The debate about gender has become so vicious and repetitive that one temptation is simply to wait for the storm to pass rather than joining in. This is especially true for men expressing what could be perceived as a traditional male viewpoint. This is the group which is most liable to be excluded from the debate; and ironically, its best and most convincing and most courteous exponents are most likely to step aside and say nothing, for fear of offending the ladies.
The more or less universally expounded view is that the “Patriarchy” began shortly after the beginning of humankind, and sprang up all over the world, misusing the accidentally superior strength of men in order to oppress women, and then quickly locked this oppression into social, political, cultural and religious codes that have continued to perpetuate this injustice ever since.
With GK Chesterton and Ivan Illich, many modern conservative thinkers have formed another opinion: that there was no particular historical anti-women conspiracy. Men and women have always acted in a gendered manner. Looking at history will show periods and examples of tension between the sexes and also examples of harmonious complementarity.
However, since the industrial revolution work has become dehumanised, women and men have been artificially separated even in adult married life by economic expediency, and big business now exerts pressure on all of us to conform to a more efficient unisex way of life.
These societal changes have produced a gender problem in society. Society has grown sick. In the last decade or so the problem has been further complicated by the quickly spreading belief that two genders may not be enough; male/female equality is now becoming an outdated principle, as gender itself is made into something increasingly ephemeral.
Sexuality notoriously makes fools of individuals, institutions and entire societies; especially when we misunderstand it. We can see this happening all around us at the moment, with all of our political, cultural and religious heroes. Its parent, gender, has the same potential to destroy and disgrace us when we make a mess of it. But if gender is innate in humans, as it would seem to be in all other mammals, then legislating against it will not work in the longer term. Biology will sooner or later fight back. And it is the Christian anthropology which will win out in the end, because it is the only one based on common sense.
There are many competing myths of how a distinct male identity comes into being (in addition to the obvious biological differences), but as Catholics we have the assurance that the essential differences between one half of the human race and the other are meant to exist and that they are meant to be different enough to be fully complementary. “Male and female, he created them” says the Book of Genesis. God’s initiative of love makes two separate creations: male and female. Man’s initiative of love, under God’s providence, makes them one flesh again, whilst also remaining two distinct and different persons. This great mystery is at the heart of our human destiny: in schools we need to talk about it and celebrate it, especially because now, more than ever, Christians have a more coherent story to tell than anyone else does. A key point is that men and women, though they have much in common, have different roles to play in God’s plan. The Church calls teachers “in every phase of education (to) give due consideration to the difference of sex and the proper ends Divine Providence assigns to each sex in the family and in society.” (Gravissimum Educationis, 8.)
In the current context of gender confusion, Catholic teachers and Catholic schools have a delicate and yet important responsibility to bear witness to the truth of God’s creation of human beings and His plan for men and women.
Ferdi McDermott, Headmaster, Chavagnes International College.
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