Escaping the Sexist Arena

This is for you, girls.

You're strong, you're smart, and you're irreplaceable. But more importantly, you're unique. So then, why are we gulping down the lies that we have to somehow prove it?

Recently I stumbled upon a common theme threading through a great deal of modern fiction, and I say stumble, though I've known about its existence for years. But the fact that it is now dominating our thinking and writing in full force has made me pause to consider this invisible parasite. It's easy to think nothing of it since this invasive trope is everywhere you look. Still, it is far, far, from harmless, and it's only degrading womankind.

Allow me to mount my soap box and explain. Drum roll, please...

I'm talking about the woman versus man plot. And it goes something like this: Hard-as-nails, 30-something-year-old Heroine is either in some strong, leadership position (police chief, FBI director, or fire chief) or striving with all her might to gain a position in an all-male environment. She's got to prove she's just as tough as the boys are, and so begins the hostilities between the heroine and hero that finally culminate into a romance as they are magnetically drawn to each other despite their differences. And when danger strikes, he has to step in and protect her, both of them having to rely on each other, et cetera. However, the story goes from there is inconsequential.

So right out of the starting gates, I might point out that being in most of these positions would be illogical at that age, regardless of gender. When have you seen a fire chief in their 30's? It takes experience which in turn takes time to be promoted to these high-ranking positions.

Now let's talk about lawyers in another example. At least where I come from, it's becoming harder to find one that's not a woman.

“It's a man's world,” they say, but as my sister, who is the world's greatest purveyor of sarcasm quips, “Prove it!” Everywhere you look heavy labor professions consisting only of men now have women working among them: linemen, wildland firefighters, and crane riggers, to name a few.

This begs the question, where are these supposed hostilities coming from, this man looking down on the woman, driving her to prove she is capable of handling the task? Come on! We aren't living in the 1900's, anymore! I think our culture has long desensitized men to these prejudices, where they don't even question the females working alongside them. And the small percentage that do likely keep it to themselves or risk being fired.

All this is to prove these books do not have a leg to stand on.

Let's be honest. Though this feminist thinking touts women's power, ferociously contending for their rights, they are in reality robbing us of our real strength and value by forcing us into a proverbial men's arena to fight by masculine standards.

We have to keep up with the men, we have to prove we can do everything they can. But you gotta stop and ask yourself why? If you are telling me women are just as good as men in their own right, why must I do whatever they do as though my own unique qualities aren't enough?

Do you play fetch with a horse? Or do you employ the use of a dog to go horseback riding? This example is an exaggeration, of course, but each has their specific use, and you wouldn't imagine forcing one into the role of the other.

While we are more closely related than two separate kinds of animals, you'd be surprised at the degrees of differences between male and female. Not only are our chromosomes distinct at the genetic level but even the bone structures change with gender. The skull's shaping lends the more angular features we associate with men and the softer contours with women, while the female pelvic bone is wider, producing the hip-swinging gait and making it possible to carry and birth children.

Radical, huh? Just to lay it on the line, no truly biological man can have a baby. So isn't that something else in our favor?

But hold on, here comes the bombshell: God made us, men and women, unique and with our individual sets of skills and strengths. He didn't intend for us to be an exact mirror of each other any more than you should be a mirror of me person-to-person. And it's time we stop letting the world degrade our worth by pitting us against the opposite sex.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy, I find, is that Christian fiction is saturated with this worldview when we should know better. We ought to know God's design and resist falling for this lie that in the end only sows groundless division and perpetuates disunity which is a direct tool of the devil. We are letting the secular world tell us Believers what to write and read, and in turn opening our ears to Satan, the father of lies.

We need to get back to God's truth and start writing edifying fiction. Because I gotta admit, the redundancy of these trending plots drain my creativity, pressing me to think there's nothing more to life or literature than one man and one woman arguing with each other before falling in love in these identical plots and scenarios.

As a suspense writer, I get it. I know writing your heroine as an emergency worker of some sort is placing her close to the action. But don't be afraid to consider more original ways to draw her into the chaos. And then mentality has a lot to do with it. You can easily have them working in these situations without upholding this feminist way of thinking and fighting the men the entire time. Be secure in your womanhood, and just do your job, for pity’s sake!

God has blessed us with creativity not trends, so let's start putting it to work!

What do you think? Is it time to take the bull by the horns, or are you satisfied with your compliance? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

~Alissa