Christina Hoff Sommers is the author of The War Against Boys.  The Ph.D. scholar cites one example after another of how America’s academic, political, and cultural “elite” have maligned and tried to re-define masculinity.

Speaking on behalf of those cultural “elites,” Gloria Steinem said, “We need to raise boys like we raise girls.”  Bear in mind that such convoluted thinking followed the so-called “girlhood project” of the 70s:  Raise girls like boys.  Giving birth to a daughter instead of a son was, for some parents, somewhat of an embarrassment.

On campus and off, workshops, seminars, and projects exist with a sole focus of “transforming” boys.  A “boy’s masculinity” is seen by cultural “elites” as a “problem.”  Despising patriarchy, off-track feminists work feverishly to construct a new version of manhood.

Sommers asks, “How well do [these people] understand and like boys?  Who has authorized their mission?”

David Kupelian is the author of How Evil Works.  He asks, “Why would our culture so denigrate masculinity?  And why — this is the flip side of the same question — are we becoming so increasingly feminized as a society?”  He continues, “Today’s high level of gender confusion and role reversal, manifested most obviously in the dramatic upswing — and near celebration — of homosexuality, is one of the great cultural mysteries of our time.  The bending and sometimes breaking of traditional gender roles permeates our society in obvious and subtle ways.”

Sexual confusion abounds — in clothing, college dorms, and the workplace.   There is sexual confusion when girls “try out” lesbianism or bisexuality because it’s “chic.”   There is sexual confusion when girls wrestle boys and women are put on the front lines of war.

George Gilder is the author of Men and Marriage.  He writes, “To the sexual liberal, gender is a cage.  Behind cruel bars of custom and tradition, men and women for centuries have looked lovingly across forbidden spaces at one another and yearned to be free of sexual roles.”   Hmm.  Reminds me of a beautiful garden where a woman was tempted to reach for something that was not good for her to have.

When my sons were born, I didn’t argue with God or tell Him He’d made a mistake.  I needed to let them respond to life in their boyish ways, drive go-carts at high speeds, climb a 40-foot windmill, blaze a Yellowstone trail, and choose science fiction hands down over chick flicks.  I wanted my sons to be aware of how girls think and like to be treated, but not to become one of them.

I wonder.  Where would this country be if mothers raised sons to be “in touch with their feminine side?”  What if young men had stayed home and tens upon thousands of young women stormed the beaches of Normandy, Omaha, and Iwo Jima?

There is nothing wrong with boys.  Just because a boy fidgets doesn’t mean he needs some sort of drug.  There is nothing wrong with boys who want to roughhouse or jump in a muddy stream, but balk at the suggestion of shopping.  Instead of disfiguring, distorting, or denying boyishness, why don’t we stand in awe of God who was pleased to create male and female so compatibly different?  Why don’t we appreciate the way each has a different perspective on things of life and be better for it?

A war against boys hurts girls, too.  Eventually, it weakens society.  Messing with creation is nasty business with hopeless consequences.

So that’s why I smile when I watch boys put frogs in homemade rockets or blow up plastic pop bottles with Drano and aluminum foil or dig a big hole, fill it with water and take the plunge.  But I do something else.

I also try to say “thank you” whenever I see a dad raising his son to be gentlemen.  I applaud dads and moms who mentor sons to respect girls and never take advantage of them.  Biblical manhood is confident in its masculinity which, when put into right practice, makes the world a better place for us all.