I picked the wrong week to stay off social media. I am apparently not in the circles that were notified of this weekend’s “March for Women,” so when Rebekah texted me on Saturday in a huff about pink hats, I wasn’t sure what she was talking about. I am a woman, but apparently not the kind that the organizers want. I am not their target demographic. But then again, I think there were a lot of women who participated in the march who weren’t their “target demographic” either. They just didn’t know it.
I am always a bit skeptical when I see protests regarding things that I think are fairly uncontroversial (like women’s rights), yet cloaked in vague language. A friend posted, “Can anyone articulate what the purpose of the woman’s march is? I’ve been on the website, read comments by supporters, etc… from what I can see, the women’s rights they are marching for, we have. Do they think those rights are being taken away? I’m still at a loss.” Excellent question Janet. Let’s take a look at it. Here is a copy of the organization’s “Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles” – henceforth referred to as GVDP. Be cautious when you see protest demands, cloaked in vague language. Click To Tweet
Too many ladies heard “women’s rights” and thought, “Cool! I’m in!” without actually looking at what this organization stood for. Proverbs 19:2 warns us about the dangers of “zeal without knowledge.” So, before you go putting a “p*ssyhat” on your head to protest misogyny, maybe take a look at what you are aligning yourself with.
1. Resistance… against… ???
Resistance against what? I don’t know. It doesn’t say. But according to the opening paragraph, you marched on Saturday with a “bold message of resistance and self-determination.” Nobody can tell you what to do! You’re self-determined! And if they do, you’ll resist! Ladies, let me be clear: the idea of generalized “resistance” is not Biblical. James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Submission is not itself evil, and there are things we are called to resist, like Satan. Until they can clarify who or what they’re resisting, I’d suggest resisting the urge to join them.
2. Abortion, on-demand, and without apology
First and foremost, if you believe that #AllLivesMatter, including those in the womb, you are most definitely not welcome. Paragraph 6 of the GVDP document states, “We believe in Reproductive Freedom. We do not accept any federal, state or local rollbacks, cuts, or restrictions on our ability to access quality reproductive healthcare services… or medically accurate sexuality education.” (I’ll let you ruminate on what “medically accurate sexuality education” is. As opposed to what we’ve been doing?) “This means open access to safe, legal, affordable abortion and birth control for all people regardless of income, location, or education.” Translation: abortion on demand, without cost, and without apology.
If you do not agree with this statement, then you were definitely not welcome at this event. In fact, Abby Johnson, former clinic director at Planned Parenthood (turned pro-life activist) was initially excited to join arms with her fellow sisters and march for women everywhere. At 7:06, she enthusiastically tweeted “Proud to be a partner of the Women’s March on D.C. Diverse voices are needed! #prolifewomen” along with a photo of her organization on the website. In just a little over two hours, she tweeted again “And now we have been removed as a partner from the Women’s March. This is almost comical.”
Other pro-life groups like “New Wave Feminists” and “And Then There were None” found their invitations revoked by the group claiming to be “inclusive of all political affiliations.” This was not a march for women’s solidarity. It was a march for abortion, and if you were not on-board, then your feminine voice was not included. If you believed that lives in the womb matter, you are #NotTheirKindOfWoman Click To Tweet
3. Sex workers’ rights movement
According to the official document, if you marched in Saturday’s protest, you also “stand in full solidarity with the sex workers’ rights movement” and “recognize that exploitation for sex and labor in all forms is a violation of human rights.” (emphasis mine) This is not, I repeat NOT a pro-woman agenda item. Ladies, do you realize you weren’t even marching to get rid of the sex industry or sex workers, only the exploitation of sex workers? If someone believes that there are women in the sex industry who are emotionally healthy and fulfilling their childhood dream of being paid for sex, please introduce me. I would like to hear her story. Just because you choose to be exploited does not mean you are not being exploited. For all the ladies in the sex industry, I implore you to recognize your inherent beauty and worth. You are more than a body meant to be used and tossed aside by a man. No matter what the world tells you, you are precious and valuable. I will not march for your continued bondage to a philosophy that tells you otherwise.
4. Disarming of police officers
Yup. You heard that right. If you marched for women everywhere, you were also marching for the disarming of police officers. The documents calls for “an immediate end to arming police with the military grade weapons and military tactics that are wreaking havoc on communities of color and sovereign tribal lands.” The addition of the word “military grade” is the only loophole I can see, and likely added so that the organization could claim that they weren’t meaning just guns. However, since I’ve never heard of a tank rolling through the inner city, this bullet point is shooting blanks unless they are really aiming to disarm the police in general.
5. LGBTQIA Agenda
No, that is not a joke. I am not adding extra letters to be funny. The LGB movement (which became the LGBT movement) is now the “lesbian, gay, bi, tran, queer, two-spirit and gender nonconforming” movement. I don’t even know what it means to be “two-spirit.” So, if you thought you were marching for women Saturday, you were actually also marching for the right for “non-judgmental, comprehensive healthcare with no exceptions or limitation” and “access to name and gender changes on identity documents.” (emphasis mine)
6. Honoring women affected by violence… but not actually condemning those who perpetrate it.
This one was strange, and some people may not agree. While the paragraph dedicated to violence against women sounds like they are condemning violence against women, the language is oddly vague. It never actually comes out and condemns people or groups who perpetrate violence against women, and it never spells out what constitutes a violent act. I have to be careful with this point, but let me just ask the question: why are they so specific with what they mean by “woman” (black, indigenous, poor, immigrant, Muslim, lesbian, queer, trans, disabled, deaf) and yet so unspecific with what they mean by “violence”? It never actually condemns the perpetrators. It just “honors the women taken before their time.”
7. The Dakota Pipeline
I can only assume that is what the bullet point was referring to which said, “We support Indigenous women’s right to access, own, develop, and control land and it’s resources.” The only thing this has to do with women, is that they are specifying women. I don’t know what all the facts are on this one, but I feel skeptical if the organizers felt the need to slip it into the agenda when it has nothing to do with the actual purpose of the march. See Jay Richard’s point #1 on “When to doubt a scientific concensus.” It should always be a red flag when a bunch of disparate ideas get bundled together.
8. Environmental Agendas
This one doesn’t even mention women. It just states, “We believe that every person, every community and Indigenous people in our nation have the right to clean water, clean air, and access to and enjoyment of public lands. We believe that our environment and our climate must be protected, and that our land and natural resources cannot be exploited for corporate gain or greed – especially at the risk of public safety and health.” Now don’t get me wrong. I am all for protecting the environment. But what does this have to do with a women’s march? Nothing. Because this was not a women’s march. It was a manufactured partisan political protest cleverly disguised as a women’s march.
While I usually try to keep my rhetoric to a minimum and stick to the facts, I would like at least one paragraph to say what I really think. I did not participate in the March for Women, nor would I even if I had been aware of it. Why? Because they do not represent me. I fully reject views of femininity that are so crude as to place female genitalia on their heads and call it “empowered.” I refuse to call myself a “nasty woman,” as if that were a badge of honor. I refuse to steal the title of Victim from previous societies and other cultures that have faced legitimate oppression. I rejoice that I live in a country where I already have the right to freedom from violence, freedom from tyranny, freedom to vote, freedom to own my own business, freedom to work, or freedom to be a stay-at-home mom if that is what I choose. I refuse to march for the “right” to take away all these freedoms from a child in utero. And more than anything, I refuse to conform to the feminine stereotype which says that all you have to do is manipulate my emotions and I’ll be putty in your hands, mindlessly licking up whatever agenda you put in front of me. You wanted a woman who embodies resistance? You got it. You wanted a woman who embodies 'resistance?' You got it. #NotMyMarch Click To Tweet
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**UPDATE** Due to the viral nature of this article, Rebekah and I found it prudent to do a podcast to better address critiques of this article, as well as shed additional light on the controversy. I do not affirm division for division’s sake. There is no purpose in division unless we are seeking unity in something greater. In the podcast “Addressing the Divide From the Women’s March,” Rebekah and I ask and answer 4 important questions: 1) What is the good that we can affirm from the march? 2) Why is there such division over something as seemingly uncontroversial as “women’s rights?” (hint: there’s a reason…) 3) What kind of unity does scripture call us to? Are there things worth dividing over? and 4) Where do we go from here? How can we have productive conversations with our children and friends? This podcast is a bit longer than usual (54 minutes), but it is also a complex topic. I encourage everyone to listen to it in its entirety.
Hillary Morgan Ferrer is the founder of Mama Bear Apologetics. She is the chief author and editor of Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies and Mama Bear Apologetics Guide to Sexuality: Empowering Your Kids to Understand and Live Out God’s Design. Hillary has her masters in Biology and has been married to her husband, Dr. John D. Ferrer, for 15 years. Don’t let her cook for you. She’ll burn your house straight to the ground.
I dont agree with your take. And thats fine. Bullet points aside – i marched as a show of support and unity with women onnbehaf of all women, their children, our children, and our lives. While we may not agree on every issue, we all have concerns and rights that are important and deserve our combined consideration and support. And many of those rights are being threatened by current events.
I’m late to the party, it’s 2021, but I was at Trump’s inauguration and inadvertently the (anti) women’s march. All I can say is, this article still delivers truth in a take no captives style that is refreshing.
Dear Hillary, I stumbled across this article in my facebook feed. And I want you to know my goal is not to be condescending or trite in any way, but rather contrary. I say everything here with love (by the grace of God). I hope you don’t get too many nasty comments or threats of any nature, but I want you to know that is nowhere near my intention through this message board. I appreciate your strength, confidence, and ability to be unashamed in your opinion.
I do, however, disagree with several of your points. Before I respond though, I’m curious what your motivation was for writing this piece? Honestly, the tone I get from your writing here is very vindicated and self-righteous, and shaming of those who did support the march in any way shape or form. I don’t see much redemption, or hope in this article, just a lot of cutting down of others. So, that is why I question your motive. Now, I don’t know you at all, so I have nothing to reference, so I’m just sharing how this piece came off to me as a first time reader. It doesn’t appear to me to build up, but I am obviously reading it through my lenses and realize I have blind spots too (so please point out what I may have missed).
Now for my push back/challenges: (the numbers correspond to your points)
2) I’m not sure where you make the jump to “without apology” from the text you provided…I know a number of women who have had the misfortune of having to determine the lifespan of an unplanned or complicated pregnancy, but none who did so happily, or unapologetically.
4) This one is certainly not just a women’s rights issue right now, but it certainly effects women. Not only have women of color been disproportionately affected by police violence (Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Islan Nettles, the list is too long), but also consider the number of women and children who are left without husbands/boyfriends/fathers by the unjust executions of men of color by the hands of police. A black man in Chicago just today was tackled to the ground by 5 armed officers because someone thought he had stolen this car (it was his). I don’t want to think about what would have happened if he hadn’t acted so calmly and compliantly in such an imaginably stressful situation.
6) My answer to your question in this paragraph is to read the Beatitudes.
8) I am for protecting the environment too.
So my wife and I marched on Saturday with millions of others to stand in solidarity with our sisters, mothers, daughters, aunts, grandmothers, etc. And I really appreciated Laura’s comment above. There were several prolife women out there in the march, and there should be a place at the table for us there (you are right here). My wife and I were 2 of them. Two of the most important women in my life were saved by abortions. I thank God for that. I also grieve the loss of life. Because of this I can’t see it as so black and white. But I want the women in my life to know I care, that God hears their cries for justice, and that I stand with them in that fight. We may have different ways of doing that, but I wanted to share my differing view in what I hope is a graceful environment (albeit it’s the internet).
Sincerely, humbly, in Christ,
David
Thank you David for your thoughts. They were expressed very respectfully. I saw your other comments asking if your comment had been deleted. I just hadn’t gotten to my computer yet to approve comments. When I first set up the blog, I didn’t want comments to have to be approved because I thought that would make it look like I’d only approve comments I liked. However, I then discovered the sheer number of businesses that comment on blogs with advertising, and I reluctantly switched the “approve comment” settings on. But I would like to dignify your questions, because they are legitimate questions.
1) What was my motive for writing – My initial goal of this article was to inform. At the time of this writing, all I was seeing was praise for the women’s march. I didn’t know about it when it happened. I was trying to stay off social media last week. However, my partner Rebekah then contacted me very upset about “pink hats,” so I went on to see what she was talking about. The news coverage I was seeing was showing some of the most offensive forms of womanhood that I’ve ever seen. The p*ssyhats, the signs declaring themselves to be “nasty women,” the signs saying “abortion, on demand, and without apology” crude signs, crude language, crude speakers. Oh my!
I went on facebook, and there were posts by people I knew who were shouted away for having a pro-life sign, and others whose organizations were ready to march in solidarity, but were disinvited from the march because their organization was pro-life. What conclusion would you come if your organization tweeted how proud they were to march in solidarity, and then had your organization removed from the list of supporting organizations? Or what conclusion would you draw if your organization was formally disinvited from coming? That is a strong message that your form of woman is not welcome. After looking at the official “Unifying Vision and Guidelines” document, it was clear that this march was not intended to be pro-woman. It was intended to be pro-certain kind of woman.
Now, I’m hearing stories of women in other cities that were able to have productive and unifying time with sisters of varying beliefs, and that makes me happy. I would have been all about this march if it had stuck to the unifying principle that I think most well-meaning women were there for: women’s rights. Awareness about violence against women. Rejection of the misogyny that is still so prevalent. A love of women who have been unfairly treated. All of these things are good things. However, that was not the real agenda of the march. As far as I can tell, the plan was to ADVERTISE those things (the ones everyone agrees on), but then basically have a statement of faith that a lot of people would not agree with. It was deceptive. My goal was not to condescend anyone who did support the march. It was to wave a flag and alert them to real agenda behind the march. I’m not even against all the things that I mention. I am against the deceptiveness.
2) The jump to “without apology” came from a few places. It came from the language of the “Unifying vision” document that proclaimed abortion to be a right. It did not claim it as a “necessary evil.” It had no hint that it was even a bad thing. It just boldly stated their refusal to accept any decrease in funding for their right to abortion. That sounded pretty unapologetic to me. Nobody apologizes for exercising their rights. If this language was unclear to pro-lifers, it was very clear to pro-choicers. There were women at the march carrying signs which said “abortion, on demand and without apology.” There was a speaker at the event who had a shirt with hearts all over it with the word “abortion” inside each heart.
3) As to paragraph 4: I would prefer to discuss this point in a more private setting because there are a lot of nuances to this bullet point. I’ll just state that I absolutely believe that black lives matter, and I am absolutely against police brutality.
4) As to paragraph 6 – I will read the beatitudes and compare it to my paragraph there.
5) as to paragraph 8 – I am not against protecting the environment. But why was this crammed into a women’s march?
I am thankful for your comments David. I am thankful that your heart is to stand beside the women in your life. I am thankful that there are Christian men out in the world who are fighting for the women in their lives, and who will respectfully disagree with me. I do my best to always be looking at my heart and having God whittle away the parts that are sinful, and I cannot do that without the body of Christ to point out my blindspots. I have a podcast coming out in response to this article that I hope will bring reconciliation. In it, I honor the men and women who marched with pure motives and especially those who are called to the darkness as missionaries. It is being edited this morning, and I plan on listening to it and posting it later today. It addresses some of the gaps you pointed out in your comments. I wish I would have seen your comment in time to include it in the podcast.
Blessings, my sweet brother in Christ. I appreciate your critique, and the Christlike manner in which it was delivered.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply, Hillary. And for “allowing” my comment 😉 Haha. I have a better understanding and a fuller picture of your intent and the heart behind the post. While the post still comes off as offensive or attacking to me, I hope it does not deter many others and that they are able to read and see the truth and the light in what you have to share. I will look forward to listening to your podcast. 🙂 Bless you.
In His Grip,
David
My prayers with my brothers & sisters in Christ. Such a heart touching and productive communication between David & Hillary Morgan. It is my intent to be well informed myself, especially with hidden agendas.
Blessings
Cindy
Thank you Cindy! I have been so blessed by the productive conversations on both the website and facebook, and have been honored to interact with brothers and sisters in Christ who respectfully disagree with my initial thoughts. In most situations, we have been able to end the conversation with gratitude for each other’s hearts, and with true unity. Thank you for taking it upon yourself to be well informed, and I hope I can play my part in encouraging others to have God-honoring interactions regarding difficult conversations.
Hillary, I found our commentary to be worthy, but I think you couched it incorrectly. There are these divisions between 2nd and 3rd wave fems, and TERF, etc. We certainly know there are many Dworkin fans out there. But that one group, though well funded, was not the only “organization”. I too was skeptical at first, but then after I heard 5 mil showed, and heard about many other organizations and groups, I realized that this was a protest planned by many others as far back as June, and had a lot to do with Bernie’s momentum too.
Sandi, thank you for reading and commenting! Yes, there was not enough time to address the varying waves of feminism. I myself would identify as 1st wave feminist, but I rarely use that word because there is such a different connotation now. The article was mostly intended to highlight the discrepancies between the advertised goals of the march, and the actual goals according to their own literature. I agree that this march has been organized for quite some time, and not the “spontaneous” and “grassroots” movement that it was touted to be. We actually addressed some of that in our first podcast that we recorded, but didn’t publish. Thank you for writing! I always welcome thoughtful comments.
How ironic that another march like this was going on in LA during the first-ever Women in Apologetics Conference this last weekend! https://www.womeninapologetics.com/2018-women-in-apologetics-conference/
All this talk about female “empowerment.” I can tell you which event was more “empowering.” It was the one that took the focus off of human power and off of ourselves. It was the one based on lasting, eternal, non-self-referential values (for self-referential values are all that are left if this world is it!). It was the one rooted in a true celebration of the unique things women have to give (not take!). It was the one rooted in worship and gratitude for all God has given us women (and men!) -starting with existence itself.
Not the one where women were embarrassing the name “woman” by wearing offensively, juvenile hats on their heads! Ugh. Come on ladies! We are better than this. Last year’s march was so deeply depressing. It revealed how unrooted and naive we’ve become. Unrooted, naive, and entitled – like a bunch of spoiled teenagers.
Chesterton wrote that the test of all happiness is gratitude. We live in a very unhappy age. 🙁 http://www.pagebypagebooks.com/Gilbert_K_Chesterton/Orthodoxy/The_Ethics_of_Elfland_p1.html
Sorry, I am still a bit passionate about this, I guess. :-/ I just knew so many otherwise wonderful women that were at the other march. A comparison between its purpose and the purpose of the women in apologetics that gathered this past weekend is startling and deeply distressing, to say the least!
We’ve got work to do with the precious women of this world who have been deceived by the lies of modern feminism/empowerment.
Excellent comment Rebekah. Thank you for the post Hillary. I think you clarified what many women think or thought about the women’s march.
Thank you, Hillary and Rebekah, for writing down, speaking about, and defending things that are in the hearts of many other women! While these truths may be “hard to hear” that doesn’t mean they aren’t truths, or aren’t worth considering. It is difficult for me to imagine that feminism has anything to do with most of the topics from their literature; and it is disturbing that the deceptive nature of the rally is so pervasive. If only people really knew what it stood for! Oh wait! Now we know! Thank you.
You are most welcome, Sarah! Thank you so much for the encouragement, sister. This is a tough battle for the minds of today’s women and we MamaBears need all the encouragement and building-up we can get. Our enemy likes to tear down, doesn’t he? He will take every opportunity to, too. Booo. 🙁
What concerns me most is that I can see a backlash brewing amongst men. Because of the extreme behavior of this movement, otherwise nice men are beginning to feel embittered towards women. What perhaps began as a real concern over real misogyny has morphed into something that will produce more misogyny. Satan is having a blast.
We need to pray for our men that feel unfairly caricatured as #toxic, too, for the temptation for them is to harbor bitterness towards ALL women. I feel for them, too. Even for those individuals that truly are condescending to women, we are called to love and pray for them. They deserve our pity, not hate. Where is the love in this movement? It’s seriously misdirected.
We women can encourage men in a unique way (as men can do the same for women) just as we can tear each other down in a unique way. We all know this, too, don’t we? That’s why our bitterness and insults towards each other are so powerfully damaging. This movement is a prime example of why! All in all, it is doing more to divide men and women – causing them the tear each down rather than build each other up. This is playing right into the hands of the enemy.
And that’s why the WIA Conference this past weekend in LA was such a breath of fresh air. There was NO male bashing but lots of talk about we can come alongside them and help with our unique gifts. Not an ounce of envy going on at all! YAY! An event like this was an antidote to all the feminism AND misogyny out there.
Thank you so much, Rebekah. So much truth in this. The Enemy loves to destroy, and when the good things (like standing up for the poor and oppressed) are manipulated into tools for destruction of other things, it is clearly not from truth, beauty, goodness, or God!
It is easy to see how men would become embittered towards women in this: women are declaring no need for them, telling them we can do what they do while bleeding (really?), and saying our parts matter more than theirs. This is simply misogyny flipped on its head. Its misandry! We just never hear that word and it isn’t popular to talk about. I’m reminded, as I hear more and more about this march, of the Furies as described in “What We Can’t Not Know.”
Yes, we are always called to love, and in particular, those who persecute us and hate us. I’m not sure why we think it is ok to return hate for hate, as even those ideas were on posters in the march, but I think it boils down to what was written here to begin with: the motives aren’t clear. I think they are becoming increasingly so, and I hope they continue to make themselves known.
I really enjoyed reading this. I wrote an article this week about being a strong woman but not marching. Someone commented on my post with a link to this article! I’m glad she did. Loved your points and your Biblical basis for them!
That was me who posted silly goose. I don’t normally post my own stuff on someone else’s blog, but I got a little protective over you when that girl called you “uninformed” about not feeling comfortable with the march. I suspected that SHE was the one who was uninformed. Anyway, I felt our articles had a kindship and they should be friends. 😛
I know this is late, but women today have truly become disgusting….what happened to embracing femininity….oh yeah I guess that means wearing a ”feminist” hat and dropping f bombs and using innuendo slang…yeah that makes you a strong woman!! grrr hear them roar, OH pah-lease.
I was a bit feministic at the time the march was going on….but not in that way. . .I think feminism should be 100% fighting porn, masturbation, premarital sex, abortion, prostitution, and human trafficking…because all those things HURT WOMEN immensely. But no….all except one are NOT being fought….and guess who is getting hurt the most by it? WOMEN.
Jesus knows women the best. He designed us. He didn’t make us naturally female so we could march around screaming and whining….no we have a nurturing way about us and that is what we should strive to fight for. . .feminity….but sheesh….its so beat down these days that people are ashamed of their feminine aspects. At least I used to be.
Great post. I subbed 🙂
Thanks Brittany! You might like the post I did for cross examined then, titled “yes women need Apologetics, but more importantly, Apologetics needs women.” I try to offer a redeeming perspective of femininity and how it is imperative for advancing the kingdom.
https://crossexamined.org/yes-women-need-apologetics-importantly-apologetics-needs-women/
The website with the “Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles” is no longer available. Any chance you have a copy and could post them. I am interested in reading them. Thank you for what you do.
Hey there Kimberlee, we just checked the link, and it seems to be working again. Let us know if you have any other questions. -Lindsey
I am currently reading your book “Mama Bear Apologetics” and you referenced this blog post; out of curiosity I looked it up. I agree with your points and while I don’t have social media and have never formally investigated what the women’s march is about, I did always have a hunch due to the weird correlation between feminism and abortion (as if abortion were a good or empowering thing women should be fighting for) that the women’s march wasn’t for me. While there are a few out there who are well-meaning and believe that there are rare instances in which abortion is needed to save a woman (it’s not — Dr. Levatino the former abortionist is the best at explaining why an early delivery is much much safer than a late-term abortion), it’s increasingly becoming something women are told they should “shout proudly” and fully embrace even in the ninth month, even after being born alive. I wouldn’t be able to march with that crowd either. I always like watching the videos that contrast the Women’s March and the March for Life. Whenever I see that, there is certainly not a question in my mind which woman I aspire to be. Humble, life-honoring, informed, and able to recognize a dangerous agenda that contradicts the heart of Jesus. Thanks so much for your great book and please pray for our family and all the families in need of your timely guidance during our current cultural climate.