4 Keys to Understanding The Feminine Genius (feat. Lisa Cotter)

[@AdrianneCurryRhode]

The attack on masculinity and femininity is clear as day. I love being a woman and I loved this video!

[@saracremonesi3477]

SO TRUEEE

[@jellojenna6]

So many people in the secular world think that the Catholic Church is anti-woman. My experience is that it wasn't until I became Catholic that I started to really appreciate being a woman. Even as an evangelical Protestant, knowing that God made me a woman for a reason, I didn't really appreciate womanhood. Now I understand that women don't have to be like men. Women and men are different, and that is wonderful and needed!

[@katien3022]

This is a much needed video right now for all women no matter their beliefs because even as a Catholic woman I was beginning to reject my femininity.

[@IONov990]

What do you hate about femininity?

[@IONov990]

@A you typically reject something because you don't like it

[@richyburnett]

@@IONov990 underrated and powerful question.

[@katien3022]

I’m sorry i didn't see this comment until now when I decided to rewatch this video. I have never hated being a woman, but i think a lot of my dislike with discussion on femininity was due to a lack of self confidence at the time and not feeling I fit that “ideal woman” image. My parish priest talked a lot about masculinity and femininity and at first i loved it, but soon I started to feel very angry inside about how he talked so much about women in one way. Not all of this was his fault, some was my own mindset and struggles at the time. But i began to get lost in comparing myself to other women who i saw as more feminine than me and feeling out of place and less accepted by our priest bc i didnt fit his image of the ideal woman. Of course, most of that was the work of the devil. Im in a much better place now and God is making me much more aware of my femininity and things I do that hold me back too

[@cathyscott6475]

I’m glad you made this video. Women must promote their feminine genius and take pride it and not try to be men.

[@hitthefries]

If the church hasn’t given a definition or what femininity looks like practically, then how are these women “trying to be men”? Maybe they’re exhibiting the genius in a way that doesn’t look like yours.

[@philalcoceli6328]

@@hitthefries Threre's no genius whatsoever in women trying to be, not even like copies of good men, but more like copies of corrupt, sexually addicted and immoral men. Women imitating their biggest enemies, evil-weak-immoral-men, while shunning and banishing true masculine men, there's absolutely no genius in that. I've met plenty of real feminine women who are so strong but their strength, on which I depended and found to be such a monumental blessing, does not even dream about being masculine. It doesn't need that at all. In Eden, Satan did not attack the weakest sex first, but the strongest, making Eve weak by disconnecting her from the source of her strength, God. That's what renouncing the God-given gift of femininity does today as well.

[@annasahlstrom6109]

"I'm a woman, W-O-M-A-N! I'll say it again!" I love the book Blessed, Bodacious, and Beautiful by Pat Gohn, which all Catholic ladies should read.

[@hellopaulie]

I already have broad shoulders and would always cut the shoulder pads out of my shirts when I was a teen in the 80s. They were popularized in North America by tv shows such as "Dynasty" and "Dallas". It was the era of the "power suit" when there was a push for women to break through the glass ceiling and into the business world and board rooms of men. It is how I defined success, growing up in that era as a woman. There was a push to make young women as assertive as men and to take on the world instead of graciously receiving it and inspiring it. I am mid-age now and finally seeing the error in that type of ideology. I struggled against the tide for so many years. Tried to make of myself something that I was not and could never make myself be. It led to harsh self-judgments and depression and anxiety issues. These mental health issues abound in the modern world as we have strayed further from Christian teachings.

[@beautyofdawn9565]

I love being an elegant, feminine woman. The world unfortunately does not appreciate that, but this is how God made me and I am thankful

[@ABB14-11]

I highly highly doubt people don’t appreciate an elegant feminine woman.

[@beautyofdawn9565]

@@ABB14-11 Sweet of you to say, but you'd be very surprised. Maybe we just live in different parts of the world.

[@timmisukanis1176]

Beautiful reflection! Thank You for sharing this! I love this topic. . . I purchased a book written by Katrina Zeno a few years back entitled “Discovering the Feminine Genius: Every Woman’s Journey”. It is a great reference for learning and understanding the feminine genius in regard to JPII’s Theology of the Body. GOD Bless You, Lisa! More men need to read and appreciate this “vitally essential” concept.

[@Dara-fk2ly]

Great to see you, Lisa! 👏👏 keep on using your gifts for the building up of the Body of Christ! 🙏

[@alexandercruz3796]

This is a very enlightening video! Women have so much to offer within their feminity without having them to attempting to be masculine in any way. God's wonder comes from having created us to need and complement each other without competing against each other. How divinely beautiful of our Divine Father to create us as gifts for each other and to helping us to making us better and growing together in the process.

[@totallynotalena3933]

Ahh I went to a Steubenville conference and they talked a little about this. The speaker said “women are made to be open to love.” Something like “to love and to be loved” kinda thing.

[@blujeans9462]

Great new speaker! Very well spoken and intelligent.

[@alyssatrutter7135]

This video is so thorough and I really appreciate that! Thank you so much for this gift of a video!

[@clairet5636]

The most illuminating text I’ve read on femininity actually was a dissertation called “Women in the Priesthood? A systematic analysis in light of the order of creation and redemption” by Manfred Hauke. I only read half of it but already it was highly informative.

[@alexiszuer1380]

I Love this video!! Thanks guys foe making it! So need this to be a relevant movement today to combat feminism.... This is so fascinating to me. Why does beauty matter in the world? In an era where they are trying to make gender and sex one vague, ambiguous, and insignificant thing, I feel like as we make femininity and masculinity relevant again, we will see a redemption in culture

[@JMPStart]

I am glad to hear about Catholic femininity, I would also like to hear about Catholic masculinity as well, I’ve always felt that I was never masculine enough, as a scrawny 5’4 individual who can’t put on muscle to save his life, for a long time I’ve felt like I was never enough of a man for God or for our faith, I’m not that good at masculine activities either, not completely sure what to do about that, how can I be more of a masculine man for God and the Catholic Church?

[@screamofitness]

Take your time everyone is born different start off with maybe little things like adding daily activities that contribute to God & Man. •Start your morning with prayer and some push-ups. •Maybe a Morning walk or Evening walk. •Keep your day busy and focused on Habits & Tasks. Men Are very Logical & Driven and by keeping yourself Motivated to keep learning and Bettering yourself you soon will find your self with more confidence and Purpose but do Everything with God in Mind and it will all fall in place.

[@kitfisto15678]

I reccomend Bishop Olmstead’s Manual for Men. It addresses the things you mentioned.

[@ChaZarudo]

Be yourself! Nowhere does it say you have to be jacked, like football, and drive tractors to be a man. Confidence in yourself in who you are, and passion for your life are much manlier than pretending to be someone you're not.

[@mariaellasm]

Ask God, "How can I serve You and Your Church? Read good spiritual books. God may answer you directly or indirectly through spiritual bks, esp. the Bible. Also, know that moral strength and spiritual strength are very manly, more so than mere physical, exterior strength.

[@phoult37]

Go lift weights 4 days a week. You don't need to be athletic to lift weights. Get up at 5 am to pray daily. Do Exodus 90 if you haven't yet. And if all of that seems like a lot, pick 1 thing to do and just do it, no excuses.

[@elizabethstephens8801]

oh my goodness! you discussed this so well!

[@bijoumarjoyeria7901]

Amazing! Thank you Lisa! Good Bless

[@seans.131]

You are special. 6:23 "...above all human gifts" ("...there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" [Gal. 3: 28]).

[@seans.131]

I recommend "On Creation and Gender (w Fr. John Behr)" on the KZbin channel Coffee with Sr. Vassa. Thank you.

[@heathervancalcar4446]

When the Bible says that.. to me.. it means. He loves us all The Same. Not that we are all the same Person.

[@seans.131]

Precisely. Thank you.

[@seans.131]

I just finished Fr. Josh Johnson's book, Broken + Blessed, which I recommend. He said something that reminded me of this topic: "[Peter] made it clear...that there should be no distinction between believers, whether they were of Jewish or Gentile background...in Christ, all are one" (p. 131). Thank you.

[@pamelamorfin1664]

Alice van Hildebrand in her book The privilege of being a women also speaks to women :)

[@PopeMark11]

I love Lisa Cotter--I've watched all her videos. I really appreciated her reading list but was disappointed that no great female saint has seemed to have written on the subject of femaleness. Unless one now has already! ; ) Cotter seems very well read and I wonder if her book (which I can't order living outside of the States) has unique appeal to guys like me who have read bad female authors talking from weak feminist theories that valorize and canonize as female all kinds of specious groupings of virtues. Such as we began with and retain an assumption that women retain an essential, specially meritorious, and even privileged point of view. This may be a superstition and/or an occult view, a kind of paganism, but no few of us Catholic men are bound to it. I was uncomfortable to learn about Benedictine ideas that women are in some way morally superior to men, but also delighted with the idea that men, inspired by women, affect and create masculine versions of female virtues. I think her theory here needs undergirding, which she may supply in her book. I'll try Amazon to see it's for sale there. I find Cotter delightful, persuasive, but sometimes unconvincing, but only because I think she needed three minutes more in this video to expound on why the female is special and in what way. If men seek virtue in women (and I think we mistakenly do), what is this basis of their moral superiority and is that basis mistaken? But, has she the stones to go into saying women have some special, especially meritorious, privileged moral lens? I'm not sold, but I want to be. I had an appetite for some claim that female superiority comes from the supreme moral authority that was only ever human: Mary. You could say female authority comes from Mary, which would make us a different religion. I'm a devoted fan of this thinker and hope my questions are answered in her book. I hope she's unflinching and doesn't get into apologizing for hurt feelings. If there is one thing men are starving for--just starving for--it's competent female intellectual leaders and larger-than-life heroes. Cotter

[@heathsavage4852]

I think we need to separate fashion from social engineering - although the two have links. Wearing pants doesn't make a woman masculine any more than wearing a kilt makes a Scotsman feminine. I am more concerned about the insidious redefinition of Men and Women and the introduction of the concept of "non-binary" people.

[@deborahwilson6970]

As a woman with broad shoulders, I likewise agree. I've long heard my shoulders call "football shoulders." How refreshing when living overseas to hear them referred to as "model shoulders." I never saw the fashions of the 80's as an attempt to masculinity. In many ways, they were a throwback to the 1940's, an earlier era when women also wore padded shoulders. Men's slacks also took a turn to an earlier, baggier, classier era. What the video rightly shows is the Catholic Church does not define a woman by some traditional societal role. She rightly compliments the masculine.

[@h.d.sparrow6153]

"The feminine genius is not a Church doctrine." Louder for the folks in the back! Honestly, I kind of have to wonder why the concept is necessary. I fail to see how saying that all women have a (nebulously defined) genius which they each express uniquely is different from acknowledging that each INDIVIDUAL (male or female) has their own set of gifts that they live out in a unique way. I sense a distinction without a difference. It seems to me that any gifts that a given woman possesses are feminine because she, a woman, possesses them - and even if she chooses to emulate the fine qualities she sees in a man, she will do so in her own (and, by virtue of being a woman, necessarily feminine) way. It's not necessary to DISCUSS that, or bend over backwards to point it out. It simply is.

[@hitthefries]

I think you pretty much noticed the contradiction. You also can’t say women all have the feminine genius and that we shouldn’t feel stereotyped….and then say something about how women are acting like men/masculine. It’s so much easier to just say everyone is unique and exhibits their gifts in a certain way.

[@shannonklotz6147]

This is a fantastic video!! You speak so well

[@heathervancalcar4446]

I think guys that want to be girls, and girls that want to be guys (or think they do).. want whatever respect or "perk" they think the other one has. What they don't understand is how beautiful they are God's Way... I pray that God can get that into their hearts.

[@JudyBarrette]

Wow!

[@ritto1463]

I hope a 4 keys to understand the masculine genius

[@franciscojuan4551]

Just read wild at heart by John Eldredge. Best masculinity book of all time

[@BlessedisShe]

Thank you for sharing!

[@robynbeach3198]

Why are none of the books linked in the description? I had to pause in the middle of the video to Google them.

[@kerwinfernandes9583]

Thank you sista, God bless you 🙂🙏🏼❤️

[@barbaraschellato9156]

Lisa great video. Our women' s group is doing a study using your book "Reveal the Gift. I have downloaded, printed and read "A letter to Women" By JPII. I couldn't understand the title of the apostolic letter. could you kindly add this and the title of the books you mentioned so we all can read them. Thank you and God Bless you. You are a wonderful speaker and writer, and a beautiful gift.

[@gonzalo4732]

Please translate these contents into Spanish. The Latin Catholic Church receives its influence from Spain, which is deliberating whether priests should wear cassocks, whether communion in hand is lawful, etc. etc. etc.

[@IONov990]

I love the Blessed Virgin Mary. She's my favorite. I would love to experience her beauty. Being a woman is a beautiful thing.

[@elizabethstephens8801]

can you provide a link to where I can buy the book you mentioned?

[@bernalang3532]

Very good

[@lindamcauley4728]

Yep

[@ThomasMcEvoy]

❤️🙏❤️

[@jojo_mcelwee6591]

❤️

[@SomewhatDecent1]

im a women you dont need to tell me im spetical i already know that , God And you wonder why men are afraid to give complaments

[@williamckama8470]

The one who stays with her husband the lord, any and all else is a lie. Just One thing

[@johns1834]

My wife is from Thailand where women haven't been mislead into acting like a man.

[@hitthefries]

….but men as women? The trans community is pretty strong there.

[@freshliving4199]

What makes a woman a woman? She Loves her Father and has overcome her anger and emotions. This is a real woman.

[@freshliving4199]

@A Your take?

[@SomewhatDecent1]

I really Dont Get How you could Get Offended At Being Called The Feminine Genius id be insulted you trie to make me the bad guy for a simple complement shows sighns of a big Ego

[@chriszablocki2460]

I think virtue signaling comes off as that sound that rabbits make when coyotes are tearing them apart and celebrating. It's all really low level consciousness stuff.

[@helens8977]

I have mixed feelings about this video. Why tell a woman how to be a woman - why not just let her be who she is? I can't help feeling that if women were truly viewed as equal to men then these pep talks would not take place.

[@MissPopuri]

Would you say the same thing to Paul about his letters to the Corinthians, Ephesians, Romans, etc? Women need encouragement and gentle reminders as much as the next Tom, Dick, or Harry wanting to make a name for himself. This video isn't telling a woman "how to be a woman" though. It's "4 Keys" are like loose outlines for insightful meditation and prayer.

[@laXrockera691]

You're right. If women were as equally respected as men, these talks wouldn't be necessary. What Lisa was saying is the Feminine Genius is NOT a way to tell women who they are allowed to be, but to say we shouldn't hide natural aspects of ourselves just because it's looked down upon as stereotypically feminine.

[@lunaeverwood4007]

We are equal but have different gifts and strengths than men.

[@phoult37]

Modernism has confused the category of feminine and masculine; it is satanic and counter to the Church and God's design. We need to learn how to regain authentic femininity (i.e. Mother Mary) and authentic masculinity (i.e. St. Joseph). The fact that you say, "if women were truly viewed as equal to men then these pep talks would not take place" indicates you've fallen for the false modernist premise.

[@BudderChezMC]

I feel that feminine genius isnt about telling a woman how to be a woman but the strengths of being a woman and how it correlates to our relationship to God. I find in my personal life that I compare myself to men at times to the point of wanting to "act" more masculine in order to be "equal" but it's not necessary to change how I am naturally because we are equal. I think it's moreso modern society that actually denies feminine genius and seperates the equality of men and women. If that makes sense.

[@dsc4178]

okay

[@Lcoreyful]

I personally find women who try to be like men unattractive. Cant we adhere to our God given complementarity? People try to erase gender these days.

[@richyburnett]

I know she is right, because as a Man I feel like she spoke a lot, and in a certain way and said hardly anything that was useful. And if that helps ladies to feel better about reverencing their femininity in a way that we can all benefit from, including themselves….I’m all for it. Isn’t it sad that catholics are the only women these days who don’t consider the word ‘Lady’ an insult. How’s that for messed up.

[@graceadetoro]

i hate this

[@angelinacaradonna1500]

Why?

[@tommasosantojanni]

... _«especially in some of the Vatican II documents»_ ... and that's when I switched off, and unsubscribed: au-revoir, bye bye 👋🏻

[@anthonylong9962]

❤