Proof of the Devil

About a month or so ago, I was perusing Father James V. Schall, S.J.’s articles on Ignatius Insight and decided to re-read his article on abortion. The article began with a poster that Fr. Schall had seen on a MetroBus here in D.C. The poster read, “Did you know that abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy?” or something of the like. Fr. Schall took this poster to be a pro-choice poster, reminding women of their “right” to procure an abortion at any time they would like to in their pregnancy. In fact, it is a poster put out by the USCCB as part of their campaign to improve knowledge about what Roe v. Wade really allows. When I told Fr. Schall this, he cited it as proof of the devil.

I am inclined to agree, and since that conversation with Schall have kept this claim in the back of my mind. All around me, I see people sincerely trying to do good, but in fact causing destruction and harm. Sometimes, their beliefs about what the good actually is are correct, and the goals they seek to achieve are good ones, as in the case of the US Bishops and their poster. Other times, they are mistaken about what constitutes good and evil and the goals they pursue are in fact evil.

Perhaps I have too much faith in the honesty of human beings, but I believe that most people do pursue what they believe to be good. Although I am as staunch a pro-lifer as you can find, I do believe that pro-choicers sincerely believe what they preach – that access to abortion is fundamentally good and necessary for women. It is precisely here that the devil dwells, and it is this phenomenon that gives him so much power. It would be far easier to dissuade humans from evil if they did not so stubbornly insist on believing the evils they commit to, in fact, be good.

I have been thinking about this whole phenomenon a lot recently, particularly as it relates to feminism. Feminism, or what that word has come to mean, I think, is the ultimate proof of the devil. In seeking to empower women, feminists actually degrade them, and actually move them further from the equality they deserve.

Feminism is based on a mistaken idea of what equality is. Equality is not homogeneity. Equality is recognizing the equivalent value of the distinctive roles that men and women play in society. Women will never achieve equality by acting like men and trying to achieve the standards of success that have been defined for and by males because, put simply, women just aren’t as good at being men as men are. The opposite, of course, is also true, and trying to make men more like women in certain ways also undermines the unique dignity of each sex. Feminism, based on a mistaken idea, condemns the noble goal of recognizing that women are as valuable to society as men are to failure, and thus the devil achieves his purpose.

Works like the Vagina Monologues and Linda Hirshman’s influential article “Homeward Bound” (post to follow) drive this point home. The Vagina Monologues seek to empower women and end violence against women and instead degrade and objectify them; Linda Hirshman also seeks to empower women and instead subordinates them to men by denying the value of uniquely female abilities and roles. Women (and men) need to take a step back and begin to base feminism not on the idea that men and women should be the same, but on recognition of the truth that men and women are incredibly different, yet equally valuable.