day no. 15,604: old woman of both sexes

"For instance, if it were even whispered that the N.I.C.E. wanted powers to experiment on criminals, you’d have all the old women of both sexes up in arms and yapping about humanity. Call it re-education of the mal-adjusted, and you have them all slobbering with delight that the brutal era of retributive punishment has at last come to an end. Odd thing it is—the word ‘experiment’ is unpopular, but not the word ‘experimental.’ You mustn’t experiment on children; but offer the dear little kiddies free education in an experimental school attached to the N.I.C.E. and it’s all correct!” -- C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength

Our churches are chock full of little old ladies of both sexes. This dig is primarily aimed at old men acting like little old ladies, but it's not a compliment to little old ladies acting like little old ladies living in light of the stereotype either.

Just as the apostle Paul urged every Corinthian to act like men, so here Lewis warns every person to avoid acting like a little old lady. Paul was not implying that all men are great anymore than Lewis is implying that all old women are not.

What each is doing is appealing to a quintessential representative of each in order to make a point. Not all men are men, which is why Paul has to charge the Corinthians to act like men. That command assumes that there are men in Corinth who need to grab themselves by the scruff of their respective necks and man up. They possess all the pre-requisite parts to be considered a "man," but they lack the follow through of playing the part men were made to perform, the role for which men were made by God to fill: that of being a strong, resolute, sturdy, reliable, faithful, loyal, courageous, dangerous, providers and protectors.

Not all old women are old women, thank God, in the sense which Lewis alludes. Lewis is alluding to a particular phenomenon among old women where they faint under the assumption of any un-niceness, but applaud the very same actions if they're minted on pinker paper. This phenomenon is so contagious, even men can get caught up in it. Men, who have given their strength to women (Pr 31:1-2), are by Lewis' definition "old women." This blast is obviously meant to encourage them to buck up and push back.  This satire is intended to produce wisdom in both sexes.

In other words, there is no man who would not be honored by being called "a man," or ashamed by being dismissed as an "old woman."