Disclaimer: Since this post deals with the ways women have historically been exploited and abused, there are themes and language used that would not normally appear on my posts.
Since the first woman made her appearance in the Garden of Eden, it seems as though Satan's rage against the fairer sex has burned with white-hot intensity.
At every turn, Satan has worked to subjugate, abuse, and erase women. Let's take a lightning-speed survey of his attacks against them.
Think of the way female sexual exploitation was not just common in ancient societies-- it was the uncontroversial norm. It was expected that masters could use the bodies of their female slaves in any way that they desired (Dominion, Tom Holland, pp. 99). Female bodies didn't have dignity in the ancient world. At least, not in the way we understand dignity today.
Prostitution has endured about as long as humans have been organizing themselves into societies. This practice predominantly involves women either exploiting themselves or being exploited by someone else for the sake of male gratification.
In Brussels, the Red Light District is right outside the bustling Gare du Nord. On one side of the street, men can window shop for the women they want to have sex with. Literally. The women sit in their underwear in windows so that you can pick out which one you want. Oddly enough, on the other side of the street, there is another kind of female subjugation.
In a predominantly Muslim market, women walk down the street in the sweltering heat in long, thick polyester robes covering all but their eyes. Their proximity to the women in the windows is a unique and striking juxtaposition of female exploitation and oppression.
And of course, this isn't to mention the little girls in the backrooms of the Red Light District. The little girls who have been trafficked from all over the world. The women who have been fooled or forced into sex slavery.
And then think about the ubiquity of pornography in our society. Millions upon millions of men all over the world make a daily habit of debasing themselves to images of female subjugation and exploitation. Many men who might even brand themselves as "male-feminists" use X-rated images of women, whom they care nothing about, for the sole purpose of pleasuring themselves.
As a woman who was trafficked and exploited in the pornography industry said: "Every moment of porn leaves behind a broken woman, sitting in the dark closet, raising her hand and saying, 'But I'm still here. I'm a human being. I have feelings. I have a heart. I have a name'" (The Death of Porn, Ortlund, pp. 49).
Porn doesn't liberate women. It's not an example of women freely expressing their sexuality. That's just something perverted men say to cope with the reality that they are using, exploiting, and contributing to the trafficking of the women they masturbate to.
And then there is the issue of our culture's push to erase women completely. This is seen primarily through the transgender movement. There is a reason the battle cry of trans activists is "TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN!" That is, "men with long hair, estrogen pills, and dresses are women".
The ideology underlying the gender revolution reduces womanhood down to a costume that men can put on and take off.
Candidates for our nation's highest court can't even bring themselves to define what a woman is, as though only an activist-approved biologist could answer that question.
"Chest-feeding", "birthing person", "persons with ovaries", "bleeders", and "breeders" have all been introduced into the cultural lexicon for the sake of the "inclusion" of men who want to dress as women. However, what this actually becomes is an all-out erasure of "woman" as a category.
You're no longer a mother. You're a birthing person. You're no longer a woman. You're a person with ovaries. You're no longer a female. You're a bleeder. All this to make room for men who want to rebrand themselves as women.
It would seem that the absence or resistance of Christianity in any society leads to the same place for women: Subjugation, exploitation, and erasure.
The irony of this is that those who are the most ardent supporters of this erasure of women also cry foul at the notion that a woman not be able to abort her child. It appears that the one thing our society does want to encourage women, specifically, to do is destroy the most unique aspect of their femininity.
In any other conversation, these people obfuscate and dance when asked to define what a woman is. But when it comes to abortion, they speak about women with certainty. There is a reason for this.
Abortion is the ultimate rejection of womanhood.
The greatest distinction in the design of men and women is that women are uniquely endowed with the blessing of bearing children. It is natural for a woman to have children, which is why God designed her body to perform the miracle of creating another human life.
And yet, in the name of liberation, Western culture is obsessed with women having the ability to go see a doctor who will insert his tools into her womb and tear the child to shreds.
Abortion destroys children. It destroys womanhood. And it destroys the women who have them. No one wins when it comes to abortion, except for maybe the irresponsible men dragging their partners into Planned Parenthood.
It's no surprise to me that oppression and exploitation of women are so common in human history. Satan hates women. But I wondered a few days ago whether or not Satan hates women more than he hates men.
Or at least, does he hate them with a particularly strong passion?
It seems significant that Satan chose to tempt Eve over Adam. It's no coincidence that Satan chose to stalk, attack, and deceive her first. Could it be that his hatred for her burned more intensely than his hatred for Adam?
Could this particular hatred for women be why women seem to have been exploited, in many ways, more than men throughout much of history? Could this be why women face exploitation and/or erasure in cultures that reject or abandon Christian teaching?
I'm not sure I can give a concrete answer to this question. But it is worth thinking about.
Think about the way the Bible celebrates women.
The first words uttered by a human in Scripture appear in Genesis 2:22-23 -
And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,
“This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
The first words spoken by a human in Scripture were a love song from the mouth of Adam to the woman who would be his wife and mother of his children. Eve was the crown jewel of creation; God's final and finest work. Her very presence was enough for Adam to cry "At last!"
Genesis portrays both men and women as equal in the sight of God - both created in His image (Gen 1:27). This was a revolutionary concept in every culture it was introduced into. The equality of men and women is a uniquely biblical idea - and this Christian teaching has served as the source for the modern West's assumption that women are equal to men. Even non-Christians can't help but use Christian logic as they speak about the value of women.
Paul also breaks down the distinction in value between men and women in Galatians 3:28 when he says that in Christ, there is no "male and female", rather, we are all "one" in Christ. This was over against the blatant misogyny undergirding both Roman and Jewish life at the time.
Jesus invited women to follow Him and learn from Him (Matthew 27:55). He valued educated and empowered women. Jesus refused to stone the woman found in adultery, opting to forgive her instead of condemning her (John 8:11). Jesus took particular interest in His mother and saw to it that she was taken care of after He departed back to Heaven (John 19:27). Jesus chose to allow women to see and testify to His resurrection before anyone else, which was a surprising and significant choice at that time (John 20:14).
Whereas the Ancient world saw women's bodies as warm bodies wherein men could satisfy their sexual urges at their pleasure, the Lord Jesus taught us that sex was to exist exclusively within the bonds of marriage. This crammed all sexual urges into one specific union.
I think the ubiquity of marriage can make us forget how significant its power was to restrain sexual promiscuity and wickedness in men. It gave our society a foundation upon which men, women, and children could all flourish.
Not only did men stand to gain by this - as a commitment to one's own family and taking responsibility for them is a recipe for male flourishing - this also set the stage for a new age of female freedom, protection, and care.
The New Testament is the single greatest and most liberating document regarding the treatment of women that the world has ever seen. Where Christianity goes, and where it is properly lived out, women flourish. But when Christianity is rejected, women suffer. As they have in nearly all pre or post-Christian societies.
God's unique and powerful love for His daughters is met with a unique and powerful hatred from Satan toward them.
This makes it even more egregious when so-called "Christians" abuse women while feigning loyalty to Christ. The abuse of women, or the covering up of that abuse, has absolutely no place in the Church or in the life of Christ-followers. Churches or Christians who abuse or cover up abuse are siding with Satan, the ultimate woman-hater, rather than Christ, the ultimate woman-lover.
It is impossible to truly value and empower women outside of a Christian ethic. It is impossible for the Church to value women if we don't rightly apply the Scripture's commands for us to love and cherish them.
The Christian worldview cherishes and values women as God's greatest work of creation. And make no mistake: What God cherishes and values, Satan hates and diminishes. Where Christ's reign is recognized, women flourish. Where Christ is rejected, women suffer.
The further the West moves from Christ, the more women will suffer. More opportunities will exist for young girls to be exploited and abused. The Church must lead the way back to the source and show the world the way that we can truly love and cherish women the way our Lord does.
1 Peter 3:7 - Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.