Video: A Catholic Take on Toxic Masculinity & Femininity
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
“Toxic masculinity” has become something of a buzzword in recent conversations about gender. How can this be understood within the framework of Catholic feminism? If we look back at Genesis, our story of origin, we can see a clear rupture in the relationship between the first man and the first woman, once sin enters the picture. This is typically called “the fall,” as human nature falls from divine grace into a state of separation from God. Before the fall, the dynamic between man and woman is characterized by harmony, reciprocity, and a common mission to be fruitful and have shared governance over creation. After the fall, for the first time, we see conflict and a strict hierarchy between the sexes. As a consequence of sin, there is newfound separation and suffering in the work of man and woman; their sexed bodies become a source of shame, rather than joy, and the woman is told that her desire will be for man, and he will rule over her. What was originally a dynamic of reciprocal love is now a dynamic of conflict and domination. One of the central purposes of Catholic feminism is to cultivate the original, or redeemed, dynamic between the sexes on both a personal and communal level. The grace of Christ enables us to break out of a sinful dynamic into a redemptive one.
Let’s connect this back to the conversation about toxic masculinity. I would argue that toxic masculinity and toxic femininity develop when men and women lean into this fallen dynamic of conflict and domination. Toxic masculinity is characterized by aggression and conquest, by the use of power to control, exploit, and oppress. Toxic masculinity normalizes fallen masculinity as an expression of “real” manhood, rather than a version of masculinity that is distorted by sin. True masculinity views the woman with a sense of wonder and respect; toxic masculinity views and uses the woman as object. We can see this kind of masculinity at work in the worldwide sexual exploitation of women and girls in prostitution and sex trafficking—as well as the more socially-acceptable realms of hook-up culture and pornography. Even as women have gained increasing equality in education and the workplace, the widespread sexual degradation of women and girls has escalated.
What, then, is toxic femininity? What does it look like when women lean into a sinful, fallen dynamic of conflict with men? I can think of several different examples. The first is when women respond to sexism by mimicking toxic masculinity and seeking to dominate and oppress. You can see this kind of toxic femininity at work in some forms of feminism, especially those that embrace abortion—which is an act of violence and domination against a vulnerable other. Another form of toxic femininity is when women see themselves as objects and actively participate in their own exploitation, rooting their identity and sense of worth in being an object of male desire. I would also argue that extreme forms of “cancel culture” reflect a toxic form of femininity that weaponizes the role of victim and loses sight of the dignity and humanity of men, seeming them only as an enemy.
Ultimately, any gendered dynamic that is driven by conflict and the desire to dominate is corrosive—or “toxic”—to the dignity of the human person and to healthy, fruitful relationships between men and women.
Our free video program
on what it means to cultivate a Catholic feminism. To learn more and sign up for the program, click the button.