By Nathan Bierma

Staff Writer

At first, the term ``male feminist'' might seem an oxymoron, like ``jumbo shrimp'' or ``tuition break.'' But Calvin's campus, fervent as it professes to be about transforming culture, should be full of male feminists.

Although we live in a country that has one of the lowest percentages of female legislators in the Western world, and will likely be among the last to elect a female president, and although we serve a Lord who constantly broke social norms in his associations with women, feminism still may not seem like a promising rallying cry for Calvin men this Women's History Month.

In fact, men may complain that feminism is a conspiracy to make us feel guilty about our Y chromosomes, and we often function with stereotypes of feminists as strident and hostile people. But feminists are hardly more unpleasant than sexists, and stereotypes will only blind us to the many kind, Christlike people who bear important truths about godly gender norms.

People, that is, like Mary Stewart VanLeeuwen, a former Calvin prof now teaching in Pennsylvania. In her lucid book ``Gender and Grace,'' she writes: ``A Christian is a saved one who is Spirit-filled in order to become a sent one. A Christian feminist is a person of either sex who sees women and men as equally saved, equally Spirit-filled, and equally sent.'' Feminism isn't just a cause for women, it's a duty for Christians. It's an issue of justice and equality in kindgom service that that should strike deep for all Christians, male or female (Gal. 3:28).

Being engaged to a wonderful Christian feminist, a gender studies minor at Calvin whose assigned readings I do out of fascination, has led me to clarify my own feminist beliefs and sharpen my own determination to transform culture. I realize that I am the first man in my family tree to harbor no expectation that my wife will cook and clean for me. I have friends who would lament this, but I am grateful to God for the gifts my wife will use in kingdom service outside the home as well as within. I'm also excited about the more balanced role I will play in my family's home life and child care, a balance my father and grandfather failed to achieve.

A ``macho'' man would say this is wimpy and I'm a sucker. But I put little stock in what is considered macho, since the American definition usually comes along the lines of Budweiser jockism. All it takes to be macho on those terms is a small brain and a big liver. But it takes real balls to try to stand against your culture with Christian integrity.

Although we at Calvin believe Christ calls us to redeem society, I understand feminism is still a hard sell on this campus. It's partly because of the Budweiser culture, which is prevalent on any college campus. But Calvin's particular struggle is that many of its feeder high schools (and, let's face it, alumni donors) are in old-fashioned conservative rural and suburban areas in West Michigan and outer Chicagoland, where women are considered second-class citizens.

In such places you'll hear a lot about the important practical weight of the Bible verse that says, ``Wives submit to your husbands.'' The relevance of ``Slaves obey your masters,'' the verse that follows, however, is assumed to have bitten the dust with the Emancipation Proclamation. Putting aside such sloppy exegesis, we must see that the most transcendent spiritual theme of the passage is the pervasive tone of mutual honor and sacrifice.

But it's a fallen world, and religious communities can function on gross distortions of the Bible. They value male authoritarianism after reading in Genesis 2 that Eve was created to be Adam's ``helper.'' It's inconvenient but important to note that the Hebrew word for ``helper'' here is the same one used in Psalm 121, ``My help comes from the Lord.'' God is no assistant or subordinate; helpers help us from a position of strength and power, not of weakness. So men who condescendingly quote Genesis 2 are up for a main course of humble pie. Meanwhile, the sad result of this warped authoritarianism is the alarming number of abused wives and depressed women and girls in religious communities. Sociologists have found that after alcoholism, there is no more reliable predictor of wife abuse than conservative religious values.

We men must shed the inherited stereotypes and assumptions and get serious about redeeming culture with renewed Christian integrity. We must model healthy new norms and expectations in our dating and marriages, freeing our wives from the demand that they stay at home by default, and being open and eager to see how they might use their gifts in other ways. We must play an active, possibly primary, role in home life, not only developing the related skills, but also viewing an active home life as a privilege and calling, rather than a chore.

We must monitor our language and extract gender-exclusive words and sexist jokes. We must examine and reject the sexism and lust of the American sports subculture. We should consider being gender studies minors and joining Calvin Students For Christian Feminism. We must do what we can to break the glass ceiling and sexist environment of the workplaces we may be called to. We must call our churches to reform, advocating the full use of women's God-given leadership gifts in worship and church life. We must seek to avoid the traps of faulty theology, historical patriarchy, and family authoritarianism, even if they are fixtures in our cultural backgrounds. Finally, we must help feminists form a constructive definition and image of masculinity so that feminism doesn't become disconnected and hostile.

We must do so earnestly and confidently, listening humbly all the while to the hopes, observations, admonitions and encouragement of Christian women in our families, churches, dorms, offices and romantic relationships. Sisters in Christ, let us know how we are doing.