Home > Opinion > Bonnie Erbe > The Anti-Women Women's Movement and the True Woman Manifesto

The Anti-Women Women's Movement and the True Woman Manifesto

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The point is that feminism was supposed to be about choice and equal opportunity and not about forcing women into some kind of straightjacket with "our way is the only right way" sort of attitudes.
I'm a wife and mother of three kids and I don't go out to work but my husband does.
That doesn't make me feel inferior to a woman who doesn't work, isn't married or doesn't have children.
Why should it?
It's about time that people who claim to be feminists accepted that there is NOT just one right way of doing things.
What works for some women doesn't work for all.
It's a fundamentally reactionary and fascist attitude to think that it does.

Donna Barber 9:46AM December 13, 2011

I personally think you've missed the point. I don't view this movement as "against" women, but to let women know that if your desire is to be a wife, mother, and do it well, don't allow the current propoganda of "you can have it all, be all, do all" to make you feel inferior.
I bought into the lie that I could work, have a family, have hobbies, etc. and "do it all". Not true. Someone will get the short end of the stick if you have this mindset when your children are very young. We don't learn to walk and run at the same time, you can't simultaneously be a child and adult....somethings are for a season.
Because I'm secure in my choices to focus on my husband, children, creating a home-life, making nutritious meals, living a slower and intentional family-focused life doesn't mean I'm against you working and living your life as you wish. I just don't want you expecting me to pick your kids up from school, keep them at my house and mother them until you are finished being a "productive woman" doing things that "count". That's what I encountered NUMEROUS times with woman who are in the "work world". I worked before children and know I refuse to give all my best outside of my family.

AMW of FL 9:58AM September 29, 2011

This manifesto is not just about men and women's differences. This is about Keeping women accountable to Christ and His believers. this is showing how women can live their life as a model to their world, to show Christ's love.

mary ann of FL 2:57PM September 21, 2010

I am having a hard time seing www.usnews.com in Firedfox 3.2, I just thught I might let you know.

seo lace of AL 12:17AM May 02, 2010

I'm not christian, Muslim, anti-gay or politically conservative. I am anti-feminist and here's why. I am open minded enough to NOT close my eyes to the obvious fact that men and women are different. Men are bigger, stronger and more aggressive. Women are smaller, weaker and more nurturing. Now I know there are exceptions to this rule, but look around you and be honest about what you see. Equal opportunity is necessary, but too many feminists claim that women can do everything men do and they just CAN'T! Neither can men do everything women can do. We are very very different, and these differences should be celebrated and taken into consideration when necessary. For example, the post office switched from using bags to using totes, which held less and were therefore easier to lift, so that women could get the same kinds of jobs as men. The result? Slower and more expensive mail delivery, women with bad backs, and men who have lost their sense of pride in being male.
I have also seen many marriages ruined because of constant, unresolvable power struggles between the husband and wife. SOMEBODY has to be in charge. In a marriage between a submissive man and a dominant woman, she can wear the pants and that's fine. But for most of us, the reverse is true. Why wreck your marriage because somebody told you it was wrong to defer to your husband?
Men and women should be proud of their differences and feel free to live their lives in a way that is natural to them, without being made to feel they are wrong for doing so.

Mereniel of NJ 3:14PM April 24, 2010

Bonnie, if you really believe you're a 'liberated' womb-man ('man'-with-a-womb) take a look at your lineage (last name) 'Erbe'... if you've swallowed the farce of patriarchal marriage then chances are Erbe comes from your husband (which symbolically says you are your husband's property - otherwise why drop your own lineage and assume his?) - if you haven't been married, or chose not to assume your husband's lineage, your lineage comes from your mother's husband (not necessarily your father if your mother had a secret affair and you were the result)...
and undoubtedly if you are married and have children, you pinned your husband's lineage onto them - not yours... of course even if you gave your children your mother's husband's lineage, or if you were smelling something rotten and you gave your children your mother's lineage (which came from her mother's husband) - in any event all the lineages in every case is being traced through a husband (not necessarily even a father - although even if you could genetically prove your mother's husband is your father, he still has no lineage rights to you)... patriliny is not only the greatest patriarchal fraud and unbelievably immoral and illogical, but the greatest patriarchal tool for perpetuating the patriarchal mind-set...
the vast majority of 'men'-with-wombs defend the right

dragonfly of CA 4:09PM January 02, 2010

+1

soundtracks of AL 6:26AM July 17, 2009

As a mandatory reporter and educator I found the original research from the National Center for Violence against Women used for the 1 ion 4 women are abused national campaign - shock to find out many women lambasted the study - it had a board definition - any verbal or physical altercation with anyone familiar with from age of 12 on up and included robbery. Point is 90% recalled only some verbal argument with a friend, etc.
The number without robbery was 1 in 14 - with this broad non-legal definition and 37% where women abusers and 42% men - with men 8 times more likely to be reported anyway.

John Gabriel of IA 3:01PM April 17, 2009

I, for one, am one of many intelligent women who have not bought into the feminist agenda of the last 40 years. I do not blindly “stay home, make babies and submit to (my) husband.” In fact, I have a full-time career and a college degree. Your little snippet of a quote inaccurately portrays the true woman movement. We are wives and mothers who love our God-given role of nurturing our families and we invest ourselves in our families for their good while finding intense enjoyment and fulfillment in these roles.
While we empathize that at one time there might have been genuine need for some form of a woman’s movement that time is long past. The myth that women can have it all: full-time high-paying job and family is not the rewarding path it was cracked up to be even though I love my job. Too many times I am torn between family and work and miss out on occasions that mean more to me in the long run than a career.
The feminists are out of touch with many women’s interests and have politicized femininity. We are more concerned with our families than with our individual rights and the self-centered focus of feminism that calls for women’s rights to the exclusion of our families’ best interests.
What the radical feminist will never understand is that many women are deeply satisfied living within the biblical model of womanhood. This model is based upon a mutual, sacrificial love with submission a very small part of the picture.
The men and women involved in TW are humble and kindhearted. We are not angry or militant. You should do a little more research and get to know those involved before you dismiss this group. Just look at the tone of your articles. You would be better served by a softer, less vitriolic femininity.

MJ of IN 10:21PM February 13, 2009

Thankfully those with brains realize that the biblical verse of a woman's submission to her husband includes the husbands submission, humility and love toward his wife. This second part, to me, has until recent times been manipulatively deleted and used to man's advantage, thereby corrupting organized religion.
I wouldn't be so concerned over this small movement as it has no legs. We are smarter and wiser today.
That being said, what upsets me more as a person of faith and a feminist, is today's young women. Our culture is setting the feminist movement back decades with their shallowness, lack of self respect, and return to the dumb sex object role. Instead of focusing on education and worthwhile self-improvement, many (at least what's seen in the mainstream) are obsessed with their physical self and throwing out the intellectual self. It is important to look and feel attractive, but it saddens me that many of today's young women are degrading themselves, becoming Barbie doll objects who are more concerned with their outer appearance than their inner beauty....and their minds.

Linda of NJ 12:44PM February 03, 2009