Men versus women

When I set out to find women to comment on how they keep the faith as a woman in the church, I wondered how our male readers would take it.

One of my ulterior motives with this blog project has been to increase the number of female voices on this website. I've noticed that the vast majority of our regular commenters are men, and while their presence is welcome, I hope to encourage more voices to contribute. According to our Facebook page analytics, 53 percent of our "likes" are women and 45 percent men (not all people designate gender on Facebook). Among active users, however, 54 percent are men and 38 percent are women.

This probably has a lot more to do with how women interact with media than with the Catholic Church, considering how women fill the pews.

I've gotten a great response from women wanting to write about their faith, but so far the discussions on our site have been more centered on issues than gender. Femme fidele, however, was linked from another blog in a post titled, "Who Needs Men Anyway?" The discussion that follows in the comments section is interesting and brings up a number of issues about male versus female spirituality, the men's movement, and whether men should cultivate masculinity or their "sensitive side."

While there is something unique to many women's experiences, the editors never intend to be divisive with coverage of women's issues. We recognize that many of the issues women talk about also affect men, and as someone commented on "Femme fidele," working for the church is as much an issue of the laity as it is of women.  

Still, there's no denying that men and women have differences, and one of those is that in almost all areas, religion tends to be the domain of women. The big question is, should men be threatened by that?

About the author

Megan Sweas

Megan Sweas is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.