A conservative friend on social media recently admitted that some of the storylines around Donald Trump’s second term have been extreme but concluded this is simply the way the pendulum swings. In one sense, what he said was true.
Since Jimmy Carter, the Democrats have won six presidential elections, while the Republicans have won seven. Additionally, since World War II, whenever a president takes office, their party loses an average of 26 seats in the House and four seats in the Senate during the first midterm elections. Back and forth we go.
Are we conservative or liberal? Capitalist or socialist? A republic or a democracy? Environmentally conscious or unconcerned? Pro-choice or pro-life? Affirming of same-sex marriage or only of traditional marriage? Do we want to provide universal health care or privatize everything? Forgive student loan debt or blame 18 year olds for taking out loans?
Our answers to these fundamental questions as a society seem to swing back and forth, based on whoever has the power of the executive order. But should power be the determining factor in how we treat one another?
“Should power be the determining factor in how we treat one another?”
When we consider these questions, the social location and posture toward neighbor of the people answering these questions matter. For example, when discussing the roles of men and women in society, the social location and posture of men in power claiming they have a right to be in authority over women should be weighed differently than when women who don’t have that same power simply want to be free to live their lives. A man concerned with power is fundamentally different than a woman concerned with liberty.
In this conversation, the topic is not one of which policies should be in place based on an ever-swinging pendulum of reactionary politics. The topic at the table is ultimately about the dignity and humanity of women.
Women’s roles in church and society
Two years ago, as the Southern Baptist Convention was debating whether or not to remove Saddleback Church and any Baptist churches that allow women to preach or be called pastors, Rick Warren told Russell Moore the SBC was “weaponizing” its confession of faith and “starting an inquisition” that would result in “millions of godly Southern Baptist women” having their “gifts and leadership skills … stymied.”
At the time, his position was that Southern Baptists should be allowed to disagree with one another over “what you name your staff.” He added: “This is my interpretation. I have to say with humility, it doesn’t bother me if you disagree with me.”
While I was thankful for Warren calling into question the SBC’s posture toward women, my concern was that the dignity of women shouldn’t be treated as a secondary issue.
“The dignity of women shouldn’t be treated as a secondary issue.”
If women are truly having their gifts stymied, then their dignity and value are under attack. And if their dignity and value are under attack, how can it not bother us when Southern Baptist men disagree that women should be heard and valued in leadership?
Two years later, we’re seeing a similar dynamic in society.
What is the proper place for women in society? As one way of measuring attitudes, Pew Research asks Americans whether they believe women should “return to their traditional role in society.”
From 1987 to 2012, the trend on that question continued downward, from 30% in 1987 to just 18% of adults in 2012 wanting women to return to a “traditional role.” And even in 2012, the results were pretty even between Democrats and Republicans.
But since then, the trends have completely reversed, especially among Republicans.
Republican men who say “women should return to their traditional roles in society” went up from 28% in 2022 to 48% in 2024. Similarly, Republican women increased their support of this idea from 23% in 2022 to 37% in 2024. However, Democrats have remained relatively consistent in opposing the idea.
Additionally, 79% of Republican men and 67% of Republican women believe “society as a whole has become too soft and feminine,” compared to just 20% of Democratic men and 14% of Democratic women.
Republicans also increased their belief that “society is too accepting of men who take on roles typically associated with women” from 18% in 2017 to 28% in 2024.
Thus, political scientists Michael Teller, John Sides and Colette Marcellin concluded in The New York Times: “The more important difference between Democrats and Republicans isn’t whether they are men or women. It’s how they think men and women should behave.”
How men and women should behave
One of the stories I covered in Monday’s episode of BNG’s new podcast, “Highest Power: Church + State,” was the return of Andrew Tate to the United States from Romania, where he was being held with his brother on charges related to trafficking and rape.
Tate has made millions of dollars by creating a webcam studio where he signs women up to work for him, controls all their money and won’t allow them to leave. According to Tate, “I created a system that allowed me to convince girls to do this, allowed me to retain 100% control of their income, allowed me to make sure they were effective. … I learned every tip and trick it takes to make sure a girl gets paid. I know how to make sure the girl can’t run away. ‘Cause once you teach a girl how to do this, she has the ability to make unlimited money from home. Why would she still give it to you? Why wouldn’t she just run off and keep it all for herself? Why are you getting your percentage? I learned how to do everything to take a nobody and make her a somebody. I learned how to take a nothing and turn her into a cash cow. And betas from all across the world would be sending money into her — my — bank account.”
Notice how he talks about the women. He’s not concerned about their welfare. He doesn’t value them. He calls them “nobodies” he turns into “somebodies,” and “nothings” he turns into “cash cows.” And it’s all for his own financial gain.
“I used sex as a tool to make women love me so they’d obey me and live in my house and make me money.”
So how did he convince the girls to do it?
Tate says: “I used sex as a tool to make women love me so they’d obey me and live in my house and make me money. That’s what I wanted. So I was a pimp in that sense. Like I was not trying to have sex with women. I was trying to get women to obey me, and I realized that’s easier if they like to have sex with me. If they don’t like having sex with me, it’s pretty hard to make them listen to me.”
He was banned from Twitter in 2022 for saying women should bear responsibility for being sexually assaulted. Of course, Elon Musk allowed him back on after purchasing Twitter.
And lest conservative evangelicals read this and think Tate is someone who eschews traditional family values, he actually sounds very traditional. As he said to Piers Morgan: “I believe the woman is given to the man. I believe she is given away by the father. I believe she belongs to the man. … I believe she belongs to the man in marriage.”
With millions of followers online, Tate has been very instrumental in shaping young men’s views of women. And if we can take a step back from the humanity of this conversation for a moment and simply examine the relational framework going on, the results are quite disturbing when compared to conservative evangelical complementarian views of men and women.
In Tate’s world, men get to pursue a vision for building a business or ministry in life, while partnering with women as their helpers. In these relationships, the men are the ones with the authority, while the women must listen and obey. By joining up with a man, a woman’s identity becomes complete. But even then, her joining together with a man in marriage is a transition from her father to her husband.
Sound familiar?
How is that any different than what Voddie Baucham peddles with his stay-at-home daughter theology where God gives men daughters who must submit to them under the threat of physical violence because men “yearn for attention from younger women?”
Women are not your property
It’s not merely enough to look at the way men on the religious right like Baucham and men on the political right like Tate treat women and say, “That’s extreme, but it’s how the pendulum swings.”
Women are not fields to be drilled for oil. They are not cash cows to be exploited for wealth. They are not attention givers to be yearned for by fathers.
“That’s what’s wrong with the Democrats. They always end up sounding like these effeminate snobs who hate America.”
Women are not your property.
They are humans to be seen, valued, loved and followed.
But according to Jesse Watters at Fox News, the reason young men follow people like Tate and vote for men who embody toxic masculinity is due to swinging away from the supposed extremism of the left. He said, “They’re trying to impress people that no one cares about. And that’s what’s wrong with the Democrats. They’re always trying to be popular with the wrong crowd, like foreign nations, like the media, like college professors or women. And they always end up sounding like these effeminate snobs who hate America. And everybody doesn’t want to be around people like that. That’s why the Blacks and the Hispanics and all of the young men and all of the unions were like, ‘Guys, just get away from us.’”
People no one cares about? The wrong crowd? Effeminate snobs?
Men like Tate, Baucham and Watters are actively dehumanizing women. Their words are dripping with dehumanization as they claim to be swinging away from the woke.
But the dignity of women shouldn’t swing on the pendulum of reactionary politics. So whatever your view of economics, immigration, health care or student loans, let’s grab this pendulum out of the air, rip it out of the ceiling and throw it like a millstone into the sea no matter which religious or male political influencer holds onto it as it sinks.
Rick Pidcock
Rick Pidcock is a 2004 graduate of Bob Jones University, with a bachelor of arts degree in Bible. He’s a freelance writer based in South Carolina and a former Clemons Fellow with BNG. He completed a master of arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary. He is a stay-at-home father of five children and produces music under the artist name Provoke Wonder. Follow his blog at www.rickpidcock.com.
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