Star Wars, Feminism, and True Femininity
I grew up watching Star Wars. I darted around the backyard with my big brother, pretending to be Princess Leia; fighting aliens, Jabba the Hutt, and Darth Vador himself! At bedtime we turned off the lights, and full-blown flashlight (ahemm, I mean light-saber) wars broke out.
The Star Wars movies were a huge part of my childhood, so as you can imagine, I was one of the millions of twenty-somethings amongst excited movie goers to rush out and experience Star Wars the Force Awakens. As the story unfolded, I was awestruck. I smiled, laughed, cried, and left the theater feeling totally satisfied with the film. Like many others, I left thinking, “I love all the new characters! Especially Rey. She was so cool.”
I thought about all the little girls who found a new heroine in Rey and giggled to myself about all the Rey Barbies that would be sold. Millions of imaginations were sure to be ignited, and a whole new generation of little kids would pull out their flashlights and have epic battles in a galaxy far, far away.
The next day, I decided to Google Rey’s character, and see what the critics were saying about her. It seemed like everyone was applauding her. After all, she was so spunky, fearless, and brave. She wasn’t a princess locked in a tower, in desperate need of saving. Moms were so grateful and relieved that their daughters could now pretend to be Rey, rather than the weak and flimsy Disney Princesses. While surfing, I landed on several mom blogs where ladies expressed why they loved Rey. A sea of comments and a tidal wave of opinions all seemed to express the same thing, “Rey is a feminist hero!” they chanted. “She knows how to blast guns, beat the boys, and the best part is, she's not sitting at home knitting, waiting for some guy to rescue and marry her!”
While I agree that Rey is a wonderful warrior role-model, I was surprised at how much of an attack was being expressed toward Disney Princesses who don’t shoot guns and save galaxies. For some reason, the kind, soft-spoken, gentle princesses are seen as “weak” and “man-dependent.” While it is true that Cinderella was never a physical warrior, she has many noble qualities about her. It took the heart of a warrior to forgive her evil step mom. No “weak” woman could do that!
The more I read what these moms said, the more I found myself growing disturbed with the revelation that they don’t want princess daughters. They want to raise a generation of fiery feminists.
Feminism is a massive buzz word today. In fact, it’s so buzzy that it makes a countryside beehive look inactive. I'm seeing this word all over social media. Celebrities are cheering for it. Thirteen-year-old girls are tweeting about it. But before we get caught up in all the excitement (and deception) of this movement, we need to stop and ask ourselves, what is feminism, exactly?
Celebrities, pop-stars, and women in the spotlight have been chanting “Girl Power!” for decades. Throughout history, “Girl Power” has meant many different things. In the 1920s, it meant women finally had the right to vote. In the 1960s, “Girl Power” meant females moving into the workforce. In the 70s, 80s, and 90s, it meant ladies could get away with wearing less clothes, revealing their bodies, dancing around provocatively and not being “judged” for it. “Girl Power” meant buying new clothes, trying on shoes, and loving your new lip-gloss. “Girl Power” meant doing anything boys could do, and doing it better. In the 2000s, “Girl Power” meant giving women the right to have an abortion. And during our time, “Girl Power” also now includes posting nearly (or fully nude) pictures on Instagram and not being “body shamed” for it.
The latest trend in this “Girl Power” movement, is to hop on this steam-locomotive called the “feminist” train. It's barreling ahead, rolling down the tracks of pop-culture, beckoning to us girls to hop on board, call yourself a “feminist,” retweet other celeb “feminists,” and make sure that you’re staying totally gender neutral. The sly conductor of this future train wreck is calling out to its passengers, “Say so long to those God-ordained gender roles! We're girls, but we won't be put in a box! We can be anything we want to be!”
Celebrities are using their platforms to pick up a megaphone and shout about something…anything, that sounds empowering. Standing on the soap boxes of social media, their cries are entering the ears of this generation, “We’re not stuck in the past anymore! We don’t have to live like our grandmas did, and we certainly don’t have to live by the Bible anymore! We are FREE.”
We're calling it a revolution. We don’t want to “judge” anyone for their “sexual preference.” We want to wear lust-inducing clothes, but don’t want to be treated like a piece of meat. We want to beat the guys at anything and everything, and show them no respect, but at the end of the day we still want to be loved and protected. We demand respect and love, but we won't give it. We want to be sassy, sexy, but still labeled as “smart.” We want to give women the “right to their own bodies,” and as a result, abortions are happening in the millions. We want to protect the whales, the planet, and the sea turtles, but not the unborn. Is any of this making sense? Oh, and I say "we" because at one point or another, each of us has gotten swept up in at least one of these sentiments - whether it was voluntarily or involuntarily.
When you stop and think about it, this “feminist” movement has nothing to do with real “Girl Power.” It has nothing to do with encouraging and strengthening females to be who God created them to be. Attacking men, taking off our clothes, and buying more handbags isn’t empowering to women. It’s destroying us.
I believe that “feminism” is just a big fat campaign of CONFUSION from the enemy. In these days, boys want to be girls. Girls want to be boys. But don’t label anyone! Labels are “evil.”
Perhaps the most disturbing thing of all about the “feminist” movement is that we, God’s people, are slowly believing these lies. Maybe it’s because we haven’t been taught, or maybe we’re just slowly forgetting what God created a woman to be: beautiful, strong, modest, loving, a servant, a cheerleader of men, pure, excellent, brave, courageous, a 1 Peter 3:3 girl, a Proverbs 31 woman, a Titus 2 lady who cares for, nurtures, and raises up a new generation of royal daughters!
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. -1 Peter 3:3-4
A woman with a quiet and gentle spirit is of great worth in the sight of God. The world thinks that gentleness equates to weakness. But God knows that what the world sees as weakness, is merely bridled strength. Majestic power under control that takes the posture of humility, all because of love.
The world is saying, “Women should be strong, sexy, powerful, and any gender they want to be.”
They are trying to destroy the “princess” label. They don’t want to be seen as soft, weak, vulnerable, or in need of saving. They frown at stay-at-home moms, and see modesty, faith and purity as some kind of creepy cult. I’ve read some extreme stories about feminists being angry with their daughters because they gave birth. Some feminists believe that women shouldn’t subject their bodies to the “un-empowering” act of giving birth. That they should be “stronger” and “smarter” than that. What the WHAT?!
Sisters, we have to remember who we are. As females, God created us so uniquely. We are the ones created to conceive, nurture a developing baby in the womb, and then give birth. We are the ones who bring new life into the earth, and then nurture that sweet little soul. We are the ones with soft hands and a gentle touch. We are the ones with a deep well of strength inside our souls. We are the ones who have the power to turn a guy into superman, or destroy him forever. We have the responsibility to speak life, to protect our children, and the children of this world. To know the truth, to speak the truth in love, and to faithfully cling to God’s Word and His Ways. His ways are always right.
Yes, He has given us natural limits and boundaries as females, such as the fact that men are going to be stronger and better than us at some things. But why in the world do we need to freak out about it? Are we really that prideful? Let them be better at some things, and let us be better at some things, but let us remember that we are always better together. Not when genders compete against one another, but when they champion one another!
Being a woman is a beautiful, amazing, spectacular thing. God designed male and female, and the order of that union is so perfect. God said it was GOOD (check out Genesis 5:2).
It is not to be changed, because God hasn't changed (Malachi 3:6). The enemy is sowing seeds of confusion all over this world…right and wrong are being blurred together (Isaiah 5:20). Gender specifics are being erased (Romans 1 talks all about this!). As Christians, sometimes, we are afraid to speak up and live out what we know to be true.
God’s Word can never be changed. And He said one man, and one woman. The end. If we stray from that, we are twisting His Word and following the enemy’s deception.
And 1 Corinthians 6:9 says:
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men...
There is a Biblical purpose for each gender role, and when we start to mess with that, everything in our world becomes out of wack.
Femininity is a God-given gift. Who we are as females is to be treasured and protected.
If you've been considering hopping on the “feminist” train, it might be time to reevaluate. If you pause, and look over your shoulder, you'll see another movement happening. It's the true femininity movement. It's Generation Esther arising. It's a generation of set apart young women choosing to stand up and say:
“I am valuable. I am cherished, I am treasured, and I am loved. I don't need to take off my clothes to feel beautiful. I don't need to tear down men to feel powerful. I don't need to conform to the pattern of this world or live in a way that makes my friends happy. I am the daughter of the one true King. I embody the spirit of true femininity, because I am walking in the fullness of all God created me to be.”