Gender: Men, Women, Sex, Feminism

This collection of essays is by far the best book that I have ever read on the topics of gender, sexuality, and the challenges/controversies/politics surrounding them. In this work, Frederica Mathewes-Green invites us into her life and challenges us to explore with her the practical and spiritual implications of male-female relationships, feminism, marriage, parenthood, abortion, homosexuality, etc. She has the keen ability to illustrate her views with unparalleled vividness and enthusiasm. Her stories are entertaining yet pertinent, faithful, but not preachy, and are always thought-provoking. It is no easy task for an author to remain faithful to her deepest convictions without coming across as being judgemental or haughty, yet Frederica always manages to pull it off flawlessly and with compassion. This is why I so highly recommend this book to everyone who has an opinion on the above topics regardless of which end of the political spectrum that they may find themselves at the moment. Mathewes-Green's ability to think out-of-the-box just might surprise a lot of people who think that they've heard just about everything on gender issues!

Gender: Men, Women, Sex, Feminism is an informed and enjoyable collections of insightful writings by Frederica Mathewes-Green, a commentator on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" and a columnist for Beliefnet.com, concerning the subjects of men and women, sex and feminism, and the foibles that the world heaps upon both genders. Frederica takes the reader along on her own personal journey through her early years as a feminist, her conversion to Christianity, and the growing realization that while men and women are equal in the sight of God, there are gender differences that are unique and that matter greatly in God's scheme of things. These brief, witty, and often very wise essays make for compelling reading, and almost impossible to put down!

For those who follow the works of Frederica Mathewes-Green with zeal, reading the articles compiled in the book "Gender: Men, Women, Sex, Feminism" may feel like deja vous. A fan of Green's work, I myself had read many of the articles that appear within its pages at least a few times before, ...and in the many publications in which they appear. My one major complaint with this first of four books of selected writings by Green is its repetitive qualities. I recall having read the same few lines in at least a few different places. Perhaps this repetition is due to the fact that the articles originally appeared in different publications .... For each of these publications, Green had to inform her readers of a few indispensable facts relating to the topic and her experience with it. Unfortunately, these facts and ideas end up reappearing throughout the book (I must have read the saying "women give sex in order to get love; men give love in order to get sex" at least three times).Nonetheless, for all the repetition, _Gender_ contains a great collection of articles, full of inspiring and/or thought-provoking anecdotes and musings on everything from feminism to abortion and homosexuality. Being a former feminist myself, I particularly enjoyed reading the brief chapters on Green's encounters with a few different feminist leaders, the likes of Naomi Wolf and Gloria Steinem. These chapters were colorful and informative, and I flew through them.The articles near the end of the book on homosexuality were also brief, but they outlined Green's compassionate view of homosexuals, one of 'hating the sin but loving the sinner' that is all too absent from the modern Christian approach to homosexuality. That approach is divided between excusing (or even condoning) the sin and the sinner and, conversely, hating the sin and the sinner. It is clear that Green's loving heart, combined with a historical Christian understanding of the passion of homosexuality, has lent to her compassionate wisdom in approaching such a difficult issue for Christians of the 21st century.I could probably have done without the length of pages admonishing women to admit that men are not beasts, and that women should thank them for their heroic feats and tempered leaning toward justice and reason. I admit these chapters made me pretty uncomfortable, probably due to my lingering feminist notions and an inborn resistance to humility. Still, they contained some challenging thoughts that will surely stick with me for quite a while, as I continue to flesh out my own post-feminist identity.Of course, Green's writings on abortion and the pro-life movement, particularly the chapter "Labor of Love," which offers vignettes of different crisis pregnancy centers in Maryland, were wonderful. Green's voice in the pro-life movement, one of reason and love, should be louder. All too often, voices less reasonable than hers resound, stalling a movement that still has much work to do.I highly recommend this book