Video: A Different Kind of Gender Complementarity
From Our Free Video Program: Cultivating Catholic Feminism
About the Presenter: Abigail Favale is Dean of Humanities at George Fox University, and the author of Into the Deep: An Unlikely Catholic Conversion. Her latest book, The Genesis of Gender, will be published by Ignatius Press in early 2022. In addition to writing and presenting the educational material of this program, Abigail also wrote our program prayer Heroines of the Faith.
This lesson with Dr. Abigail Favale is a part of our free video program Cultivating Catholic Feminism. Sign up for the program at the link below.
Video Transcript
When we look at the history of human thought, we can find three basic theories of gender relations: uniformity, polarity, and complementarity. Theories of uniformity emphasize sameness, seeing men and women as basically interchangeable and downplaying their differences. This idea is very much alive in our time, and you can see it as far back as Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher. Uniformity theories tend to disregard the importance of the body, instead locating personhood in a disembodied mind or spirit.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is gender polarity, which sees men and women as contraries or polar opposites, with one gender superior to the other. While these theories recognize meaningful differences between the sexes, they often exaggerate the differences and assert a hierarchy of value.
Between these two extremes is complementarity—the idea that men and women have differences that balance and enhance each other. In this understanding, men and women are not seen as complete opposites, but as complements.
For a long time, I had a negative view of gender complementarity. I grew up in an evangelical context, where the idea of complementarity was used to justify women’s subservience to men.
I remember reading a book called Wild at Heart when I was in college. The book’s premise is that men are “wild at heart” and need to be the hero in their own adventure—whereas the deepest desire of a woman’s heart is to be a “beauty” who is rescued by the male hero.
This book portrayed men and women as cartoonish opposites—and that is the vision of complementarity that I typically encountered as an evangelical. But that isn’t true complementarity; that is gender polarity masquerading as complementarity. Philosopher Prudence Allen calls this fractional complementarity, because it does not see women and men as whole persons with access to the full range of human virtue and giftedness. Instead, each gender reflects only half, or a fraction, of that fullness. Fractional complementarity divides the human experience into separate lists of fixed traits. Women are emotional. Men are rational. Women should be humble. Men should be assertive. There is no model, in fractional complementarity, for a fully integrated human being.
The Catholic understanding of gender complementarity is much different—this is known as integral complementarity. Men and women are not incomplete parts, but whole persons. The complementarity between them does not fill in what is lacking, but adds depth and richness to what is already complete. This understanding of complementarity sees the fruitful collaboration of men and women as a kind of synergy—creating something greater than the sum of its parts.
Integral complementarity also recognizes individual differences. “Man” and “Woman” are not cookie-cutter stereotypes, but analogous modes of being. I use the term “analogous,” because they are similar in many ways, yet also different. Picture a King and a Queen—and for the purposes of this example, a good King and Queen. They are alike in many ways, sharing the same traits. They both have a sense of authority and command; they are both wise, both just, both merciful. And yet—they are not interchangeable, they are not totally the same. A King is not a Queen, and vice versa. There is a balance here between sameness and difference.
Because each person is an integrated whole of body, soul, intellect, and will, being a woman or being a man is something dynamic, not pre-determined by fixed and polarized traits. There are not “masculine” and “feminine” virtues, but rather human virtues that are enacted and embodied by masculine and feminine persons. We are all called to be humble; we are all called to be courageous.
I’ve come to embrace the idea of gender complementarity—but not in a fractional mode. Theories of uniformity and polarity tend toward extremes that either disregard the body as part of our personhood, or exaggerate our differences in order to put one gender over the other. Catholic feminism needs to avoid both of these extremes. Only an integral understanding of gender complementarity reflects a Catholic vision of the human person and the possibility of dynamic synergy between men and women.
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