“Amen and a-woman,“ intoned US congressman Emanuel Cleaver, as he closed the opening prayer delivered on the first day of the 117th US Congress on January 3. He deemed the line light-hearted and inclusive – but instead, his gesture of gender neutrality provoked tough criticism, beyond the grammatical issue with his phrasing (’amen’ is not a gendered word). In 2021, people are really sensitive when it comes to gender.
The skirmish around Cleaver’s address followed a year that saw public conversations around gender focus on JK Rowling’s Twitter feed and a sensational edition of Vogue that had some US conservatives fuming at cover star Harry Styles for the threat he posed to 'manly men'.
There is no society that can survive without strong men. The East knows this. In the west, the steady feminization of our men at the same time that Marxism is being taught to our children is …