According to Oxford Dictionary, a feminist is an advocate of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men. I honestly could not find a definition of femininity, except womanliness–but the only adjective used to describe womanliness was–demure. The meaning of the adjective, ‘demure,’ is “reserved, modest, or shy.” Wow. Talk about revisionism!
Some years ago–I was there to see it happen–Feminism developed into strong political movement, especially on the left. A group of women demanded equal work and equal pay–a good thing. But to accomplish that, they needed a lot of women to agree with them that a woman’s job, if she had one, was of the highest importance. So feminist leaders spread their impressions of Femininity as being a sign of weakness–not a good thing, and actually ‘untrue.’
Today, if a woman calls herself a feminist, most everyone understands what she means. But though the word, feminist, is a derivative of femininity; it is ,unfortunately, often the opposite of what being feminine means.
What is a feminine woman? Is she strong, or is she weak?
My opinion? A feminine woman is extremely strong.
The ways of a woman are different from a man’s, and meant to be; the strength of womanliness lies in the very make-up of her humanity–her heart. Over the course of a life, the heart does more work than any other muscle. It works continuously over an entire lifetime without ever stopping. No other muscle comes close!
The feminine, maternal heart of a woman can–and does–change the world. There is no one of greater influence on a child–male or female–than a mother.
Here is what Dr. Alice von Hildebrand says about feminism–in defense of femininity:
“The amazing thing is that feminism, instead of making women more profoundly aware of the beauty and dignity of their role as wives as mothers, and of the spiritual power that they can exercise over their husbands, convinced them that they, too, had to adopt a secularist mentality: They, too, should enter the work force; they, too, should prove to themselves that they were someone by getting diplomas, competing with men in the work market, showing that they were their equals and — when given opportunities — could outsmart them.
They let themselves become convinced that femininity meant weakness. They started to look down upon virtues — such as patience, selflessness, self-giving, tenderness — and aimed at becoming like men in all things. Some of them even convinced themselves that they had to use coarse language in order to show the “strong” sex that they were not the fragile, delicate, insignificant dolls that men believed them to be.
The war of the sexes was on. Those who fell into the traps of feminism wanted to become like men in all things and sold their birthright for a mess of pottage. They became blind to the fact that men and women, though equal in ontological dignity, were made different by God’s choice: Male and female he made them. Different and complementary, a woman by her very nature is maternal — for every woman, whether married or unmarried, is called upon to be a biological, psychological or spiritual mother — she knows intuitively that to give, to nurture, to care for others, to suffer with and for them — for maternity implies suffering — is infinitely more valuable in God’s sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon.”
http://www.hildebrandproject.org/about/alice-von-hildebrand
.
Translating a World on the Edge 