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What is the Feminine Genius?
Have you ever heard the term "The Feminine Genius?"
It's a term that gets thrown around sometimes with the assumption that we just sort of... know what it means.
But it's not a term that has an obvious meaning-- at least not to me! You can probably do a quick search for the term and find a common list of aspects associated with the Feminine Genius, namely:
- Receptivity
- Maternity
- Sensitivity
- Generosity
If you've read through the writings of JPII, a lot of these themes may sound familiar. He is the one credited with coining the term feminine genius in his Letter to Women, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a single document which outlines this exact list, because such an official list actually doesn't exist!
So this week, I'm sharing a really great video from Ascension Presents featuring Lisa Cotter, who shares about four key things to know when trying to understand the Feminine Genius.
Spoiler alert: it has nothing to do with being a really smart woman.
(altho I might as well name drop right here and tell you that I'm friends with a feminine genius named Dr. Karin Öberg who was featured in the book BRILLIANT! and she's amazing, check it out)
The one thing I will add to Lisa's really concise, and I think very astute explanation, is that it can be very easy for us to mistake "receptivity" as "passivity"-- as if women are expected to just receive, or accept things as they come.
But in Mulieris dignitatem, JPII speaks of receptivity (especially demonstrated in the lives of faithful women) as an act of the will (a FIAT!) which allows God to draw close to us, to make us sharers in His mission. It is "woman" to whom the greatest gifts and revelations have been ENTRUSTED through her willing receptivity of God. And in this way, "woman" stands as the archetype or the model of ALL humanity. So it's important for us to remember that those two terms are not interchangeable and that receptivity is a very strong and powerful ACTION, not an omission of activity.
I think sometimes about how the science of conception and fetal development was just really... really wrong for a long time. 😂
The male gamete is called a "sperm" (that is, a SEED) because we literally thought that it just implanted itself in the womb and grew a baby. 🌱👶 By that understanding, a woman's "receptive" fertility would be 100% passive. And this sort of passivity could easily become a sort of theologized or spiritualized weapon to make women think that we don't have an active role to play in God's work. That has never been the Church's position, but it has definitely been some people's position...
...But we know better. And what we know about science confirms this!
Nowadays, we understand the active contribution of both sexes to conception. We understand the incredible work a woman's body does in order to prepare just one (okay, sometimes two!) little eggs each cycle. And we even know that her body works hard to nourish sperm and transport sperm, through the production of cervical fluid and even uterine contractions which help the sperm move through the reproductive tract.
So yes, our "receptivity" is certainly present in the biological dimension. But even at this basic level when we think about how receptivity forms the basis of maternity, sensitivity, and generosity in the limited sphere of fertility... it's definitely not passive!
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