Hello, and welcome to Season Two of The IDEAL Woman podcast, formerly The True Womanhood podcast, where we are Reimagining Womanhood and redefining what it means to be the IDEAL woman one episode at a time! Today’s episode is sponsored by The IDEAL Woman book: A Woman’s Guide to making empowered decisions and building sustainable foundations that lead to a life of impact and fulfillment. Pre-launch details available at www.natashasolomon.com/theidealwomanbook THIS IS THE STATE OF WOMANHOOD ADDRESS, my version of what we all know as the state of the union address usually given by heads of states. And so speaking of states by the way, the whole world is in crisis because womanhood is in crisis. Now that’s a pretty bold statement to make, so let me qualify what I mean by that: Womanhood is in crisis because: #1 - We have lost sight of God’s original intent and design for women. #2 - There’s a lack of unity among women that’s counterintuitive to our design. #3 - Womanhood is being dishonored by idolatry, and the glorification and oversexualization of the female form by both men and women. Let’s get into it shall we? I recently listened to a podcast where this married couple was discussing a woman's role in marriage and how to handle it when a woman tries to assume headship as opposed to the man, as God originally intended. One of the things that stuck out to me was their inability to define for their audience what a “woman” is. Which confirmed for me that we have indeed lost sight of God’s original intent and design for women AND womanhood. Now while this couple was not trying to define what it means to be a woman during their episode, they simply didn’t have the words. Now according to the merriam-webster dictionary a woman is an adult female human. A female according to the Oxford dictionary is “the sex that can bear offspring or produce eggs, distinguished biologically by the production of gametes (ova) that can be fertilized by male gametes.” A human according to the biblical text is to be (a) made in the image of God and (b) either male or female. Culture says you get to define yourself however you please. So basically, you can identify as a woman by simply changing your outward appearance and negating the original biological design of the gender assigned to your physical body. Radically reforming who we are, and why we are, created an identity crisis, which shows up in the mass confusion of gender identity we see in the world today. It is infiltrating our systems of government, education, and religion in record numbers. Mass suicide, homicide, and genocide are world issues that arise out of identity crisis. Point #2: Womanhood consists of a few foundational components that affect nation building that are intuitive to women. Community is number one. Women all over the world are suffering in silence due to a lack of community, and an inability to depend on each other for support without feeling threatened, or without the risk of exposing their families to abuse and their husbands to adultery. That’s a whole other episode - so stay tuned. According to the biblical text man (male and female) were created in the image and likeness of God. In the text God referred to himself in the plural, when he said “let us, make man..” Which indicates that the creator exists in plurality. Which also means that we are meant to exist in plurality as well - which sheds light on the command to increase and multiply. Now I know some may argue that this passage of scripture doesn’t mean to only multiply and have children, but I’m not debating that at this point in time. Every woman needs an Elizabeth. Someone to show them the ropes, and guide them. A Titus 2 model. Otherwise you have nations of women having children, and getting married without the proper guidance on how to navigate womanhood, much less being a wife and mother. As a result, women are getting divorced, leaving their husbands, and children in record numbers all over the world seeking companionship in the arms of other men and in some cases other women. Others are experiencing abuse, and neglect, while others are being sex trafficked and later have their lives cut short. Women are being misguided and led astray due to a lack of community. POINT #3 Can we talk about the over sexualization of the female form? The demeaning way in which both men and women glorify a woman’s body is very concerning to me. It’s to the point where women are dying on operating tables all across the world trying to get a bigger this, and a thicker that. It’s all vanity and has no bearing on the elevation of humanity. It only contributes to the deconstruction of womanhood. What ever happened to girding your loins with strength? There is a lack of dignity and decency among women that is a direct result of a lost sense of identity. If we could only reclaim our identity and find the dignity to carry ...
