“WOMEN’S CULTURES: EQUALITY AND DIFFERENCE,” the conference sponsored by the “Pontifical Council for Culture” and taking place this week in Rome, is more Vassar than Vatican. The outline document is filled with deliberate ambiguities, attempting to appeal to both feminists and non-feminists. It’s a stunning piece of non-Catholic, junk writing. Some of it is unreadable.

An excerpt:

Today, generally speaking, women seek to reconcile professional life and family commitments. They can renounce maternity but those who do have children cannot avoid raising, educating and protecting them. In any case, women who are not married or have no children, welcome, include, and mediate; they are much more capable of tenderness and forgiveness than men. (more…)

TIM writes from Brazil:

I am still astonished by the following words written by you: It’s hard for men, a curse really, to choose character over beauty. 

It feels as if you had access to my most inner thoughts.

Could you please elaborate on that? What are the roots of this phenomenon? What are the consequences? How to overcome this obstacle?

(more…)

TO the many wonderful readers of this site, I wish to offer these words, a quote from my friend, the great Lawrence Auster: I am glad to be living through the apocalypse with you. Thank you.

MARIAN T. HORVAT, Ph.D., in this 2003 piece, examines the pervasiveness of black clothing, especially for women:

When did black begin to be considered fashionable wear in the West? It seems to me that we can follow two distinct channels of acceptance. The first upsurge to make black acceptable came from the fashion houses of Paris and London and was directed at the fashion elites – the rich, the glamorous and the chic. Chanel’s revolutionary “little black dress” for the elite lady of style entered the fashion scene in the post war period. (more…)

[thermometer width=70 align=center]

J. M. writes in a letter sent with a $250 donation:

I’m sorry for the delay in sending this. Your site is the first one I visit every day. It’s a small oasis of sanity and calm that I have come to appreciate greatly. In fact, it’s often the only site I visit. As such, I am in your debt for the work you do to keep it going.

One other thing prompts my support: apart from the purely intellectual nature of your work, you strike me as a rare and very powerful role model for women. I’m thinking especially of women who have been let down by feminism, or otherwise entertain some doubts about its claims to make them happy and free. I’m sure there are many such women out there who feel this way but are uncertain how to start down another path.

I happen to be one of those who believe that the rift between men and women is at the heart of our spiritual and cultural decline. As such, unless women are restored, there is no possibility of any restoration in the culture.

(more…)

[thermometer width=70 align=center]

A READER writes:

I have just sent a donation for $200 via Paypal in support of your very fine blog.

I earnestly hope that when all is said and done, the site remains in something like its current state of easy public accessibility—didn’t our Lord refer to a light on a hill?

(more…)

IN the latest entry about women who use profanities and believe it’s good, partly because men do it, Sven writes:

Abigail is essentially denying that separate roles apply to men and women, and that good manners are important. In a nutshell, “If it feels good, do it.”

Women have traditionally been keepers of the home. The home is a place of refuge, a place of safety and comfort, separate from a rough, cruel world. Men ventured out to make a living in that world to preserve the home and hearth. How many men throughout history have felt the soreness and care of a long day at a mine or field or mill melt away as they returned to a loving wife and well-kept house? Introducing swearing into a home pollutes it with the roughness of the outside, which is why a man who swears like a pirate captain’s parrot would hang the curses up outside when he came back to his women folk. It didn’t belong in the house, just like his dirty boots. (more…)

THANK YOU VERY MUCH to all the readers, new and old, familiar and unfamiliar, who have sent donations and kind letters in response to my fundraising campaign, my first fundraising drive in 14 months. I appreciate your generosity more than I can say and I understand, of course, that some readers simply cannot give anything.

I am nearing the final days of this blitz. As it is, in this final week, I have raised 60 percent of my goal! [Updated figures below.] But …. I have 40 percent more to go. That means if 400 people sent in ten dollars, or two hundred people sent in twenty dollars, or one hundred wonderful, generous, enlightened and courageous people sent in forty whole dollars, I would be done!!! This blog would survive, much to the dismay of those who hate it.

[thermometer width=70 align=center]

In the meantime, dear friends, I must be realistic. I must plan the imminent death of this blog (in its current form).

I assure you this death will be beautiful and dignified. The curtains will be drawn. A caring or at least competent doctor will be in attendance. The time having passed when food is of any use, steadfast friends will gather near the bed. Enemies will shop for fireworks, but in the room itself, not in the world beyond, there will be true grief and little consolation.

It will be perhaps like the death (in the book, not the movies) of Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, sinner that she was. Allow me to quote at length, even if it makes some weep and others cheer, “Hurray!” or “Go for it!”

(more…)

ABIGAIL writes in response to a post on women who “curse:”

I am not tattoo-ed or particularly raunchy but I curse a lot.  I enjoy it!  Cursing is not solely used to avoid fistfights. It’s used in a variety of contexts for a variety of purposes.  I curse when grumbling to myself (or occasionally shouting in pain) in response to life’s various frustrations, such as misplacing my keys or hitting my head.  I curse when joking about with like-minded friends.  I occasionally curse, again with like minded friends or work colleagues and consistent with whatever culture I’m in, when I’m trying to convey a point with particular bluntness.  Mark Twain makes this point about the value and enjoyment to be gained from cursing better than I.

Despite my love of the handful of mildly taboo words in our culture, I value courtesy. Thus, I believe strongly that, regardless of one’s sex, one should never curse AT someone (except perhaps in response to a physical threat or attack, or in a purely joking manner) and one should take pains to avoid cursing in front of people who dislike cursing. (more…)

JOHN DOE writes:

I am currently a twenty-year-old engineering student who has had the fortune of discovering the insanities of feminism at a young age. Considering that I have already acquired a very good job, once I graduate I intend on marrying a Christian woman. To state it plainly, I want a Christian woman who wants to be a housewife, but it seems my views are in the minority, even amongst many Christians. My arguments for wanting a woman with that aspiration seem quite rational, but they are also theoretical. Thus I have a few very important questions I hope you can take some time to answer:

(more…)

KEVIN K. sends a donation and writes:

I much appreciate your thinking and ability and willingness to be public with those thoughts. I am in the Baptist camp so it is sometimes interesting to see how conservative Catholics view their Church and its leadership, as well as those Christians who do not adhere to all Catholic doctrine and practice. In spite of, or because of our differences, I find your blog always interesting and valuable for providing a forum for discussing how this American culture is in a death spiral. Thank you.

[thermometer width=70 align=center]

(more…)

MRS. Christine Guttadauria writes:

Regarding recent discussions of Canada and Quebec (see here and here), I would like to add that it is illegal in Quebec for a woman to take her husband’s name after marriage. I’ve been told that even going to the extremes of legally changing one’s name will be denied if the “only” reason to do so is to have the same last name as one’s spouse (and children, who automatically have their father’s name, with or without a marriage certificate).

This is the case no matter if one comes here from another province or outside the country. Whether this is to please the feminists or to keep track of the ethnicity of the population, I can’t say.

(more…)

  SVEN writes: Here's an irony for you. When Rome adopted Christianity as the state religion, many rural people stuck to the old gods. Known as pagans, Latin for "villager," and "heathens," or heath dwellers, they were the equivilant of modern day rednecks and country bumpkins. To this day, "heathen" and "pagan" are synonymous with non-Christianity and backwardness. Sodomy was one of the customs the newly-Christian city people attributed to pagans, and used the accusation as a reason to despise country folks. Fast forward to 21st century America, where one of coastal liberals' favorite reasons to disdain "fly over country" is that we do not wholeheartedly embrace and celebrate sodomy! How times change.

  LINDA N. sends a small, but generous donation and writes: I was going to buy pizza for Super Bowel Sunday [sic] but decided to do this instead. [thermometer width=70 align=center]

MOST WOMEN in the military want nothing to do with combat. They are there for the jobs. (As are many men.) A small number of elite women want combat roles to be expanded both on principle and because their exclusion prevents them from advancing in their careers. The writer Fred Reed writes in a recent article on women in the military:

(more…)

KIDIST PAULOS ASRAT writes:

In your “Devouring Screen” post, you briefly mentioned “super smart Asian women” in media.

The reality is that these super smart Asian women cave in when the going gets tough.

Matt Lauer, of the morning show Good Morning America, had a big media fall out with his co-host Ann Curry. He was just being the regular aggressive male, staking out his territory, and not being “nice.” Curry got fired, supposedly at Lauer’s recommendation. She left in tears!!!! She was nothing like that “tough and super smart Asian” persona she had been building.

There is another daytime show The Talk, whose “leader” is an Asian woman – Julie Chen, and the rumor was that her husband, Les Moonves, who is head of  CBS, kept the show going for subsequent seasons, despite its low ratings. The Talk is a take on The View, under that super smart (earned) Jewish woman Barbara Walters, but it is only a copy. I’m surprised people watch it, but it must be a combination of artificial propping and women who have nothing better to do in the afternoons. (more…)

JOHANNA D. sends her second donation in a week and writes:

I’m so glad you have posted your request for support “front and center.” I think you should keep it there until you reach your goal. Many people may be missing your request altogether.

As for those who have seen it and have not responded, surely the affirmation your blog provides is worth the price of a cup of coffee, a movie (not many of those worth the price of admission), a bottle of wine, a magazine subscription, any number of things we think nothing of subscribing to.

It can’t be easy for you to ask either. I believe this is the third time you have had to do so and that thermometer is moving very slowly. You must have 10,000 readers at least. Surely they can afford a few dollars.

I would hate to have to remove the “TH” from my bookmarks list.

[thermometer width=70 align=center]

(more…)

WANDA SHERRATT writes from Ottawa:

 I was so sorry to hear about that Brazilian mother of six, and how she isn’t appreciated even in a Catholic country like Brazil.  To compensate, here’s an amusing story from when my family lived in India in the 90s.  My husband is a diplomat, so we mostly associated with other diplomatic families.  One diplomatic wife told me of taking a trip with her children into Old Delhi one day.  She had three sons, and each of her sons brought along a friend.  And it just happened that they all had rather similar features and hair color, and they also all descended in height rather evenly. So it really looked as if all six boys were hers.

(more…)