the function of a family, a home, a society.
It is the glorying in being a woman, not wishing to be a man. It is dressing and acting like a woman (and I don’t believe that means skirts only. It means that you look like a woman; not an androgynous being of some sort or a prostitute). When judging animals in ag class, we were told to give points to breeding females if they looked feminine (and breeding males who looked masculine). Points were removed from a masculine female. Human women should look, walk and act feminine, too. This is easier for some than others. I have never considered myself inherently feminine in my mannerisms, but I am getting better.
Babies are important, necessary parts of our society. Our culture is dying because we have too few babies. The church is also dying for the same reason. Most CHRISTIAN couples never even think to ask God how many children, how many eternal souls He wants them to raise for Him. If you read your Bible you will see that God loves babies and children. Satan hates people in general. The size of a family is not a decision for a woman to make, or even one between a man and woman. It is a decision that should be made by God and enacted by the couple. Most never even bother to pray about it.
God created babies to nurse at mommy’s breast many times a day because babies NEED the emotional nurturing. It was not an accident that men can’t nurse (after all, it is the daddy sea horse that nurses and cares for the babies so God could have made us that way. He didn’t for a reason. Babies need mommy.) Formula babies are less intelligent (on average), sicker, and fatter. To choose to feed artificial breast milk (formula) just because you don’t want to be bothered with nursing is selfish. (I am glad we have formula for those who really can’t nurse, [me with my first and myself as a baby] but that is a rare need.)
It is the knowledge that the Bible teaches us that God is the head (boss) of humanity, hubby is the head of the wife, parents the head of the children, and bosses the head of their employees (Ephesians 5-6, et al). That men are to love and honor their wives sacrificially in the same way that Christ loves the church. That, in fact, the marriage relationship is an object lesson for the relationship between the church and her God. Women are given the specific charge to “keep the home” (Titus 2), bear (raise) children (1 Timothy 2:15), obey her husband (Galatians, Ephesians, Corinthians, Peter) and to be a Help Meet to her husband (Genesis 1, et al. The word “help” in this setting is the same word used by David describing how God Helps him. It is NOT a term of degradation. A general is not necessarily more intelligent or competent than the major. Just a different rank). Someone has to be the boss and God said it is the man.
Some examples:
A woman I know of was a college professor/ author before marriage. She married a college professor who was called to pastor a church. After marriage, she homeschools their four children Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in English, music, art and history while her hubby teaches at the college. On Tuesday and Thursday they switch places (with daddy teaching science and math). She writes in her spare time (producing a book every couple of years; some of the most popular ones in homeschooling right now) and leads worship on Sunday. I don’t know if this woman considers herself a feminist or not, but if they keep this schedule out of “this works for our family in achieving the goals God has given us” (and she is not bullying her hubby into it) then I say she is a great Help Meet and homemaker (her home is evidently kept in such a state that the family can function and do its jobs).
Another woman loves being a stay-at-home mom to her toddler. Wants nothing else. Her hubby was laid off and their savings exhausted. She got a job at a local school (she has a degree in nutrition) until hubby found something. Then she joyfully returned home. Great Help Meet and homemaker.
A woman realizes the best thing for her children is for her to be their primary care provider and to homeschool them. She does everything in her power to live a frugal life so they can afford for her to stay home. She studies to find the best curriculum, nutrition, homemaking techniques for her family. She makes sure hubby is rested and well fed and doesn’t have extra work to do when he gets home so he can perform better at work and is more likely to be promoted. Great Help Meet and homemaker
A woman with an engineering degree “converts from feminism to Christianity” (her wording). She becomes a homemaker, even though it means abject poverty for her family. She homeschools when her children get old enough and because this was early in the modern homeschool movement, others ask for her opinion. She ends up writing many articles reviewing curriculum. 12 books, four magazines and the most viewed homeschool website in the world later, her hubby is home-working too. Together they are major forces in home education. Help-meet and homemaker.
A man runs his own business but due to the economy has no clients. Wifey is a midwife and takes on extra clients during his down time to make up the money. They both oversee the home education of their one child remaining at home. Help-meet and homemaker.
A man tells his wife he wants her to be a stay-at-home wife. His career and calling from God needs her at home. She insists they can’t afford it (though her hubby earns nearly twice what my hubby earns and they don’t have children!) and continues to work against her hubby’s wishes. You see, she HAS to have a new house and new car, never mind God’s plans. This is a feminist (all things measured by the desires of the female in the house, HER goals for HER life. House work is too degrading).
A woman insisting her baby must be raised in daycare because no woman can depend on a man to take care of her. Her hubby not bothering to even try to get a job that he can support the family with (why bother? She wouldn’t quit anyway.) This is not only feminism, it’s child abuse (daycare is a necessary evil for some people, but it horribly damaging to children and should be avoided if at all possible even if it means the family has to live in a studio apartment above a 7-11).
A woman insisting she has to have horses (yes, plural) even though her hubby (who hates the things) has to work two full time jobs and she works full time in order to feed them and there is no food in the house for their own children! All things measured by the female’s desires.
A woman who has no desire but to watch her soaps…to the point that she doesn’t even know when her small child takes a pair of scissors to her waterbed! This is feminism; all things measured by the female’s desire. What ever she wants to do with her life is ok.
Abortion. More than 90% of the time, abortions are preformed for reasons of convenience; I can’t afford a baby (would have to lower my standards or ask for help), it would mess up my college/career plans, I don’t want a handicapped child, the father isn’t ready to be a dad (yeah, real liberating there, and the given excuse a good third of the time!) Mommy’s life being in danger is so rare that the feminists couldn’t even find one real case to testify to congress. The women who did testify that their lives were in danger were later discovered to be lying.
Feminism is actually an offshoot of humanism/communism. It advocates human beings as the standard of “righteousness” and declares that there is no absolute right and wrong (except of course traditional Christianity is always wrong). The “bible" of feminism, The Feminine Mystique, was written by a woman from an abusive home (and who wouldn’t know a normal functioning family if it bit her) who refused to interview any truly happy housewives for her “study.” She only talked to the dissatisfied. So her book says that ALL homemakers are dissatisfied, because, “by golly, I didn’t talk to one that wasn’t.” The circles in this reasoning are enough to make you dizzy! It was incredibly bad science; pure propaganda. And in fact, as predicted by leading feminists, women have had to be forced out of the home. The vast majority like being queen of the castle. They like babies (When I take my 8dc out, I am almost always cornered by someone telling me either how much fun they had as the 5th of 11 [ok, we do live close to Utah, lol], or how they wanted a lot of children but their hubby insisted on only two or three. Again, real liberating there.) I have heard too many conversations like (her) “But I have always wanted two children. Please let me have another.” “No. I want to retire early.” Or (her) “The children are getting in trouble and need me home to take care of them. I am quitting my job.” “No. I don’t want to get a better job or lower my standard of living so you have to keep working” to believe that feminism is the savior of the world. It used to be that a cad like the ones above would receive enough flack from society to force him to give in. Not now. Now it is the woman who is evil for wanting more babies or to take care of the ones she has.
God made each of us unique with unique callings and talents. If we were all the same, most of us wouldn’t be necessary.
A feminist is someone whose priority in decision making, the standard she uses to make her decisions by, is her own desires (and because of the intense propaganda that nothing is of value unless it earns a paycheck, that means she must have a paying job and it must be the family’s priority).
A godly help-meet/homemaker is someone whose priority is obeying God, helping her hubby, and “bringing her children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” She finds her fulfillment in her obedience to God. As I have said before and shown in the above examples, this looks different in every family. It can’t be judged by the surface appearance. I am a help meet to my hubby by keeping a frugal house. Mary Pride is a Help Meet by starting her own home businesses. In both cases, the children are never under the care of anyone who does not love them for themselves, certainly never chucked to the nearest minimum wage babysitter. The home is maintained at a functional level. Hubby has all the help he needs to achieve what God has commanded him to do. And wifey finds joy and fulfillment in using her talents to fulfill God’s purpose in her life (Help Meet, Home Maker, Child Bearer.) God is the priority, not self, not women.
“I don’t give them hell. I tell the truth and they think it is hell.” Famous general.
