Lauren Ducommun

Book Review: To Be a Woman: The Confusion Over Female Identity and How Christians Can Respond by Katie J. McCoy
B&H Publishing
193 pgs

I pre-ordered To Be a Woman thinking that it would address women in ministry, but it was a pleasant surprise to find out it was speaking on gender dysphoria and gender transitioning. This book ended up being more helpful than I realized. Why is this such a needed discussion? Because many young females today find themselves struggling with their female identity.

Katie J. McCoy handles the controversial subject with so much grace and compassion–with the desire to help us understanding how our culture came to think the way they do and how to respond to it all in a Christlike way as so many image-bearing human beings are affected by beliefs and practices within gender ideology.

Some great questions McCoy addresses:

• Why is gender dysphoria on the rise?
• How has social influence impacted females in our society?
• How can we best care for teen girls in mental health crisis?
• What ideas have influenced us in the modern West?
• Why are ideas like heterosexual marriage, abstinence, and so on, seen as threats to a free society?
• If the ultimate purpose of female identity is theological, then what is it and how do we live out that purpose?
• How can we being loving and hospitable in our culture that “demands allegiance and controls through fear”, yet also stand for truth?

Overall, To Be a Woman by Katie J. McCoy is such a needed book that I’m sure will be of great help to many navigating the aggressive waters within our culture today. And for those who are unfamiliar with ideas like gender fluidity or with procedures like gender transitioning and hormone therapy, McCoy tactfully introduces these terms and provides beneficial research that will be a helpful resource to all.