Are Catholics Really Misogynists?

Modern society has a litany of grievances against what it considers to be a “backwards” Church. One of these is that the Church is essentially a community of misogynists. People making this accusation will point to things such as the all-male priesthood and the Church’s teaching on the man being the head of the family, among other things.

Is this accusation true? Let’s find out!

It’s not misogynistic to acknowledge the truth about human sexuality
Many people no longer believe that there are real biological differences between men and women. This means, to them, that men and women are not cut out for different roles, but can do all the same things. The current transgender craze shows just how off the rails this line of thinking has gone.

But, as Catholics, we know that while God did create men and women as equals, this does not mean He created them for the exact same roles. Nor did He give them the same biological strengths.

And you don’t even need faith to see this — just look at the sports world. We now have men masquerading as women and joining women’s sports. And they’re crushing the real women. Because, while not every man is physically stronger than every woman, a man’s physical make-up is designed for a higher level of physical strength than a woman’s. That’s just basic biology.

Catholics — at least faithful Catholics — acknowledge this simple truth. And because modern society doesn’t want to accept it and can’t really defend their beliefs, well, the easiest thing to do is just call Catholics “misogynists.”

But it’s also true that some Catholics — in response to the Left — go to the other extreme
It’s easy to respond to an extreme you disagree with by going to the other extreme. And, let’s be honest, some Catholics do this in response to the extreme positions of the Left.

They may take certain things in the Bible out of context to make it seem like women absolutely can’t work or can never challenge their husbands’ wrong decisions. Basically, they’ll act like the only things women should do is bear children, walk around the house barefoot, and keep their mouths shut.

And while, yes, being a stay-at-home mom is an awesome and critical vocation, neither the Church nor the Bible limit the things women can do to only that.

Make sure you’re not taking Church teaching out of context and indeed know what you’re talking about before unleashing a tirade against the Left to such an extreme that you may actually be misrepresenting reality yourself. (There have been instances where passionate Catholic men respond to a woman’s criticism by basically saying, “You’re a woman. What do you know?”)

Recognize and respect legitimate freedom
As we said in a recent blog, there’s nothing wrong with a man preferring to marry a woman who will be a stay-at-home mom. But not every woman has to forgo a job to raise a family. A man is free to express his desire for his wife to not work, but he shouldn’t communicate it in a way to make it sound like she’d be doing something wrong simply by having a job.

While the Church is against the false freedoms and anti-family crusade of today’s radical feminists and woke Left, it also recognizes more freedom for women than some Catholics are willing to grant.

At the end of the day, you shouldn’t really care what the world says about you. Let it call you every hideous name. As long as you’re staying true to your faith, you have nothing to be worried about. But also make sure you’re actually believing the right things and not distorting them by overreacting to the other side.

It’s a real balancing act. But it’s what we have to do.