Gender Panic: A Look at Christian Fundamentalist Views on Gender and Masculinity

Gender Panic: A Look at Christian Fundamentalist Views on Gender and Masculinity

by Nate Brennaman

            While googling articles on masculinity, I stumbled upon an article published on the CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) News website entitled, “COMMENTARY: The Oscars & The Attack on Masculinity.” Just from the title alone you can probably guess the tone of the article; an angry white man complaining that these “Hollywood elitist gays are trying to turn our children gay and transgender.” That is not a quote from the article, but it could be.

            The event that motivated the writing of this article was Billy Porter wearing a tuxedo dress to the Oscars. Because of this, people freaked out. Billy Porter stated that it was his intention to make a political statement and challenge what masculinity means. This article illustrates how the defiance of gender roles and expectations makes some people uncomfortable.

I am not anti-religion or anti-Christian, but I do take issue with extreme Christianity. For an example of this extreme Christianity just google “One Million Moms.” I go to their website whenever I need a good laugh. This article is an example how some Christians have strict, inflexible ideas about gender because of a book that was written hundreds of years ago.

One gem from the article says, “Satan has been attacking gender, gender roles, and especially masculinity with a vengeance over the last few years, and even Christians have been deceived.” This is a real quote from the article. This article is rather funny, unintentionally, because it reads like satire, something you would find on The Onion. It’s hard to take people seriously on issues of gender when they say things like this.

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2019/march/the-oscars-and-the-attack-on-masculinity