This is my column that appears in this week’s print edition of The Catholic Post.
I’ve written before—more than once— about how I, like many people, prefer to avoid tough topics. Can’t we talk about things that are more cheerful than abortion, or pornography, or toxic cultural trends?
And yet… The issues do not go away if we ignore them. The human cost can be very real. Finding reliable, knowledgeable sources is more demanding than ever.
Being an informed Catholic and disciple of Christ is having an openness to learning, as well as a sense of curiosity towards the world and current issues.
That’s why I am so grateful for a book like The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory by Abigail Favale, to help put some complex current topics in perspective.
The Genesis of Gender is part memoir, part feminist history and theory, and part spiritual reflection on how we might move forward as a culture.
Favale, an English professor with a deep background in women’s and gender studies, is well-equipped to lead readers through the issues. And as an unlikely Catholic convert, she shows how Catholic theology and worldview is solidly equipped to navigate our complicated times.
Freedom & Gender Identity
The book opens with Favale’s own intellectual and spiritual journey, then zooms out to chronicle the history of feminism, our current cultural moment, and more.
The book’s chapters have one-word titles: for example “Waves,” “Control,” and “Artifice.” The chapter titled “Waves,” for example, outlines feminist history from the 19th century until today. “Cosmos” explains how the Christian creation accounts differ from more violent and less “good” creation myths, and why that is important for our understanding of the human person and our gender identity.
Favale excels in explaining how a modern concept of “freedom” actually involves denial of the reality of the human person, especially women. She writes:
“Too often, freedom for women is cast as freedom from femaleness. “Autonomy is envisioned according to male parameters, and women are expected to sue invasive chemical and surgical means to conform their bodies to that ideal. Women are not valued simply for being; they must prove their value by doing.”
The Genesis of Gender
A Sensitive and Measured Approach
The chapter titled “Wholeness” is worth the price of the book. Favale shares her story of body dysphoria after giving birth, and the postpartum depression that resulted from it. This is a common experience, and she shows how this sense of “not belonging” in one’s body is near universal at different stages of life. The answer to that discomfort and even pain is not the change of the person, but a radical anthropology of acceptance about how God made us: good. Very good.
It’s demanding—at best—to write about issues that are both complicated and controversial. I admire how Favale writes to inform and enlighten in a way that’s not overwrought, but sensitive and measured.
Not all books are meant for all people, but I heartily recommend reading The Genesis of Gender to anyone—especially women—interested in learning more about gender issues from a feminist and/or Christian perspective with an open mind and a sense of curiosity.
My review in The Catholic Post ends here, but there are many more resources to consider. Here are few:
Further Reading
I have been reading and reflecting on current sexual and gender politics for the past few years, alternately despairing and hoping. It’s a very complicated, muddled, incendiary environment. I rarely will speak about it with people, because it’s just too nuanced. I am much better in writing, so putting down words about these topics has been helpful for understanding it.
I’m an old feminist and a serious Catholic, which makes my initial thoughts on this very different than our current cultural moment. I am open-minded and willing to learn, so I’ve read quite widely.
If you are a person of good will and interested in learning more about these issues, here are some resources. I do not agree with everything in these books/sources, but I have found them thought-provoking without being inflammatory.
The Genesis of Gender & Abigail Favale
Obviously, since I reviewed this book, I found it worthwhile. Claire Swinarski hosted a discussion earlier this year with Abigail Favale. You can listen to this if you are a paying subscriber, but I find Claire’s content (Letters from a Catholic Feminist) worth supporting, and I am glad to do so. For instance, she did a read-along of The Genesis of Gender.
The Case Against the Sexual Revolution by Louise Perry
I discovered Louise Perry’s The Case Agains the Sexual Revolution: A New Guide to Sex in the 21st Century very randomly early in the summer while doing research for a client. [If you’re interested, here’s the episode, which I happened upon during research on Ali Abdaal].
At the time it was not available in the US (she’s a UK writer), but I immediately pre-ordered it. It was extremely well written and well-researched. The fact that it (and many others on the list) are not from a Catholic or even Christian perspective, is instructive in understanding that can be helpful for both people who have a faith tradition, as well as those who do not. These topics and concerns are not solely religious issues, but rather issues related to human flourishing, and especially to women flourishing.
Rethinking Sex: A Provocation by Christine Emba
Rethinking Sex, written by a young Washington Post columnist, was distressing for me to read. I thought things were pretty awful for my generation of women in dating during the 1980s & 1990s, but things are much, much worse. Both Emba and Perry cover how the sexual revolution’s fruits have been most toxic to women, and how modern sexual ethics hamper flourishing and good romantic relationships. I really recommend all young people (especially women), read it to understand that they are not alone in their awful dating experiences, and to understand the importance of seeking healthy relationships.
Amy Welborn on Sex & Gender
Amy Welborn is one of the OG Catholic bloggers, and she’s been writing, publishing books, and just generally being interesting on the Internet for decades. (In 2012, I reviewed Amy’s memoir on losing her husband suddenly) I enjoy her writing, truly hate her movie recommendations, and just in general follow most of what she writes.
In recent years, she has begun writing–somewhat reluctantly–about sex and gender. She is so thoughtful and thorough on the topics that I encourage you to read what she has written. Here is the “Sex & Gender” tab on her website, but she writes about it at least weekly, with updates on current happenings. Highly recommended for keeping up to date, as well as thinking through these issues.
Irreversible Damage by Abigail Schrierer
When I first bought Irreversible Damage several years ago, I kind of hid it away. It seemed almost embarrassing to read it because when it was first released, the overarching view was that if you read it or supported it in any way, you were an officially Bad Person.
But I was curious, and when I read it I could not believe how moderate and sensible it is. It is shocking to me how this book was misrepresented. If you’re not quite ready to read her book, please take a few minutes to read this talk she gave to Princeton students last year. I think it will give an overview of her voice and concerns.
Dialogue
I am genuinely interested in people learning and reading widely on these issues, but I find our current cultural moment makes it difficult to either learn or to discuss these issues freely. I have often said, and I will put out here, that I am happy to read other perspectives and ideas on these topics, and I have. I am just sharing the ones that I have found most resonant. I am genuinely interested to learn of others as well.