Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

A Different Path for Women
Townhall.com ^ | June 12, 2021 | Kathryn Lopez

Posted on 06/12/2021 2:58:18 AM PDT by Kaslin

"Men want sex." Gloria Purvis is quite blunt speaking to a group of about 130 young women from around the United States, Canada and Mexico. This is the GIVEN Catholic Young Women's Leadership Forum, being held at the Catholic University of America. The theme of the forum, and the GIVEN Institute that runs it, is: "Discover the gift that only you can give, because of the gift that you are."

Purvis' message to these young women, all under 30, is that we need a civilization of love, and it is only possible if women know their own beauty. It's a message all women -- and men -- need to realize -- that we must treasure one another and our gifts, and not use one another, as the culture often sets young people up to do.

The GIVEN Institute and the gathering in D.C. this month are a corrective to our jaded, cynical, overly medicated and sexualized society. The natural order is amazing, even when there are imperfections. Gloria Purvis is a woman who revels in her femininity, unique as it is in each woman.

A role model in this crowd is St. Edith Stein, also known by her Carmelite religious name St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. She was a philosopher convert to the Catholic faith who died at Auschwitz. To get a taste of her thinking, here's a quote: "Woman naturally seeks to embrace that which is living, personal and whole. To cherish, guard, protect, nourish and advance growth is her natural, maternal yearning." And: "The soul of woman must be expansive and open to all human beings; it must be quiet so that no small weak flame will be extinguished by stormy winds; warm so as not to benumb fragile buds ... empty of itself, in order that extraneous life may have room in it; finally, mistress of itself and also of its body, so that the entire person is readily at the disposal of every call." Finally: "Do not accept anything as love which lacks truth."

GIVEN is a haven. It's the first post-COVID gathering for many of these young women (there are masks and distancing), who are all seeking resources to live in the light of eternity. Purvis was a breath of fresh air for so many of them. She's a wife and mother who lets her opinion be known (she's got a new podcast with America Media), loves her Catholic faith and lives in the real world. She encourages the young women to live lives of "greater virtue and sacrifice. This is how you build a civilization of love."

Multiple doctors here have talked about their struggles as professionals and prescribing birth control. They've come to learn that birth control isn't good medical care. It's not care for the whole person. It's not recognizing the tremendous gift that is woman and all that that entails. Sisters here want to walk a walk of sanctity. To be a soldier for Christ, as Sister Dede Byrne just put it as I type.

Another speaker, Leah Jacobson, said: "Our bodies tell us deep spiritual truths. We lactate for a reason. Children need us for a reason .... Don't fear your body."

Yet another speaker, Sister Maria Theotokos Adams, said this about biological maternity and spiritual maternity: "There will be a suffering and there is sacrificial pain in bringing forth life." This is the truth about love and life we often try to avoid talking about. Suffering and sacrifice can be beautiful when it's for the flourishing of another.

The absolutely most repeated St. Edith Stein quote at a GIVEN forum every time it's convened, is: "The world doesn't need what women have; it needs what women are." This week, young women are coming to peace with who they are and what a gift they are, given love by God to be love in the world. That means being maternal, in whatever vocation they find themselves. This is the reality our confused culture and lives desperately need.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: catholic; conservatism; women

1 posted on 06/12/2021 2:58:18 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“Men want sex”

LOL, as if women don’t? Women want sex every bit as much as men do and the only thing that keeps them from aggressively seeking it out as much as men do is what is left of our culture in that regard.

Men can have sex with ten women each night and they will be seen by the majority of men and women as a “Swordsman” or other colorful descriptive term denoting hero status. Conversely if a woman similarly indulged herself she would be seen as a “pig”, “slut”, “tramp” and any number of other descriptive and derogatory terms.

It is the way things are and in part the reason for why so many women think they are treated unfairly overall.


2 posted on 06/12/2021 3:59:23 AM PDT by billyboy15 (')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: billyboy15
Women want sex every bit as much as men do and the only thing that keeps them from aggressively seeking it out as much as men do is what is left of our culture in that regard.

Lol.

3 posted on 06/12/2021 4:09:10 AM PDT by Lizavetta
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
After more than 70 days spent apart, my wife and her patient, (sister) finally moved into my home. I was listening to their giggling and banter in the next room while reading your post.

Once again I realize how blessed I am.

4 posted on 06/12/2021 4:35:46 AM PDT by WhoisAlanGreenspan? (It's a failed virus but a hugely successful propaganda campaign.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: billyboy15

In Australia she’d be a Shelia...

That term meaning slut is still around...

and what men think of ‘free’ women is much the same as when i was young...50 years ago...

Unfortunately its harder to reach the teenagers and young women if today...

They dont have church leaders and virtuous school teachers to listen to as we did...


5 posted on 06/12/2021 5:31:49 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: billyboy15

oh and their parents are afraid to tell them the truth....


6 posted on 06/12/2021 5:32:48 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Tennessee Nana

“...and what men think of ‘free’ women is much the same as when i was young...50 years ago...”

Exactly right. I have recently graduated grandchildren whom I asked this very thing. The all responded in a similar way. Women who are blatantly active sexually are not respected and carry the same tag today as they did many years ago.


7 posted on 06/12/2021 5:37:00 AM PDT by billyboy15 (')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Lizavetta

LOL indeed.


8 posted on 06/12/2021 6:19:08 AM PDT by JayGalt (The dogs bark but the caravan moves on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: billyboy15
Men can have sex with ten women each night and they will be seen by the majority of men and women as a “Swordsman” or other colorful descriptive term denoting hero status. Conversely if a woman similarly indulged herself she would be seen as a “pig”, “slut”, “tramp” and any number of other descriptive and derogatory terms.

For a man to be promiscuous requires some effort and talent and/or physical gifts. It's a gross misuse of that effort and talent and those gifts, to be sure.

For almost any woman, being promiscuous requires merely the effort to say "yes".

That's why there's a "double standard," because the process of mate selection itself differs greatly for men and women. Men have to take risks and expend effort, women have to set standards for men. (Remember the story of Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher? That's hard-wired into our DNA; it's not just social conditioning. You see it all over the animal kingdom.) For a woman to set no standards requires no effort on her part. It's not any kind of achievement, which is why nobody sane celebrates it.

This is what is so warped and destructive about "fourth wave feminism". It tells women that they can "have sex like men". For heterosexual women, attempting to "have sex like men" merely results in them having sex like promiscuous women, which is not the same thing for the reason I describe above.

9 posted on 06/12/2021 6:55:55 AM PDT by Campion (What part of "shall not be infringed" don't they understand?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Campion

“For a man to be promiscuous requires some effort and talent and/or physical gifts. It’s a gross misuse of that effort and talent and those gifts, to be sure.”

The use of an ability by a man to get laid often is hardly a waste of those efforts. After all job 1 of any living organism is to multiply.


10 posted on 06/12/2021 8:26:22 AM PDT by billyboy15 (')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: billyboy15

Contraceptive sex or sodomy doesn’t “multiply” anything except possibly STD cases.


11 posted on 06/12/2021 12:55:02 PM PDT by Campion (What part of "shall not be infringed" don't they understand?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

A key that can open many locks is valuable. A lock that can be opened by many keys is replaced quickly.


12 posted on 06/15/2021 5:21:48 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson