#SquadGoals and Raising Daughters in a Nasty Woman’s World

I still can’t get those images out of my head. Women were marching on Washington clad in vagina suits and pink pussy hats. Just writing that sentence irks me. Am I really raising my daughters in this crude society of women?

The words of Ashley Judd’s speech at the Women’s March on January 21, 2017, still have me shaking my head in disbelief. She recited a poem from a nineteen-year-old expressing outrage about our current president. Ironically, the poem railed against Trump’s past vulgar remarks with equal poetic vulgarity. It ended like this, “Our p__sies are for our pleasure. They are birthing new generations of filthy, vulgar, nasty, proud, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, you name it for new generations of nasty women.”

Me: No, thank you!

Modern-day feminism has resorted to crassness instead of respectfulness. Women who call out injustices, inequalities, and a man’s vulgar remarks with equal vulgarity…I guess modern-day feminism has risen to the occasion.

Today’s women’s movement uses celebrity platforms of women who think they speak for all of us. Their political and social opinions are wrapped in hatred, anger, and a cry for justice that looks more like self-centered relativism. It’s not a society of women I want to raise my daughters in. I refuse to raise a generation of vulgar females because it is not who God created women to be.

I recently did a study on the book of Ruth amidst all of the recent news on women’s speeches and marches. Now juxtapose this recent news with Ruth’s story, and you might be able to find the humor in it with me. Today’s women are screaming about their inequalities, and then there’s Ruth. She loses her husband and her only means of income in a culture that does not treat women with equal footing as men.

Yes, yes, it was a different time and place in history, but you have to look at this woman and realize there is a reason her story is set aside as a complete book of the Bible. She is the exact opposite of the characteristics that define modern-day feminism. She was humble, selfless, giving, honest, hard-working, and defined love as serving others over her needs. You don’t find Ruth on a platform screaming about her “rights.” Instead, she’s picking up scraps of grain behind harvesters so that she and her mother-in-law would have food to eat.

If you have never read the book of Ruth, I won’t give the story away. You have to read it to understand that charity defined her life, and eventually, her selflessness redeemed her widow’s story. A redemption story that ultimately would become a divine legacy.

The story of Ruth is really about what it means to be a generation of women who follow Christ. It celebrates womanhood amidst the struggles of life and real injustice. There are no words of self-empowerment, filth, vulgarity, or pride. Ruth is the very definition of what I want to teach my daughters to be in this ‘nasty woman’s world.’

Women who use their talents and strengths to serve others.

Women who find worth and value in their relationship with Christ.

Women who see humility as a strength and not a weakness.

Women who value their sex with virtue and respect.

Women who celebrate life and the God-given miracle of carrying a child in her womb or in their adoptive arms.

 Women who celebrate their differences with men and find equality in those differences.

 Women who don’t strive for perfection but emulate grace through all the struggles and imperfections of life.

Raising my daughters with a biblical worldview over modern-day feminism is not popular. It’s turning away from all things progressive and marching against a tide of women who will look down on them and probably ridicule them. I don’t care! We will not be judged or known by how loud we scream and our “performance” in this secular world. Instead, like Ruth, if we follow the call of Christ in our lives, we will be known for our charity and humility.

I have this t-shirt that says, “Ruth. Mary. Sarah. Esther. #Squad Goals.” It’s a reminder of the women I want to emulate in my life—biblical representations of women who followed Christ in a culture that often rejected the things of God. I am nowhere near imitating the selfless characteristics of Ruth. She’s a squad goal, but she’s also my hopes and dreams for a future generation, especially the young women I raise.

I’ll keep wearing my biblical #squad goals t-shirt against the tide of pink p__sy hats. It might not be popular, but I’d much rather carry the title of Christ-follower than feminist.