The Challenge of Femininity: Imago Dei or a Social Construct

Abstract

In recent decades, a huge divide in understanding femininity has begun to emerge. From one side, there is the aggressive intention of gender ideology to strengthen the concepts of gender and sex and to erase any trace of expression of femininity; from the other side, there are the inadequate efforts to present the foundations of Christian anthropology and contemporary Catholic teaching on women. The differences between gender ideology and Christian anthropology are not just “cultural differences”. The terms “culture war” and “cultural differences” are accepted today as being more “politically correct”. In reality the differences run deeper than culture. The differences rather are in worldview. This article explores them from these main aspects: human nature, human dignity, sexuality, love, and marriage.