This starts out looking like cultural commentary, but the point is actually about an important question that Christians need to answer.
The other day during a conversation that I was having with my son, Seth, we touched upon the topic of gender as understood by more and more in our culture. As a result, he sent me a link to a website presenting a new book about how a person can choose various characteristics, some more masculine and others more feminine, in order to create one's own gender identity. It's a little bit like mix and match. Your body might be of one sort or the other, but your sense of yourself, your gender, is something you choose.
I would disagree. (But remember, this post is about prodding Christians.) Because I believe the Bible to be God's revelation, I am obligated to say that God has defined each of us as male or female. That's not news to most Christians. But for too many, this next thought is. Being male or being female is not just about the body. It's also about the soul. This person is a male, body and soul. And that person is a female, body and soul. There are differences that go deep because of how God has made each of us, body and soul, - which is why we can't choose our gender identity.
So, here's the question. What do these differences, differences in body and soul, have to say about what it means to live as a man or to live as a woman? Are there any differences beside things like who has a uterus? If there aren't, then why can't we choose our gender identity? 'My sex is male, but I've included many feminine qualities in my gender.' Or to say it differently: What is uniquely male and what is uniquely female, and how are those qualities supposed to show?
Once you answer that you're ready to wrestle with the very large question of male and female roles.