The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes by Nancy R. Pearceywas one of the most pleasant reading surprises. I expected a typical conservative refutation of modern feminism but instead, I read a beautiful defense of the dignity of both sexes.
The title of this book uses the phrase “toxic masculinity,” which refers to a standard of manliness characterized by control, dominance, and subjugation. Feminism has waged a war on toxic masculinity, but in the view of some, including me, it has at times attacked masculinity itself. Conservatives have pushed back with the need to value men and respect their unique role differences. The battle has gotten ugly at times, but Pearcey rises above the cloud of dust, presenting a well-researched narrative honoring the legitimate values of both feminists and conservatives.
I thought that given Pearcey’s conservative Christianity, this book would simply push back on misandry and emasculation. But the author is actually a feminist in all the right ways (although some will object to the term). Her core idea is that the colonialist family defined masculinity in healthy, godly terms — namely a man’s love for, and protection of, his wife and children. The industrial revolution, she posits, interrupted this by removing work, and men, from the home.
Men became more detached from their relational responsibilities even as society defined “real” manhood increasingly more in terms of aggression and selfish independence. Ultimately the Church adopted this distorted view in the form of “muscular Christianity,” but this also fell short of the biblical ideal. Today, God calls men back to a biblically defined manhood, the servant leadership Jesus demonstrated in which a man sacrificially protects and cherishes his family.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
Instead of merely bashing feminism like some conservative evangelical books, Pearcey skillfully maps out the events giving rise to it, then offers a better correction of societal and religious distortions of manhood. The last chapter confronts the distorted patriarchalism promoted by Evangelical leaders resulting in the mishandling of abuse cases. She calls leaders out for blaming wives for their husbands’ domestic violence. No author who simply wanted to bash feminism would do that; they’d hide the abuses of the anti-feminist crowd.
But Pearcey excises those abuses like a surgeon removes a tumor knowing there is no long-term healing without getting to the root cause. The Toxic War on Masculinity attacks not so much the man-hating of feminism, but the cancerous forms of masculinity that gave rise to it.
The epilogue had me in tears. She tells the story of the 1,500 men who went down on the Titanic after loading women and children onto lifeboats. Masculinity as defined by the Bible is sacrifice for the sake of others. Ultimately it wins the war.
Jennifer Jill Schwirzer, LPC, has a Master’s degree in Mental Health Counseling from Capella University, and a doctoral degree in community counseling and traumatology from Liberty University. She is an author, speaker, TV host, professional counselor, musician, wife, mother, lover of Jesus, and a friend to many. She has spoken all over the world, written 14 books, and hosted two TV programs.
