Neal Pollard
It was one of the lead stories on “Good Morning America,” the new “J Crew” ad featuring a mom painting the toe nails of her five-year-old son. The image is accompanied by a quote from the mom and company designer, saying, “Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon.” Of course, the media has seen to it that “experts” weigh in on this from both sides. Some say the boy will need psychotherapy, while others decry concerns calling it harmless fun.
Radical feminism, for those who study it, is openly determined to feminize the male species in our society. F.L. Morton and Rainer Knopff, in Revolution and the Court Party, write,
“Contemporary (or second wave) feminism has been aptly described as “Marxism without economics,” since feminists replace class with gender as the key social construct. Of course, what society constructs can be deconstructed. This is the feminist project: to abolish gender difference by transforming its institutional source–the patriarchal family”‘ (p. 75).
Such ideology stems from the preconception that long-established, male-dominant cultures and ideas (like the Bible) have unfairly shackled women through elevating the male as head and leader. An agenda has been underfoot for a couple of generations to dismantle the traditional family concept that puts the man as “head of the house.” A part of this organized movement has been the blurring of gender and sexual lines, a confusing of roles and identities.
Apart from whatever other problems you may have with this advertisement, consider carefully the biblical angle. That gender identity and role is vital to God is abundantly clear from Scripture. From the beginning, God made us “male” and “female” (Mt. 19:4). Under the Old Law, God wanted gender distinction and called attempts to blur it “abomination” (Dt. 22:5). In the New Testament, we have the divine arrangement with the man as spiritual leader, loving his wife as himself, caring for her, and providing for her and the rest of the family (Eph. 5:22ff; 1 Tim. 5:8).
How does that align (or fail to align) with the advertisement in question? While it cannot be proven to be an overt undermining of biblical roles, it might well be an attempt to encourage a blurring of gender identification. As the father of three sons and the son of my father, I cannot imagine us sitting down to paint nails together. In fact, you do not know how difficult it was for me to even try to imagine that or type it. Why? The very notion is unnatural!
As much as ever, we need strong families where mothers encourage the feminization of their daughters and fathers encourage the masculinization of their sons. More than that, we need to be teaching each gender to embrace the roles God gives them. Therein lies the moral fiber of society. Radical feminism would destroy it!
The Preacher Pollard Blog 
Discussed this ad with some brethren yesterday, and what was brought out in the discussion was the constant male-bashing in our culture today. (e.g. – commercials where men don’t even know how to make breakfast, or where women refer to their “best friend” (husband) as a donkey’s rear end) Sad…
Amen!! Great article Neal! Thank you for addressing that subject. In Christ, Paula
Very well said, as always…