Men, women and the image of god

From the editor's desk

The Tablet

Men, women and the image of god 

10 August 2016

Popes and gender

Not for the first time, Pope Francis has attacked “gender theory”, saying it advocates the elimination of God-given differences between the sexes which are essential to a healthy society. According to notes released after a meeting with Polish bishops during his recent visit to their homeland, he told them: “We are living a moment of annihilation of man as image of God. Today, in schools they are teaching this to children – to children! – that everyone can choose their gender”. He repeated some remarks his predecessor Benedict had recently said to him: “It’s the epoch of sin against God the Creator!”

This is startlingly strong language, and goes against the common assumption that Francis takes a liberal view of sexual ethics. Nor is it easy to see exactly what he is talking about. If as he suggested, some benefactor had offered to build Catholic schools, but had made the offer conditional upon such schools using a textbook that said “everyone can choose their gender”, then that is clearly wrong – if it ever happened. But gender theory, such as it is, says nothing of the sort. Even the most radical gender theorists such as the American academic Judith Butler, who regard gender as socially and culturally imposed and reinforced rather than as innate, do not propose switching gender as an everyday option available to schoolchildren.

Whatever its origins, gender goes very deep. Indeed, women and men who experience gender conflicts in their own personalities speak not of inventing a new identity, as if it did not exist previously, but of discovering something already present in themselves but unrealised. Their only choice is whether to do something drastic about the mismatch between their biological sex and their emotional and psychological state, or not. And a very painful course to follow it often is, in every sense – including to the friends and family of the person concerned.

Such people deserve the Church’s compassion, and where possible, its help. If gender reassignment is the only route to personal peace and happiness for such tortured souls, then that, after careful consideration, is the right answer. Those who defend the civil rights of transgender persons reasonably ask that they be accepted and their human dignity respected. This can be complicated, but problems can be solved with goodwill. The danger is that it is all too easy to demonise transgender people, or to pretend such a condition does not exist, or to reject their sometimes awkward needs.

There is a wider context, which may throw light on why Francis, along with his recent predecessors, has come to regard gender theory so negatively. It is about preserving a particular theology concerning relations between the sexes. This says men and women can never be the same, though they are equal; and the differences between them are fundamental to God’s design. The sexes are complementary, it says, each bringing distinctive gifts to their relationship. The danger is that the notion of complementarity may be a cover for some very old-fashioned clichés: women as docile home-makers, men as assertive breadwinners. But this is not spelled out, for understandable reasons. Any statement of these allegedly gender-specific qualities of males and females would quickly expose the argument as implausible.