The Genesis of Gender

For Christians considering a topic such as feminism, either uncritical acceptance or wholesale rejection beckons. Can a course be charted between these equally “heretical” extremes? Abigail Favale thinks so. Her book The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory intends to articulate a Christian feminism, building from a genuinely biblical anthropology while also salvaging what insights are worth keeping from leading feminist theorists. The book recognizes that contemporary feminism asks important questions, but ultimately seeks the answers in the wrong places, ironically leading back to a self-defeating male ideal of femaleness. Against this, Favale seeks to reclaim women’s dignity and a genuinely female feminism (29).

The book is a deeply personal one, commencing withFavale’s own journey. Raised as an evangelical, she evolved into a starry-eyed feminist theorist, before ultimately converting to Roman Catholicism. It contains a valuable discussion of the various waves of feminism, penetrating the dense fog that obscures much of contemporary gender writing with a crystal-clear exposition of leading theorists, such as Simone de Beauvoir and Judith Butler. Favale deftly shows what is attractive about the different accounts of gender and why they retain such purchase. For instance, Butler’s concept of gender performativity picks up on the reality that, from birth, humans are “categorized by gender and given separate social scripts” (74); intersectionality recognizes that there is no monolithic “women’s experience” (78); and the distinction between sex and gender reflects the fact that many differences between men and women reflect cultural expectations rather than biology or innate differences (147–8).

However, Favale argues, many people misunderstand these points and fail to reckon with their true implications. For instance, Butler does not simply argue that there is a performative aspect to gender; rather, gender is entirely performative and there is no inherent meaning whatsoever to the sexed body (75). For Favale, distinguishing sex from gender creates a dualism at the heart of feminism, which drives a wedge between the body and identity (141, 149). As sex is no longer considered determinative for a person’s identity, and gender is no longer anchored in the body, gender can be continually altered and redeployed without reference to the body.

The book shows the ultimately contradictory and self-refuting nature of such an approach. For instance, Favale contends that most versions of feminism sculpt their vision of femininity according to a male ideal of bodily autonomy, whereby women can find true freedom only “by making themselves as much like men as possible” (91, 113). The contemporary paradigm attempts to hold together the contradictory propositions that gender is based in sex but also that gender is not based in sex (161). It is widely held today that sexual orientation is innate, while sex is merely a social construct; but “how is it possible to have an innate attraction to something that is merely a social construct” (122–3). Although modern feminism rejected notions of sex and gender that are based on superficial and cosmetic differences between the sexes, the logical end point of the modern gender paradigm, transgender ideology, returns, full circle, to a vision of gender that is based on superficial appearances (186).

Against such contemporary views, The Genesis of Gender argues that the meaning of sex and gender is given rather than constructed. The body is not simply something to be overcome, but an essential aspect of human nature, integral to the self (109, 198). Indeed, Favale’s definition of sex is tethered to reproduction: “a woman is the kind of human being whose body is organized around the potential to gestate new life” (120–1). Her account draws deeply on an analysis of the created order from Genesis 1–2, with its affirmation of complementary sexual difference, the goodness of the created order, and the objective nature of reality that language reflects. The author makes no attempt to conceal her personal convictions with an extended treatment of contraception, which she sees as effecting a fundamental change in the nature of what it means to be a person (105–108, 143).

The questions raised by feminism are genuine ones. But the answer, according to Favale, is not to reject the body and biological sex: “the better rebellion, and the more difficult one, is learning to see one’s beauty and dignity as a woman amidst a culture that denies it” (174). This is a beautifully written book; scholarly, personal, passionate. It offers the prospect of a truly female and Christian feminism, one grounded in the body. Some may disagree, but her arguments warrant serious consideration.  

Benjamin B. Saunders is an associate professor at Deakin Law School.

Benjamin Saunders

Date Of Review:

November 25, 2023