The more that modern society tries to proscribe femininity, the more that many females – especially younger generations – appear unhappy. Might there be a link?(!)
Last week, there were two stories in relation to this that caught my attention. We had Dame Jenni Murray urging us to ban girls from wearing skirts at school, supposedly for their own good. Young women are subjected to sexual harassment and banning skirts would somehow solve this problem, Murray told us (I would have thought teaching young men to treat young women with dignity and respect would make more sense rather than controlling what those females wear, but it seems I am behind the feminist curve on this; I am also not a grand dame).
The skirt is to blame for all sorts of other ills, such as teenage girls not taking enough exercise. “This backs up previous studies that found wearing gender-specific school uniforms reminded children they are a ‘boy’ or a ‘girl’ rather than a ‘pupil’,” Murray said.
Here, I believe, we have the real objection to the apparently controversial skirt; it is feminine apparel and reminds girls that they are indeed girls. This is out of fashion now. Despite all the hot air about celebrating diversity, the goal of the progressive elite is conformity and uniformity between the sexes.
At the same time that we had Murray admonishing girls for looking like girls, as well as schools and parents for letting girls look like girls, we had a report from The Times highlighting that over half a million young women in the UK are being prescribed anti-depressant medication. In fact, the report from the Resolution Foundation think tank found that at least 5 per cent of 20- to 24-year-olds were economically inactive because of ill health, compared with less than 5 per cent of those aged 39 to 45.
Furthermore, 34 per cent of young people aged 18 to 24 report symptoms of mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety or being bipolar. In 2000, the figure was 24 per cent. The number of 18 to 24-year-olds being prescribed antidepressants has jumped from 440,000 in 2015-16, to 570,000 in 2021-22.
We should not underestimate the seriousness of taking prescribed antidepressants. So what is contributing to depression in so many young women these days? I wonder if the relentless modern attack on femininity could be playing a role.
Females today, especially young women, have opportunities their grandmothers could only dream of. Yet the latest research on the state of their mental health reveals many are unhappy. It should be an eye opener for all those who pushed (and keep pushing) for the Sexual Revolution and the earthquake in gender roles.
One of the reasons feminists sought so-called liberation in the 1960s was because the traditional role of mother and housewife was perceived as being so restrictive and damaging, with proof reportedly coming from the numbers of housewives on prescription medication. This situation was the premise of books such as The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.
Now though, given the huge increase in mental health problems among young women, isn’t it fair to ask whether perhaps that revolution, and the “liberation” from tradition gender roles that came with it, has gone too far? No doubt social media has also played a big role in impacting the mental health of young women, as well as the general drift to individualism over the decades; but I believe the assault on femininity and feminine roles is a fundamental part of the problem.
The pressure on young women these days is immense. Not only must they look great for their social media profiles, they have no privacy as anyone can pull out a phone at any time to take a picture, while all the while they are being that there is nothing special about the feminine or being feminine, rather it is continually disparaged.
Almost the only place where young women wear skirts en masse these days is in schools (hence the feminists are coming for that). Outside of schools, teenage girls and boys dress in a markedly similar way these days, decked in leisure apparel, a hideous domination of Americana and some sports star who once played basketball. There is very little diversity in fashion worn by most teenagers; and not only do boys and girls increasingly look similar, and they act similarly.
Young women are told by the media-advertising industrial complex that they must be the same as their male counterparts at the same things; particularly when it comes to competitive sports (hence the recent media obsession with women’s football), their social life, education and professional life. This ruthless competition between the sexes creates a pressure cooker from which there is no escape.
It all stands in stark contrast to the Catholic life. Catholic values tell us that men and women are not in competition with each other; on the contrary, each is made for the other, equal in dignity and complementary when united.
When a man and a woman marry and raise a family, they have distinct and unique roles. Though the mother’s role is particularly precious and indispensable when raising a family. Indeed, as we are told in the Bible: “Who can find a virtuous woman? For her worth is far above rubies. The heart of her husband safely trusts in her, so that he will have no lack of gain.”
Given that marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman, once married a wife is no longer in competition with other women. That can offer reassurance to both sides. This stands in stark contrast to the swipe-right-swipe-left dating culture of today that mercilessly pits everyone against each other.
The Catholic way is a life of love, faithfulness and security.
But the move away from Christian values, along with their celebration of women as women and the ways in which those values treasure femininity, has clearly been damaging for young women. As a result, we need to be as (Catholically) counter cultural as possible.
Consider wearing that skirt. Consider being (counter culturally) feminine.
Photo: School girls holding a demonstration in Hyde Park against caning in schools, London, UK, 17 May 1972. (Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images.)
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