An afternoon shoveling snow brought my mind to the ways patriarchy serves to harm men as well as women.
Christian Patriarchy and Gender: Contentment v. Ambition
December 12, 2012 By 33 Comments
For as long as I can remember, I heard the values of contentment extolled. Growing up in a family influenced by the Quiverfull and Christian Patriarchy movements, I learned very early that I must be content. But you know what? This isn’t what the guys around me were being told. While I was being taught to be content, they were being taught to be ambitious.
My God, They Really Are the Same
December 3, 2012 By 27 Comments
An ex-Muslim convert just wrote on her blog about what her group taught about teenagers, and lo and behold, it’s exactly the same as what the Quiverfull/evangelical/homeschooling community I grew up in taught. As in, word for word. My jaw is still on the ground. And we truly thought we were so very different.
Suzanne Venker’s War on Men
November 29, 2012 By 55 Comments
I tried to avoid Suzanne Venker, but I’ve found I just have to say something. So, a few quotes and a few words.
Survivor Blogs: Compiling a List
November 27, 2012 By 13 Comments
For a while now, I’ve had a list of blogs by individuals who grew up in the Christian Patriarchy or Quiverfull movements and have since questioned and left. This list has grown as I’ve come upon additional blogs over the course of the past year and a half. I’d like to both bring the list to your attention and ask for your help in adding to it.
I Don’t Want To Be Anyone’s Special Little Princess
November 8, 2012 By 130 Comments
“Do you want to be treated like men in every area of your life?” Joshua Harris asks. He goes on to say that if this is the case, “we won’t make you feel small or special or precious.” In other words, if women want to be treated like men, that means they can’t be special little princesses anymore. So much to say. Let’s take it from the top, shall we?
Vision Forum, Militias, Dominionism, and Weaponry
November 5, 2012 By 17 Comments
I was taught that things like the assault weapons ban were wrong because we needed to be able to own things like machine guns and tanks so that we could fight back against government tyranny. This future battle was not merely hypothetical. We believed it was coming. Dad didn’t teach us kids to shoot because we were a hunting family. We weren’t.
Vision Forum Builds “Manhood” in the Wilderness
October 30, 2012 By 16 Comments
Hazardous Journeys. Leading Christian Patriarchy organization Vision Forum is worried that boys today are not manly enough. It’s solution? Many trips into the wilderness to build courage, risk-taking, leadership, and manhood. In this post I discuss Vision Forum’s Hazardous Journeys Society, post some videos from Vision Forum regarding this project, discuss the historical precedent for this sort of thing, and point out that it’s, you know, just for boys.
What’s the most important thing about you? Oh right.
October 27, 2012 By 65 Comments
To Vision Forum, the post important thing about a child is its gender. This has changed in mainstream American society. Sure, it’s far from perfect – as the mother of a daughter growing up in a princess pink girl culture, I know this better than some – but we no longer blink at the artistic boy or the athletic girl. Skills, talents, and interests matter. But not for Vision Forum. No. For Vision Forum, your gender matters first, and any skills, talents, or interests that don’t fit your gender, well, you can just forget about those.
What’s in a name? Honor, Providence, and Arrow
October 4, 2012 By 112 Comments
I knew three different girls named Mercy as a child, though Bible names were more common in my community. For every Faith or Patience or Grace, there were half a dozen Elijahs and Hannahs and Rebeccas. But there were no Tiffanys or Stephanies or Ryans. Names are very important in families in the orbit of the Quiverfull and Christian Patriarchy movements.
“A truly loving husband won’t take advantage”
October 3, 2012 By 60 Comments
Evangelicals and fundamentalists who endorse patriarchy and wifely submission have a problem: teaching that God requires wives to submit to their husbands opens up the door for all manner of abuse. In order to get around this, supporters of patriarchy often respond by saying that God has commanded husbands to love their wives, and that truly loving husbands won’t take advantage of their wives’ submission. But does this idea hold up?
Raised Quiverfull: Chryssie’s Story
September 26, 2012 By 13 Comments
“I don’t remember when my parents first came in contact with Bill Gothard, Michael/Debi Pearl and company. I think they were introduced to it when we started to go to a small housechurch that was pretty strong in their opinions. I do remember going to several Pearl child training seminars with my parents and my siblings, and I remember my mom being pretty attached to Created to be His Help Meet, No Greater Joy magazines, and some magazine the Pearls did too, I think, and my dad getting Quit You Like Men magazines.”
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