A Girl and Her Gun

With the advertising of new shows all around us, September and October are pretty good months for checking the temperature of the culture. Networks provide us with a glimpse into the lives of America—or at least their interpretation of American lives.

Last year brought us Modern Family, a show about three families, with the most seemingly stable family being the homosexual couple and their adopted daughter. In years past we have seen a heterosexual woman and homosexual man living together, and the list could go on. One thing is sure, the advent of the fall season will most certainly include gratuitous sex and the pushing of the envelope.

This year, it’s the girl and her gun. At least the Wall Street Journal sees it that way. They posted an article a month ago titled “On TV, a Girl’s Best Friend is Her Gun.” The subtitle of the article is “What Do Women Want on TV? Producers say: Blood and Action.” The point of the article is that women seem to want to see the violence and fighting that tend to be stereotypical of male viewers. But even more than that, they want to see their own sex engage in the violence as well.

The female heroine is nothing new. From Charlie’s Angels to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we have grown accustomed to having women fight evil forces. But maybe the plethora of shows featuring the tough, female protagonist is saying something about what women expect now. The WSJ article sheds some insight, commenting on how women surveyed view the role of men in these new shows:

“They also (the women studied) thought men had gotten wimpier and associated the opposite sex with the bumbling losers played by Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen in recent romantic comedies.”

Women don’t just want Jack Bauer, they want to be Jack Bauer. Gone are the days where the man saved the day, at least in the minds of the women who were studied. It’s a woman’s world now—and she can protect herself and the rest of us.

While none of the women studied blatantly claim feminism—most would probably say they are one. In their minds, it seems only natural that women take up the mantel to fight the evil of this world. If men can, they can too.

It’s not fundamentally wrong for a woman to shoot a gun (I have). Nor is it fundamentally wrong for a woman to own a gun (I have friends who do). But what these shows are saying is that women are now just as much defender and protector as men are, if not more so.

The issue isn’t who should be the most violent. Neither should desire violence. The upcoming fall season is saying something about who women think they are and how they define themselves. They don’t need a man to protect them against the evil forces of this world. They can and will protect themselves—and look pretty while doing it.

The world would have us believe that these things don’t matter, that the fact that women are now portrayed to be just as tough as men is an advancement. But is it?

This is never what God designed. Godly women know when to defend and protect. They understand that there are circumstances that call them to defend those that cannot defend themselves (the unborn, children, and the disabled) and also defend women who are in crisis situations (abuse). But they also know when to lean on the leadership and protection of men. Male protection and provision is not a cultural construct. It was instituted by God. When we deviate from this, problems will inevitable result, as we saw in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve both abdicated their responsibilities.

A girl with a gun might get ratings. And according to the Wall Street Journal, that is a likely possibility. In the end it won’t really keep her safe from the greatest enemy of all—the one waging war against her own soul.

(This blog post is part of a contest to win 2 free conference passes to True Woman in Ft. Worth, Texas. If you would like to enter this contest, go here.)