Subordination or Bust?

Who do you think would be more interested in taking a class on natural family planning, a woman or a man?

I know what my answer would be, but then I would be wrong according to a recent study.

Population-based surveys in Missouri and Utah yielded:

·         About 25% of women are interested in NFP to avoid pregnancy.

·         About 33% interested in NFP to conceive.

·         About 40% of men were also interested in NFP.

·         Interest NOT associated with religion, education, age, or income.

Journal of Family Practice 1998: 46: 65-71.

Utah’s Health Annual Review 2003: 9:40-45.

I just thought this was so interesting because I just naturally assumed a woman would be more prone to want to learn more about their bodies rather than their husbands, boyfriends, or fiancés. It made me step back and consider why this might be, and I think I have one possible answer.

Last night we were at a Bible study (stay with me this isn’t going to get too religious), and we read Ephesians 5:21-33, the chapter with the verse that says basically, “Wives be subordinate to your husbands.” We discussed how too often we, as women, shut down after hearing the word subordinate. Many women hate that verse in the Bible and it may even be one of the reasons they don’t subscribe to the faith. They never read the following six or seven verses that say women should be subordinate to their husbands only if their husband loves them like Christ loved the church. If you aren’t aware of the full story, Christ DIED for his Church! So ladies, wouldn’t you rather just be subordinate to your husband rather than have to die for your husband? My point is, however, that subordinate makes women feel lesser because of the connotations of the word in today’s world. A few centuries ago (ok even today in some parts of our world and country) subordinate wouldn’t have even caused a stir. It was normal. But today women are up in arms over the word because we are still fighting for our equal share of the world.

Like the word ‘subordinate’ has come to mean ‘lesser than,’ birth control has been paraded as women’s freedom, women’s tool for conquering subordination to man. But you need to read the next few verses so-to-speak.

Hormonal contraceptives are not empowering women. They are abusing women. They are restraining women. They are defeating women. The pill not only causes major health issues, both immediately and potentially over time, making us even weaker to our male counterparts, but also keeps us from knowing and understanding our own bodies. Knowledge is power. By forgoing the knowledge of what makes you a woman, your reproductive cycle, you are forgoing any of the power that knowledge could hold. By knowing and charting your cycles you can actually detect abnormalities early and correct them. By regulating your cycles naturally you not only become a functioning adult without added hormones, but you also are healthy and stronger.

It infuriates me when I hear that giving out free birth control is a means to empowering women. What a misconception! Why not give out free NFP classes so women can learn about their bodies? Why not require doctors to learn more about women’s anatomies and promote that learning instead of controlling and changing them with medications? (I have a friend, who is a doctor, who said he learned more about the female reproductive system in his two-hour NFP class than his entire medical training. That is an affront to women!) Why not give free home birth classes and resources? Why are we not giving women what will open their eyes to the awesomeness that makes them women instead of trying to make it disappear with a drug? I don’t know about you, but I’m a feminist because I believe women, as we are, have equal standing with men, not because I think women should become more like men.

So if your husband, boyfriend, fiancé is interested in NFP and learning more about it, maybe be subordinate to his will because he is trying to build you up! He is trying to give you the tools to be an even better WOMAN! Then you can work together, as an inseparable, equal unit, to decide how to plan your families.