Peak Performance Womanhood

A gracious woman retaineth honour: and strong men retain riches. - Pr. 11:22

What is a woman for?

Matt Walsh made the question “what is a woman?“ famous with his documentary exposing the transgender insanity. Walsh's answer – adult human female – illustrates with excellence the simple reality of the world that God has made – male and female created He them. However, Walsh‘s colleague Michael Knowles recently pointed out that that definition is lacking something – and he is right. That definition is lacking teleology, in much the same way as defining a sunset by talking about burning gas and rotating space rocks misses something about what a sunset actually is.

The latest Olympics have been a parade of gender confusion and perversion. From the drag queens in the opening ceremonies, to the boxers of questionable chromosomes in the women's boxing ring, to the runner proposing to her boyfriend after running her race, to the simple normalization of women in skimpy attire with abnormally developed musculature, punching and pulling and sweating and grunting just like the guys do, it is becoming quite obvious that the distinction between manhood and womanhood is on the brink of extinction – at least according to the modern Zeitgeist.

I am not coming into this conversation to discuss rules. I am coming into this conversation to discuss glory. The picture at the top demonstrates a woman receiving glory – the glory of a gold medal, won through years of hard work, training, discipline, and exercise. And the question that I want to ask – and I encourage my reader to ask with me, with an honest look at the Word of God – is this: is this what women are for?

1. Physical Design

Take another look at the picture at the beginning of this article. If that picture had been cropped so that the athlete was only visible from the neck down, any viewer would have immediately assumed that it was the picture of a man.

But she is not a man, nor is she in any official way trying to be one. So here is my question. Why does she look like a man with a woman’s head? And is that OK, or normal, or desirable, or natural? Or is it actually kind of gross?

In the swirling controversy about the female boxing events at the Olympics this year, a fact was mentioned in passing that caught my attention – that female boxers in general have high levels of testosterone. It is a well-known fact that extreme exercise can cause a variety of side effects on the female body – including the disappearance of the monthly menstrual cycle, the shrinking of the breasts, etc.

Our culture has taught us that this is not only OK but actually good. This is what sexy women look like. (And remember, women are empowered by becoming objectified sex objects to be ogled by any passer-by.)

But let’s pause for a second. Operating from a Christian worldview, we don’t assume that the natural world is a conglomeration of accidents. God designed the female body for a purpose. The monthly cycle, the breasts, the curves – they are all for a reason. If we are encouraging our women to pursue something that causes their body to produce more male hormones and to lose basic female design features, is this a clue that what we are doing is a good thing? Or is it a clue that we are actually fighting against- and damaging- the female nature?

Let’s turn to the design for men. Bigger, stronger, thicker bones, higher testosterone, no monthly loss of blood. Men punch 2.6 times harder than women. It is obvious at a glance which sex is better suited for jumping, throwing, lifting, fighting, and generally bending the natural world to its will. It is because of this basic reality that, at least for now, we have men’s leagues and women’s leagues. It is because of this basic reality that there is no question about the picture that began this article – her body looks like the body of a man.

Any of the female gold medalists in the Olympics this year would not have even come close to medaling if they had competed with the men. In fact, they would be hard-pressed to compete with 15-year-old male athletes in their chosen sports.

Is this a bad thing? A misogynistic observation? Only if you think that the only value that can be placed on humans is whether or not they can medal in the Olympics.

But if, as Scripture tells us, God designed two different sexes to accomplish two different things and to work together in harmony, then it makes perfect sense. If saying that women weren't made for thornfighting demonstrates misogyny, then saying that you shouldn’t throw 1500 pounds of gravel into the back of your minivan demonstrates hatred for minivans. But this has nothing to do with thinking pickup trucks are better – it’s a matter of recognizing that pickup trucks and minivans were designed for different purposes.

So why do we have women’s leagues in sports at all? Is this what women are for? From an objective, gender-neutral standpoint, the very best women in these sports are mediocre competitors. So why wouldn’t we want the people who are best at the thing to do the thing? The answer is because we are steeped in feminism and identity politics and various other forms of humanism that really don't like reality- and because we have lost a taste for the glory of the sexual polarity that God designed into the world.

Note – I am certainly not arguing that women should never play any sports or learn any martial arts. I am a huge fan of women being fluent in self-defense, and I think that kicking all of the girls out of the church ultimate frisbee game is a ridiculous idea. Glory, not rules.

2. A One-Way Street

The response to my perspective on this from many is something like this: “it’s not a sin for women to lift weights… it makes her happy… leave her alone!”

Of course it's not a sin for women to lift weights. She maketh her arms strong.

But I would like to suggest a thought experiment to answer this question: is “not a sin” the entirety of Biblical discernment? Or is it possible that there are areas of wisdom that we must pursue?

So. The thought experiment. A beauty pageant – but for men. These aren’t gay men. They are happily married straight men. But they have a three-week-long competition where they all dress up in the most handsome possible attire and pose and strut for judges to decide who is the most good looking.

If that doesn’t make you throw up a little bit inside… Then something is wrong with you. A men's beauty pageant is called a powerlifting competition. Because that's the glory of men (Pr. 20:29).

How about a male Martha Stewart? There are plenty of male chefs, to be sure. But I’ve never seen a TV show where men compete to see who can make their living room the most warm and inviting when the family comes home for Thanksgiving. Nor would I want to see such a show.

With the exception of the crowd of hecklers now throwing rotten tomatoes at me while insisting that men can be interior designers too!, we have no problem recognizing this when it comes to men doing things that aren’t really their business – things that do not rhyme with masculinity. But years of feminism have eroded into oblivion our ability to detect the inverse.

There is no category, no activity, that is only appropriate for men anymore. The presidency, the pastorate, the front lines, the boxing ring – women are welcome in any of these spheres. And we are not allowed to say anything about it.

The same is true of clothing. Scripture forbids cross-dressing, but one is hard pressed to figure out how it would even be possible for a woman to cross-dress anymore. There is still distinctly feminine attire that a male pervert can wear if he would like to be transgressive (Harry Styles has to make a living, after all). But we no longer have any men's clothing. Pants, wrestling outfits, football helmets, camouflage and an AR-15, suit and tie – it’s all fair game for the ladies.

I guess if there is no such thing as men’s clothing, then we don’t have to worry about women not wearing it, eh?

All I can say is the devil is a brilliant strategist.

3. Made for More

At the end of the day, we have to ask the question – what is peak performance womanhood?

Is it this?

Or is it this?

Ladies, don’t trade in your glory in order to be a mediocre man. You were made for more. Man is the glory of God, and woman is the glory of man. Being a second-rate basketball player is not glorious. Turning a house into a home – that is glorious. Gold medals will collect dust. But staring into the smiling face of an eternal soul that came from your own body? That is what I would call peak performance.

But. If peak-performance womanhood is a woman holding up a gold medal with her burly arms, then how come peak performance womanhood is something that I, just an average guy, could outperform with a couple of months of training? Why is peak performance womanhood so significantly inferior to peak performance manhood? Why is it that anything women can do, men can do better?

Seems pretty misogynistic to me.